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B 1^ ^^J B^i!^

AND HER

PEOPLE

SWAMI AIUIKnAXANUA

India

AND

Her People

SWAMI ABHEI>ANANDA

Antbor of "Self- Knowledge." "How to be a Yogi," "Spiritual Unfold*
nent," "Divine Heritage of Man," "Philosophy of Work"

etc.

THIRD EDITION

PUBLISHED BY

THE VEDANTA SOCIETY

NEW YORK

■,L>L\/\

rtb 7

'JDS

CAMKLOT PkBSS, lS-30 OAK STRKBT, NKW YORK

TO THE

PEOPLE OF INDIA

WITH DEEP FELLOW-FEELING

AND

EARNEST PRAYERS FOR THE RESTORATION

OF THEIR ANCIENT GLORY

AND

NATIONAL FREEDOM

INTRODUCTION.

I AM very glad to learn that the course of
lectures, recently delivered before the Brooklyn
Institute of Arts and Sciences by Swami Abhe-
dananda, is to be published. These lectures
constitute an exceedingly valuable description
of the social, political, educational, and religious
conditions of India. They contain precisely
what the American wants to know about India.
Dehvered, as they were, by a native of India,
they are not colored by foreign prejudices. I
am impressed, by what I heard of the lectures,
with the fact that in the hurry and bustle o1
our Western civihzation we have a great deal
to leam from the East.

Franklin W. Hooper,

Director of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts
and Sciences.

Brooklyn, N. Y., April 26, 1906.

PREFACE.

The first six lectures contained in this volume
were delivered before the Brooklyn Institute
of Arts and Sciences. As my limited time
did not permit me to describe at length the
status of Hindu women, I have added a separate
lecture on "Woman's Place in Hindu ReUgion"
to complete the subject.

My main object has been to give an impartial
account of the facts from the standpoint of an
unbiased historian, and to remove all misunder-
standings which prevail among the Americans
concerning India and her people. I have cited
Hindu, American, and European authorities to
support my statements, and I beg to acknowledge
my indebtedness to those writers from whom
I have quoted, especially to Mr. R. C. Dutt, C.I.E.,

for numerous valuable facts and statistics col-

PREFACE.

lected by him through years of tireless research
in England, and embodied in his historical works,
*' Civihzation in Ancient India," "Economic
History of India," and " India in the Victorian
Age."

The Author.

Nkw York, May 15, 1906.

CONTENTS.

' PAGB

I. The Prevailing Philosophy of To-day 9

II. The Religion of India To-day 48

III. The Social Status of the Indian People: their

System of Caste 87

IV. Political Institutions of India 116

V. Education in India 170

VI. The Influence of India on Western Ci\'ilization,

and the Influence of Western Civilization on

India 216

VII. Woman's Place in Hindu Religion 251

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

Centuries before the Christian era, nay, long
before the advent of the prophet and founder
of Judaism, when the forefathers of the Anglo-
Saxon races were living in caves and forests,
tattooing their bodies, eating raw animal flesh,
wearing animal skins, — in that remote antiquity,
the dawn of true civilization broke upon the
iiorizon of India, or Bhdrata Varsha, as it is called
in Sanskrit.

The ancient Vedic sages had already perfected

their lofty system of moral philosophy, and their

followers were well-established in the practice

of tlie ethical and spiritual teachings of the

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Vedas even before Moses* had reformed the
lawless and nomadic tribes of Israel by giving
them the ten commandments in the name of
Jahveh. And while thinkers among the Semitic
tribes were still trying to explain the origin of
the human race and of the universe through
the mythological stories of creation collected
from the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Babylonians,
and Persians, the Aryan philosophers of India
had already discovered the evolution of the
universe out of one eternal Energy, and of man
from the lower animals.

Many people have an idea that India is in-
habited by idolatrous heathens, who have neither
philosophy, ethics, science, nor religion, and
that whatever they possess they have acquired
from the Christian missionaries; but, since the
Parliament of Religions at the World's Fair in

* According to the best authorities of the present
day, Moses hved about the fourteenth century B.C. Dr.
Kucncn says: "The exodus is accordingly placed by
one in B.C. 1321, by another in b.c. 1320, and by a third
in 1314 B.C. Of course, perfect accuracy on this point
is unattainable. With this reservation I accept the
year 1320 b.c. as the most probable." — Religion of Israel,
Vol. I, p. I a I. .

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

Chicago in 1893, the educated men and women
of this country have cast aside all such erroneous
notions. They have learned, on the contrary,
that India has always been the fountain-head
of everjT^ system of philosophy, and the home
of all the religious thought of the world. The
majority of Oriental scholars, like Professor
Max Muller and Professor Paul Deussen, as also
advanced students in America, have now come
to realize that from ancient times India has
produced a nation of philosophers, and that all
the phases of philosophic thought, whether
ancient or modern, can still be found there
to-day. Victor Cousin, the eminent French phi-
losopher, whose knowledge of the history of
European philosophy was unrivalled, writes:
" When we read the poetical and philosophical
monuments of the East, — above all, those of
India, which are beginning to spread in Europe,
— we discover there many a truth, and truths so
profound, and which make such a contrast with
the meanness of the results at which the Euro-
pean genius has sometimes stopped, that we

are constrained to bend the knee before the

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

philosophy of the East, and to see in this cradle
of the human race the native land of the highest
philosophy." * And elsewhere he declares that
" India contains the whole history of philosophy
in a nutshell."

You will find no other country in the world
where, from prehistoric times down to the present
day, philosophy and religion have played so
important a part in forming the character of
the nation as they have done in India. India
is the only country where, at least two thousand
years before the Christian era, public assemblies,
philosophic conventions, and religious congresses
were held under the auspices of the reigning
monarchs; and in these active part was taken,
not only by priests, philosophers, and scientists,
but by kings, military commanders, soldiers,
merchants, peasants, and educated women of
the higher classes. As early as the Vedic period,
which dates from 5000 to 2000 B.C., the ancient
Seers of Truth asked the most vital questions,
and discussed problems that have troubled the

* Works. Vol. I, p. 33.
12

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

minds of the great philosophers of all ages.
In those questions we can discern the develop-
ment of their intellectual powers, and their
insight into the true nature of things. They
inquired: " When death swallows the whole
world, who is the deity which shall swallow
death? What part of man exists after death?
What becomes of the vital forces when a man
dies? What is the nature of the soul? Where
is the foundation and support of this universe?
What is the essence of being? What is there
that governs all things and yet is separate from
everything?" In trying to answer these and
other problems of similar nature, the ancient
thinkers discovered the laws of thought and
traced the causes of phenomena, applying the
rules of logic and reason at every step.

This was the beginning of philosophy in India.
The minds of those truth-seekers were abso-
lutely free from all limitations of doctrines,
dogmas, and creeds. They never asked what
their belief was, or whether they had faith in a
personal God; but the burning questions for

them were, how to acquire true knowledge of the

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

universe, of its origin and cause, how to know
the real nature of their souls, and how to solve
the problems of life and death. At that time
philosophic and religious thought began to fer-
ment as actively and universally in the atmos-
phere of India as we find to-day in Western
countries. Some of the answers given to these
questions by the unbiassed thinkers of those
days are truly astounding; it seems as though
the ancient Seers of Truth had anticipated the
conclusions of Plato, Spinoza, Berkeley, Hume,
Hegel, Schopenhauer, Herbert Spencer, Haeckel,
even centuries before their existence.

During the pre-Buddhistic period, or before
the sixth century B.C., India gave rise to a
great variety of philosophical systems, some of
which were atheistic, agnostic, nihilistic, mate-
rialistic, while others were pluralistic, dualistic,
or monotheistic, qualified non-dualistic, idealis-
tic, spiritualistic, monistic systems of thought,
such as are common in Europe and America
at the present time. In fact, the natural ten-
dency of the Hindu mind from the very beginning

was to search after the unchangeable Reality

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

of the universe, to trace the source of all phe-
nomena, to understand the purpose of earthly-
existence, and, above all, to know what relation
the individual soul bears to the Universal Being.
Animated by an intense longing and guided by
unswerving love tor Truth, the ancient thinkers
discovered many of the natural laws, and ration-
ally explained them, without fearing contradic-
tion or persecution; for freedom of thought has
always prevailed among all classes of people in
India.

These sages understood the process of cosmic
evolution from a homogeneous mass into the
variety of phenomena, and rejected the theory
of special creation out of nothing. In one of
the Upanishads we read that a sage, after ex-
plaining the mystery of Creation to his son,
said: "My dear child, some people think that
this world has come out of nothing, but how can
something come out of nothing?" Thus we see
that, unlike the Hebrews, the Hindu thinkers
did not believe in special creation, but from
ancient times maintained the theory of gradual

evolution. It has often been remarked that the

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

doctrine of evolution is the marvel of modem
times, and that it was unknown in the past ages,
but the students of Oriental literature are well
aware that it was well known to the Hindus of
the Vedic ages. Professor Huxley admits this
when he says: "To say nothing of Indian sages,
to whom evolution was a familiar notion ages
before Paul of Tarsus was born." * And Sir
Monier Monier Williams, in his " Br^hminism
and Hinduism," declares: " Indeed, if I may
be allowed the anachronism, the Hindus were
Spinozites more than two thousand years before
the existence of Spinoza; and Darwinians many
centuries before Darwin; and evolutionists many
centuries before the doctrine of evolution had
been accepted by the scientists of our time, and
before any word like * evolution ' existed in any
language of the world." This statement is
absolutely correct. If we study the philosophical
systems of the great thinkers and Seers of Truth
of ancient India, we shall find the most wonder-
ful discoveries that have ever been recorded in
the whole history of philosophy.

* Science and Hebrew Tradition, p. 150.
16

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TODAY.

In their attempts to solve the mysteries of
the phenomenal world, Hindu Seers of Truth
developed six principal systems of philosophy,
each having numerous branches of its own.
One school traces the origin of the vmiverse to the
combination of atoms and molecules. It is
known as the Vaisheshika philosophy of Kanada.
The system of Kanada divides the phenomenal
universe into six Padarthas, or categories, which
embrace the whole realm of knowledge. They
are these: (i) Dravya, or substance; (2) Guna,
or quaUty; (3) Karma, or action; (4) Samanya,
or that which constitutes a genus; (5) Vishesha,
or that which constitutes the individuality or
separateness of an object; and (6) Samavaya,
coherence or inseparability. According to some,
Abh^va, or non-existence, is the seventh sub-
stance.

Each of these, again, is subdivided into vari-
ous classes. There are, for instance, nine sub-
stances: (i) earth; (2) water; (3) light; (4) air;
(5) ether; (6) time (Kala); (7) space (Dish);
(8) self (Atman); and (9) mind (Manas). These

substances, again, cannot exist without qualities,

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of which there are seventeen: color, taste, smell,
touch, number (that by which we perceive one
or many), extension or quantity, individual-
ity, conjunction, priority, posteriority, thought,
pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, and will. The
substances are affected by five kinds of action:
(i) upward motion, (2) downward motion,
(3) contraction, (4) expansion, (5) movement
from one spot to another. All the objects of
knowledge must be either substance, quality,
or motion.

According to Kanada, the first four substances
are non-eternal as aggregates, but are made up
of minute invisible atoms (anus) which are
eternal. They exist as inorganic and organic
matter, or as instruments of sense-perceptions.
Kandda describes atoms (anus) as indivisible
particles of matter which possess no visible di-
mensions. On this point he agrees more with
modem European scientists than with Greek
philosophers, who gave visible dimensions to
atoms. The first aggregate of these atoms is
of two (anus). It is called Dyanu, or molecule,

which is still invisible. The aggregate of three

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

molecules or double atoms forms a Trasarenu,
which has visible dimension. These aggregates
of composite atoms are destructible, while single
atoms are indestructible by nature. How re-
markable it is to see that the conception of
atoms and molecules arose in India centuries
before the time of Empedocles and Democritus!
And the latest atomic theory of European science
has not in any way surpassed that of ancient
India.

Furthermore, the Vaisheshika system main-
tains that these atoms are not created by God,
but are co-eternal with Him. The power,
however, which combines two atoms and makes
aggregates of atoms, comes from God, who is
personal, who possesses knowledge, desire, and
will, and who is the one Lord and Governor of
all phenomena. According to this system, ether,
time, space, Atman or Self, and mind or Manas,
are eternal substances of nature. Mind or
Manas is described as infinitely small, like an
atom (anus); but it is distinct from Atman or
Self, which is vast (Vibhu). Although mind and

Atman or Self are eternal, still they are innumer-

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

able. The Self or Atman is distinct from the
senses, and possesses nine qualities, such as
knowledge, will, desire, happiness, etc. The
aim of the Vaisheshika philosophy (which
derives its name from Vishesha, the fifth sub-
stance) is the attainment of perfection and
absolute freedom of the soul through the riglit
knowledge of the causes of the phenomenal
universe.

Next to the Vaisheshika is the Ny&ya philos-
ophy of Gautama. Although it is generally
called a system of logic, still it is both logic and
philosophy. Its object is the same as other
Hindu systems, namely, the true knowledge of
nature, soul and God, and the attainment of
ultimate freedom. This system, although based
upon the atomic theory of Kandda, begins with
the enumeration of sixteen Pad&rthas, or subjects
for discussion: (i) Pramana, proof or means of
knowledge; (2) Prameya, or objects of knowl-
edge; (3) Sansaya, or doubt; (4) Prayojana,
motive or purpose; (5) Drist^nta, example or
instance; (6) SiddhTmta, or determined truth;

(7) Avayava, syllogism or premisses; (8) Tarka,

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TODAY.

reasoning or confutation; {9) Nirnaya, or con-
clusion; (10) Vada, or argumentation; (11)
Jalpa, or sophistry; (12) Vitanda, objection; {13)
Hetv^bhasa, or fallacies; (14) Chhala, quibble
or perversion; (15) J^ti, or false analogies; and,
(16) Nigrahasthana, or unfitness for arguing.
The correct knowledge of each of these is the aim
of this school. According to Gautama, the means
of knowledge are four: (i) sensuous perception;
(2) inference; (3) analogy; (4) Shabda, or verbal
testimony.

The objects of knowledge are twelve in num-
ber: Self or Atman, body, organs of senses,
objective perception, intellect (Buddhi), mind
(Manas), will, fault, state after death, retribution,
pain, and final emancipation. These objects,
as well as the means of knowledge, which are
described singly and elaborately, form the
fundamental principles of the philosophy of
Ny^ya, while the rest of the Padarthas belong
to the system of logic which it expounds. There-
fore it is both logic and philosophy. Gautama
is called the Aristotle of India. He was the

founder of Hindu logic, which has gradually

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

developed into a perfect logical system, and to
which have been added voluminous works by
the best Hindu logicians of later date. The
principal aim of Gautama's system was to estab-
lish right methods of reasoning, and to develop
correct inference by the construction of true
syllogisms. The Hindu syllogism consists of
five parts: (i) proposition, (2) reason, (3) in-
stance, (4) application of the reason, and (5) con-
clusion. By omitting two parts of this, we can
make it a perfect syllogism of Aristotle. The
connection in the major premiss of Ar stotle's
syllogism is called in Hindu logic Vydpti, or
invariable concomitance. Speaking of Hindu
logic, Mr. Davies says: "The right methods of
reasoning have been discussed with as much
subtlety as by any of the Western logicians.'*
Many European scholars, after finding a close
resemblance jDetween the logic of Aristotle and
that of Gautama, have arrived at the conclusion
that perhaps the Greeks borrowed the first ele-
ments of their logic and philosophy from the
Hindus. Mr. Dutt says: "Comparing dates,

we are disposed to say of this as of many other

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TODAY.

sciences, The Hindus invented logic, the Greeks
perfected it." * We must not forget the historical
fact that there was a close intercourse between the
Greeks and the Hindus from the time of Pythag-
oras, who, it is said, went to India to gather
the wisdom of the Hindus. Alexander himself
was so deeply impressed, when he heard about
the Hindu philosophers, that he desired to make
their acquaintance. It is also said that he
brought many Hindu philosophers back to
Greece with him. These two schools of phi-
losophy, the Vaisheshika and the Nyaya, sup-
plement each other, and have at present many
followers in some parts of India, especially in
Bengal and among the Jains,

Then comes the S&nkhya system of Kapila.
Kapila lived about 700 B.C. He is called the
father of the evolution theory in India. His
system is more like the philosophy of Herbert
Spencer. He rejected the atomic theory by
tracing the origin of atoms to one eternal cos-
mic energy, which he called Prakriti (Latin,
Procreatrix, the creative energy). He main-

* Civilization in Ancient India, Vol. I, p. 292.

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

tained that the whole phenomenal universe has
evolved out of one cosmic energy which is eternal.
Kapila defined atoms as force centers, which
correspond to the Ions and Electrons of modern
science. It was Kapila who for the first time
explained creation as the result of attraction
and repulsion, which literally means love and
hatred of atoms, as Empedocles puts it.

The Scinkya philosophy of Kapila, in short, is
devoted entirely to the systematic, logical, and
scientific explanation of the process of cosmic
evolution from that primordial Prakriti, or eternal
Energy. There is no ancient philosophy in the
world which was not indebted to the S^Jikhya
system of Kapila. The idea of evolution which
the ancient Greeks and neo-Platonists had can
be traced back to the influence of tjjjs SSukhya
school of thought. Professor E. W. Hopkins
says: "Plato is full of Sdnkhyan thought, worked
out by him, but taken from Pythagoras. Before
the sixth century B.C. all the religious-philosophi-
cal ideas of Pythagoras are current in India
(L. Schroeder, Pythagoras). If there were but

one or two of these cases, they might be set

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

aside as accidental coincidences, but such coin-
cidences are too numerous to be the result of
chance." And again he writes: "Neo-Pla-
tonism and Christian Gnosticism owe much to
India. The Gnostic ideas in regard to a plurality
of heavens and spiritual worlds go back directly
to Hindu sources. Soul and light are one in
the Sankhya system, before they became so in
Greece, and when they appear united in Greece
it is by means of the thought which is borrowed
from India. The famous three qualities of the
S^khya reappear as the Gnostic 'three classes.'"*
In his "Hindu Philosophy," John Davies
speaks of Kapila's system as the first recorded
system of philosophy in the world, and calls it
* ' the earliest attempt on record to give an
answer, from reason alone, to the mysterious
questions which arise in every thoughtful mind
about the origin of the world, the nature and
relations of man and his future destiny." Fur-
thermore, Mr. Davies says, in reference to the
German philosophy of Schopenhauer and of
Hartmann, that it is "a reproduction of the

* Religions of India, pp. 559, 560.
25

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

philosophic system of Kapila in its materiaHstic
part, presented in a more elaborate form, but
on the same fundamental lines. In this respect
the human intellect has gone over the same
ground that it occupied more than two thousand
years ago; but on a more important question
it has taken a step in retreat. Kapila recog-
nized fully the existence of a soul in man, form-
ing indeed his proper nature, — the absolute of
Fichte, — distinct from matter and immortal;
but our latest philosophy, both here and in Ger-
many, can see in man only a highly developed
organization." *

It is most startling to find that the ulti-
mate conclusions of this S^khya system har-
monize and coincide with those of modem science.
It says: (i) Something cannot come out of noth-
ing; (2) The effect lies in the cause, that is,
the effect is the cause reproduced; (3) Destruc-
tion means the reversion of an effect to its
causal state; (4) The laws of nature are uni-
form and regular throughout; (5) The building
up of the cosmos is the result of the evolution

* Preface to flindu Philusophy.
26

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

of the cosmic energy. These are some of the
conclusions which Kapila arrived at through
observation and experiment, and by following
strictly the rules of inductive logic.

Kapila denied the existence of a Creator; but
still his philosophy is not considered atheistic,
because he admitted the existence of the indi-
vidual soul, Purusha, as an eternal and immortal
entity. The different schools of Buddhistic phi-
losophy are based upon the Sankhya system
of Kapila. The agnosticism of the Jain phi-
losophy, which has now a large number of fol-
lowers in India, is also based upon the truths
of this system; while the main principles of the
Sankhya teachings have played a most important
part in the popular forms of the symbol-worship
of modern India.

Next in order comes the Yoga philosophy of
Patanjali. Patanjali accepts the theory of evo-
lution as explained by Kapila, and maintains
that the whole phenomenal universe is the
result of the evolution of Prakriti, the eternal
Energy. Like Kapila, Patanjali believes in the

existence of countless Purushas, or individual

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

souls, each of which is by nature eternal, infinite,
and immortal. But this system differs from
Sankhya by admitting the existence of a cosmic
Purusha (personal God), who is formless, infi-
nite, omniscient, and untouched by affliction,
activity, deserts, and desires. Patanjali takes up
the psychology of Sankhya, and explains most
elaborately the various functions of the Chitta,
or mind-substance. Both Kapila and Patanjali
maintain that mind-substance is material, — that
it is the product of the insentient Prakriti. On
this point they anticipated the conclusions of
the materialistic philosophers of modem Europe;
but they admitted that mind-substance, or
Chitta, is distinct from Purusha, or true Self,
which is the source of consciousness and intel-
ligence.

The Yoga system devotes itself to the higher
psychology of the human mind. It divides Chitta
into five classes of Vrittis, or modifications: Right
knowledge, indiscrimination, verbal delusion,
sleep, memory.* Right knowledge proceeds from
direct sensuous perception, inference, and com-

♦ Vide ' RAja Yoga," by SwAmi Vivtkananda, p. J09.

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

petent evidence. These and various other mental
functions are minutely described by Patanjali.
After explaining all the modifications of the
Chitta, Patanjali shows the method by which
absolute control over mind {Manas), intellect
{Buddht), Chitta, and egotism (Ahankdra) can
be attained. For the highest aim of his phi-
losophy is to separate the Purusha from Prakriti,
with which it is at present closely related; and
to make it reach Kaivalya, or final emancipation
from the bondage of nature and its qualities.

Patanjali also explains the science of concen-
tration and meditation, the science of breath,
clairaudience, telepathy, and various other
psychic powers, and shows the way by which
one can attain to God-consciousness in this life.
There is no system of psychological philosophy
in the world so complete as the psychology of
Patanjali. The modem psychology of Europe,
strictly speaking, is not true psychology, because
it does not admit the existence of Psyche, the soul;
as Schopenhauer says: "The study of psychology
is vain, for there is no Psyche." It may be

called physiological psychology, or somatology, as

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

my friend, Professor Hiram Corson, of Cornell
University, calls it. True psychology you will
find to-day in the Yoga system of Patanjali.
This philosophy has still many followers in
different parts of India.

There is yet another school of philosophy,
called the Purva Mimdnsa of Jaimini. The
word "Mimansa" means investigation, and
"Purva" means former or prior. This system
examines the various injunctions of the ritualistic
portion of the Vedas (Karma Kanda), and points
out that the highest duty of man is to follow
those injunctions as strictly as possible, for they
are the direct revelation of the Supreme Being.
According to Jaimini, the words of the Vedas are
eternal, and the relation of these words to their
meaning is also eternal; so the Vedas had no
human origin. This system of philosophy ex-
plains the authoritative sources of knowledge,
the relation between word and thought, and
how this world is the manifestation of the word.
We see a cow because there is in the Vedas
such a word as "cow" (in the Sanskrit Gan).
If the word cow did not exist, the material

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

object as cow would be non-existent. We may
laugh at such conclusions at present, but when
we go deep into the subject and try to under-
stand the relation which lies between thought
and word, we shall realize the truth of such
statements. The sun exists because there is
the word "sun" in the Vedas; that is, the sun
is nothing but a part of the manifestation of
that Logos or eternal thought form which exists
in the cosmic mind.

Purva Mimansa may also be called the phi-
losophy of work. It describes the true nature
of duty and of daily works, sacrificial, ritualistic,
and devotional. Through it we can understand
which is right work and in what way it should
be performed to produce certain results. For
instance, if we wish to go to heaven we shall
have to perform certain acts and those acts will
create a certain unknown or imperceptible re-
sult, which will be rewarded or manifested in
the form of our going to heaven. Now, how
do these things happen? What is the law?
And if we perform that very act in some other
way, what defects would be produced in the

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

result? All these minute points are discussed.
You may throw them away as speculation, but
those who believe in the efficacy of prayers, in
the law of action and reaction, of cause and
sequence, cannot reject them as mere specula-
tion, because there is some truth in them. We
cannot deny it. Every thought that we think
or every movement of the body that we make,
must produce some result somewhere in some
form. What are those results? How will they
affect our being? We are too busy to think of
these subtle problems now, but there are thinkers
who can explain a great deal on these higher and
finer lines of nature. Referring to the logic of this
system, Professor Colebrook says: "Each case
is examined and determined upon general prm-
ciples, and from the cases decided the principles
may be collected. A well-ordered arrangement
of them would constitute the philosophy of law;
and this is, in truth, what has been attempted
in the Mimansa." This being an orthodox phi-
losophy, it appeals to the students of the Vedas,
and especially to the Brahmin priests.

Lastly comes the Uttara Mimdnsa, or the

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

system of Vedanta. This is the most popular
philosophy of India to-day. Since the decline
of Buddhistic philosophy in India, Vedanta has
become most prominent and most powerful,
having a large following among all classes of
people, from the priests down to the pariahs.
Among the six schools, the Vedanta philosophy
has reached the highest pinnacle of philosophic
thought which the human mind can possibly
attain. A careful study of these different
systems shows that they contain all the highest
truths which were known to the ancient Greek
philosophers of the Pythagorean and Eleatic
schools. Professor E. W. Hopkins says: "Both
Thales and Parmenides were indeed anticipated
by Hindu sages, and the Eleatic school seems
to be but a reflection of the Upanishads. The
doctrines of Anaxamander and Heraclitus were
perhaps not known first in Greece." * Frederic
Schlegel writes: "The divine origin of man, as
taught by the Vedanta, is continually inculcated,
to stimulate his efforts to return, to animate
him in the struggle, and incite him to consider a

* Religions of India.
33

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

reunion and reincorporation with Divinity as the
one primary object of every action and reaction.
Even the loftiest philosophy of the Europeans,
the idealism of reason as it is set forth by the
Greek philosophers, appears in comparison with
the abundant light and vigor of Oriental idealism
like a feeble Promethean spark in the full flood
of heavenly glory of the noonday sun, faltering
and feeble and ever ready to be extinguished." *
The ultimate reality of the universe, according
to Vedanta, is the one Absolute Substance which
is beyond subject and object, which is the infinite
source of intelligence or knowledge, of conscious-
ness and blissfulness, which is one and not many.
It is called in Sanskrit Brahman. It is the same
as the Good of Plato, the "Ding-an-sich" or the
transcendental Thing-in-itself of Kant, the Will
of Schopenhauer, the Substantia of Spinoza, the
Over-Soul of Emerson, the Unknowable of Her-
bert Spencer, the Divine Essence of the Heaven-
ly Father of the Christians, and of Allah of the
Mahometans. It is also the true nature of
Buddha and of Christ. It pervades the uni-

♦ Indian Language, Literature, and Philosophy, p. 471.

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

verse. It is one and universal. No one can
divide it: it is indivisible. This is the reality
of the universe, says Vedanta.

The system of Vedanta is more critical than
the Kantian system, because it shows the phe-
nomenal nature of the Kantian ego, of his forms
of intuition, and his categories of thought. It
is also more sublime than the philosophy of Kant,
because it recognizes and proves the identity of
the objective reality of the universe with the
subjective reality of the ego. Kant did not
realize that the Thing-in-itself ("Ding-an-sich")
of the objective world and the '* Ding-an-sich"
of the subjective world are one. In no other
system of philosophy has this oneness been so
clearly explained and so strongly emphasized as
it is in Vedanta. Professor Max Miiller says:
"This constitutes the unique character of Vedanta,
unique compared with every other philosophy
of the world which has not been influenced by
it, directly or indirectly." * There have been
many European philosophies which have denied
the existence of the external world, but not one

* The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, p. 333.

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of them has ventured to deny the apparent
reahty of the ego, of the senses, of the mind, and
of their inherent forms. In this respect Vedanta
holds a most unique position among the phi-
losophies of the world. After lifting the Self or
the true nature of the ego, Vedanta unites it
with the essence of Divinity, which is absolutely
pure, perfect, immortal, unchangeable, and one.
No philosopher, not even Plato, Spinoza, Kant,
Hegel, or Schopenhauer, has reached that height
of philosophic thought. Professor Max Muller
declares: "None of our philosophers, ne-t except-
ing Heraclitus, Plato, Kant, or Hegel, has
ventured to erect such a spire, never frightened
by storms or lightnings. Stone follows on stone,
in regular succession after once the first step
has been made, after once it has been clearly
seen that in the beginning there can have been
but One, as there will be but One in the end,
whether we call it Atman or Brahman." *

Altliough Vedanta has united heaven and
earth, God and man, Brahman and Atman, still
it has destroyed nothing in the phenomenal

• The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy, p. 239.

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY 01 TO-DAY.

world. It accepts all the ultimate conclusions

of modem science; but at the same time it says

that Truth is one and not many, yet there can

be many expressions and various manifestations

of the one Tnith. Furthermore, it maintains

that the aim of the higher philosophy is not merely

to ascertain the established conjunctions of events

which constitute the order of the universe, or to

record the phenomena which it exhibits to our

observation and refer them to the general laws,

but also to lead the human mind from the

realm of the knowable to that which is beyond

the knowable. We are now living in the reahn

of the knowable; but that which teaches simply

the laws which govern the knowable phenomena

is not the highest kind of philosophy. We must

know the laws of the knowable, yet at the same

time we should aspire to go beyond the knowable

and plunge into the realm of the Infinite. If

any philosophy can help us in this attempt, then

it must be higher than the ordinary system which

keeps us within the limits of the knowable.

Vedanta philosophy guides us above all knowable

objects of perception, and directs our souls

INDIA AND HZR PEOPLE.

toward the Eternal Absolute Being, wherein we
find the solution of all problems and the answer
to all questions. Its attempt is to trace the
relation between the soul and God, not by an)'
unscientific method, but by the most rigorous
processes of logic and reason, starting from the
ultimate generahzations of the various branches
of science.

True philosophy must construct a theory
which will be the simplest in its nature, and yet
at the same time will explain all the vital prob-
lems which the science of the phenomenal-Know-
able can never explain, and which will liarmonize
with the highest form of universal religion,
without destroying the loftiest aspirations of
the human soul. True philosophy in the widest
sense must perform three great functions. First,
it must coordinate the ultimate results arrived
at by special branches of knowledge which we
call sciences, and, taking up those conclusions,
it must form the widest generalizations possible.
WTien it does this, it is called phenomenology.
Herbert Spencer's philosophy performs this

function most wonderfully, but it leaves out the

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

vital problems which perplex the minds of the
greatest philosophers as unsolvable mj'^steries.
Herbert Spencer does not explain all these
problems, but without finding their true solution
our lives will not be worth living. We must
find an explanation, we must solve all the
problems which disturb the peace of our souls;
and if any system will help us, we will study it,
follow its teachings, and satisfy our questioning
minds. Secondly, true philosophy must investi-
gate the realm of knowledge and trace its source.
You know that you are sitting here and listening:
where does this knowledge come from? The
minds of even the greatest thinkers have become
confused in trying to answer this question. A
philosophy which does this is called Epistomology.
The philosophy of Kant, Hegel, Fichte, and
others has performed this function. In his
"Elements of General Philosophy" George
Croom Robertson says: "Epistomology is just
philosophy, because it deals with things, deals
with being; it deals with things going beyond
bare experience, but it treats of them in relation

to the fact of knowing. Thus an epistomologist

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

cannot help being an ontologist, because his

theory of knowledge must treat about things also

as being. He must also be a metaphysician,

'because he is concerned with the whole range

of things beyond the physical; he must be a

philosopher in being other and more than a man

of science, or concerned with things in a way in

which science is not." Science, with its various

branches, directs us up to a certain point, and

cannot go further; but where science ends, there

is the beginning of true philosophy. The third

function which true philosophy performs is that of

leading our minds into the realm of the Absolute,

of the Unknown, and then it solves the problems

of life and death. It explains the origin of the

universe and of individual existence, and the

purpose of evolution. On the plane of relativity

the perfect solution of these vital problems can

never be found. Furthermore, when this phase

of true philosophy directs our minds toward the

Infinite, it helps us in becoming free from all

limitations of ignorance and selfishness. These

limitations are the greatest bondage that we are

now suffering from, and, by performing this

THE PREVAILENG PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

function, true philosophy lays the foundation of
the highest form of monistic religion. No phi-
losophy in the world performs these three func-
tions so satisfactorily as Vedanta. Hence we
may say that Vedanta is the most complete of
all systems.

Philosophy and religion must always be in per-
fect harmony. Ernest Haeckel, in his "Riddle
of the Universe," tries to give a foundation to
monistic religion; but his monism is one-sided,
because he says that the ultimate substance of
the universe is unintelligent. His insentient
substance may be compared with Kapila's
Prakriti, which is eternal and unintelligent.
According to Vedanta, however, the final sub-
stance of the universe is Brahman, which is Sat
or absolute existence. Chit or absolute intelli-
gence, and Ananda or absolute bliss. Vedanta
teaches that that which is the substance of our
souls must possess intelligence, consciousness,
and blissfulness. Thus Vedanta lays the true
foundation of a universal religion which is
monistic or non-dualistic. The monistic religion
of Vedanta does not admit the S^khyan theory

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of the plurality of Purushas, or individual souls,

which are eternal and infinite by nature, but on

the contrary, by following the strict rules of logic,

it establishes that the Infinite must be one and

not many. From one many have come into

existence, and the individual souls are but so

many images or reflections of the Absolute

Brahman. It teaches that the true nature of

the soul is Divine. From the Absolute Brahman

the phenomenal universe rises, and in the end

returns into the Brahman. The religion of

Vedanta admits the existence of Iswara, the

personal God, who is the first-born Lord of the

universe, who starts the evolution of Prakriti, who

loves all living creatures and can be loved and

worshipped in return. In Vedanta the Prakriti

of the Sankhya philosophy is called M4yA, which

is the divine energy of the Absolute Brahman.

Mayd does not mean illusion, as some scholars

think; but it is that power which produces time,

space, and causation, as also the phenomenal

appearances which exist on the relative plane.

Thus we see that the system of Vedanta is both

philosophy and religion. Of the tree of knowl-

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

edge, philosophy is the flower and rehgion is
the fruit, so they must go together. Rehgion
is nothing but the practical side of philsophy,
and philosophy is the theoretical side of re-
ligion.

In India a true philosopher is not a mere specu-
lator but a spiritual man. He does not believe
in certain theories which cannot be carried into
practice in every-day life; what he believes he
lives, and therefore practical philosophy is still
to be found in India. For example, an Indian
philosopher who follows Kanada, and believes in
the existence of a personal God as the essence of
his soul, does not merely accept this theoretically,
but he tries to realize it in his daily life. A
Buddhist, again, will explain all the most abstruse
problems, and at the same time you will see that he
IS living out his beliefs. So with a follower of
the Sankhya system, or of Vedanta: they are
not mere speculative philosophers, but they live
spiritual lives and strive to attain God-conscious-
ness. In India, if any one writes voluminous
works and leads a worldly life, he is not con-
sidered a true philosopher; but in the West a

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

man can become a philosopher by simply sitting
in his library and writing a book, although his
every-day life may be far from spiritual.

A friend of mine, being asked whether India
had produced a philosopher like Ralph Waldo
Emerson, replied: "America has produced one
Emerson, but in India you will find an Emerson
every five miles." This is not a great exaggera-
tion, and the reason, as I have already said, is
that the Hindus not only theorize but live
philosophy. Hindu minds are extremely logical.
They will not accept any theory which does not
harmonize with logic and reason. Therefore
you will scarcely find an irrational doctrine
or dogma in the religion of \'edanta. Freedom
of thouglit, as I have already said, has always
prevailed in India since the Vedic period. For
this reason Christian missionaries meet witli
the greatest opposition when they preach to
the Hindus tlic unscientific and illogical doc-
trines and dogmas of their faith. When, for
instance, they try to teach them the creation
of the universe in six days as given in Genesis,

the Hindus smile at the missionaries and reject

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

their statements as unscientific and irrational.
Similarly the}^ will not listen to other Christian
dogmas, like infant damnation, eternal perdition
of the heathen, etc.

The philosophy and religion of Vedanta
embrace all the sciences and philosophies of
the world, accepting their latest conclusions, and
classify them according to their order of merit.
Consequently the universality of Vedanta is
unique and unparalleled. In this system the peo-
ple of India find the ultimate truths of all sci-
ences, of all philosophies, as well as of all religions.
It is so popular because it solves the problems
concerning the origin and final aim of earthly
life, fulfils the highest aspiration of human
souls, and inculcates that the true nature of
the soul is immortal by its birthright. Vedanta
mahi tains that, if the soul were mortal by nature,
it could never become immortal, for that which
could be made immortal could be unmade.
This is an argument which cannot be refuted,
and it has taken such hold of the logical mind
of the Hindus that, even when they are con-
verted to other faiths, they cannot beUeve that

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

the soul, which is by nature a child of God, can
ever be made immortal by Christ.

Vedanta has the largest following, and is the
prevailing philosophy of India to-day. Since the
eighth century a.d., when, after the decline of
Buddhism, it was revived by the earnest efforts
of its commentator, Sri Sankardchirya, who is
now regarded as the greatest philosopher of the
world, the \^edanta philosophy has taken firm
root in the remotest corner of every Hindu
community, from the highest to the lowest, and
has overshadowed all other systems of philosophic
thought. Professor Max Miiller, in the preface
to his "Six Systems of Philosophy," writes:
' ' Other philosophies do exist and have some fol-
lowing, but Vedanta has the largest"; and he
also affirms that Vedanta is both a philosophy
and a religion by saying: "For all practical
purposes, the Vedantist would hold that the
whole phenomenal world, both in its subjective
and objective character, should be accepted as
real. It is as real as anything can be to the
ordinary mind; it is not mere emptiness, as the
Buddhists maintain. And thus the Vedanta

THE PREVAILING PHILOSOPHY OF TO-DAY.

philosophy leaves to every man a wide sphere
of real usefulness, and places him under a law
as strict and binding as anything can be in this
transitory hfe; it leaves him a Deity to wor-
ship as omnipotent and majestic as the deities
of any other religion. It has room for almost
every religion; nay, it embraces them all." *

♦ Three Lectures on Vedanta Philosophy.
47

II.

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

Few people realize the vastness of India.
If we include British Burmah, it is as large in
area as the whole of Europe except Russia,
or nearly two-thirds of the United States, with
a population almost three and a half times as
great. It is a country with a vast conglomera-
tion of nations and languages, far more diverse
than in America or in any other country of the
world. Among tliis huge mass of inhabitants
we find the followers of every great religion;
there are Christians, Mahometans, Jews, Parsees
or Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, and
Hindus. According to the census of 1901 the
adherents of the different faiths in India num-
ber as follows:

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

Christians 2,923,241

Mahometans 62,458,077

Jews 18,228

Parsees 94,190

Buddhists (chiefly in Burmah) .... 9,476,759

Jains 1,334,148

Sikhs 2,195,339

Hindus 207,147,026

The Jews are scattered in large cities like
Bombay, Poona, and Calcutta. The Parsees
are to be found in the Bombay Presidency; but
in India proper there are very few Buddhists.
Besides these, there are about six hundred
thousand Aboriginal non-Aryans who are ances-
tor or spirit- worshippers. The majority of the
population are known as Hindus and their
religion is called Hinduism. The words "Hindu"
and " Hinduism," however, are entirely of for-
eign origin. In ancient times, when the Persians
and Greeks invaded India, they came across a
river in the northwest of India which was called
in Sanskrit " Sindhu " (the Indus of modern
geography), but, in Zend and in Greek, "Hindu."
Consequently, those who inhabited the banks

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of the **Sindhu" or Indus were named by the
Greeks and Persians " Hindus " and their land
"Hindustan." If we remember this derivation
we shall be able to understand why these words
"Hindu" and "Hinduism" do not mean any-
thing to the natives of India, who call themselves,
not Hindus, but Aryas or Aryans. The inhab-
itants of India to-day are the descendants of
the same Aryan family from which the Anglo-
Saxons, Germans, and Latin races have descended.
They came originally from Central Asia, — some
say from the North Pole and others from Europe;
but we do not know the exact spot where the
ancient forefathers of the Aryans lived.

The word "Hindu," therefore, refers to the
descendants of the Indo-Aryans who at present
inhabit India and call themselves Aryas or
Aryans; while their religion is known among
themselves as "Arya-Dharma " (the religion
of the Aryans), or "Sanitana-Dharma," which
means "that religion which lasts throughout
eternity," for, according to the Hindus, this
religion is eternal. It has always existed, and

will continue as long as the world will exist.

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

Some people may think that it is a natural
religion; but if we trace the origin of all so-
called supernatural religions, we shall find that
they were in some way connected with India,
the home of all the religious systems of the
world, and that, when other countries and
other nations had no religion at all, the eternal
religion of the Hindus not only prevailed but
was fully developed.

Under the name of Hinduism there still exists
in India to-day a system of religion which em-
braces all the religious thought of the world.
It stands like a huge banyan-tree, spreading
its far-reaching branches over hundreds of sects,
creeds, and denominations, and covering with its
innumerable leaves all forms of worship, — the
dualistic, qualified non-dualistic, and monistic
worship of the One Supreme God, the worship of
the Incarnation of God, and also hero-worship,
saint-worship, s3nTibol-worship, ancestor-worship,
and the worship of departed spirits. It is based
upon the grand idea of universal receptivity.
It receives everything. It is like an immense

hospitable mansion which welcomes all wor-

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

shippers, from the lowest to the highest, all
believers in the existence of God, and which has
never refused admission to any sincere applicant
for spiritual freedom. The prevailing religion
of India may be compared to a vast mosaic,
inlaid with every kind of religious idea and
every form of worship which the human mind can
possibly conceive. If any one wishes to study
the history of the gradual evolution of the worship
of the One Supreme Being step by step, from
its lowest to its highest phase, let him go to
India and study the living history of religions.
Let him simply watch the lives of the followers
of existing sects, for Professor Max Miiller says:
"No phase of religion, from the coarsest super-
stition to the most sublime enlightenment, is
unrepresented in that country."

This universal rehgion, strictly speaking, is
neither Hinduism nor Brahminism, although it
has been called both, as well as by still other
names. But why should we call it Brdhminism?
The term, which is an invention of the Christian
missionaries, has no meaning to the Hindus,

because no Brdlimin was its founder. This

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

eternal religion, indeed, is nameless and it had
no founder. Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christi-
anity, Mahometanism, had their founders and
were built around the personality of these
founders; but the rehgion of the Hindus is not
limited by any book, or by the existence or non-
existence of any particular person. If we study
the words of the earliest-known Rishi, or Vedic
" Seer of Truth," even he alludes to others who
had seen similar truths before him. It is for
this reason that the religion of the Indo-Aryans
never had any special creed or dogma or theology
as its guide. Everything that harmonized with
the eternal laws described by the ancient Seers
of Truth was recognized and accepted by them
as true.

From the very beginning this religion has been
as free as the air which we breathe. As air
touches all flowers and carries their fragrance,
along with it wherever it blows, so the SanMana
religion takes in all that is true and beneficial
to mankind. Like the sky overhead, it embraces
the spiritual atmosphere around aU nations and

all countries. It is a well-known fact that this

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

eternal religion of the Hindus surpasses Zoro-
astrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Mahome-
tanism in its antiquity, grandeur, sublimity, and,
above all, in its conception of God. The God
of the Hindus is omnipresent, omnipotent,
omniscient, all-merciful, and impersonally per-
sonal. He is not like the extra-cosmic Creator
as described in Genesis, but is immanent and
resident in nature. He is more merciful, more
impartial, more just, more compassionate, than
Jahveh, the tribal god of the sons of Israel.
The God of the Aryan religion is more benevolent
and more unlimited in power and majesty than
the Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians. You will
find monotheism at the foundation of every
religious structure, and other nations do not
go beyond this; but the Indian people are not
satisfied to stop with monotheism; they want
something higher.

The religion of the Indo-Aryans of to-day
can be classified under three heads, — dualistic,
qualified non-dualistic, and monistic. The first
two, that is, the dualistic and qualified non-dual-
istic phases, have given foundation to the various

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

sects of worshippers who are known as Vaish-

navas, Shaivas, Shaktas, Ganapatyas, Sauryas;

of these, the last two sects have become almost

extinct at the present time. The majority of

Hindus, both men and women, are either Vaish-

navas, Shaivas, or Shaktas.

The Vaishnavas are those who worship the

Supreme Being, the all-knowing, all-loving, and

omnipotent Lord, Governor, and Protector of

the universe, under the name of Vishnu. Vishnu

is the name of the second person of the Hindu

Trinity, the literal meaning of the word being

"all-pervading," "omnipresent." According to

the Hindu belief, Vishnu, or the Lord of the

universe, is both personal and impersonal. In

his impersonal aspect he pervades the universe,

interpenetrates the atoms and molecules, and

fills the infinite space like the glorious light of

the self-effulgent sun. In his personal aspect

he dwells in the highest heaven. The personal

Lord of the universe also incarnates Himself on

this earth in every age to establish the eternal

religion and to help mankind. "Whenever

true religion declines and irreligion prevails,

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

says the Lord, I manifest myself to establish
true religion and to destroy evil." *

Some people think that this idea of the incar-
nation of God was borrowed from the Christians;
but it can be proved, on the contrary, that it
existed in India centuries before Christ was born.
In fact, India is the home of this belief, which
was afterwards adopted by other religions.
The Hindus maintain that since the beginning of
the world God has incarnated many times, and
will come again and again. They have recog-
nized many incarnations in the past, and believe
that there will be many in the future. On this
point they differ from the Christians, who believe
that there was only one incarnation, and that
that was the first and the last. According to the
Hindu faith, God can manifest in any place at
any time, because His powers are unlimited.
If we limit Him by saying that there has been
only one incarnation, then we make Him finite;
but as He is Infinite in His powers, in His glory,
and in His manifestations, He ought not to be
limited by time, space, or nationality. His love

* Bhagavad Gita. Ch. IV, v. 7.
M

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

for all nations is equal, and whenever and wherever
His manifestation is necessary, there He naturally
descends. These incarnations are called in Sans-
krit Avataras, which means the descent of the
Supreme Being for the good of humanity.

Rama, the hero of the great epic Ramayana,
for instance, is regarded as one of the great in-
carnations of ancient India. To-day, in various
parts of the country, especially in the north-
western provinces and in central India, there are
millions and millions of souls who worship
RSma as the Saviour of mankind, who look
upon him as the ideal son, the ideal king, the ideal
father, and the ideal husband; who repeat his
holy name with the deepest feelings of love and
devotion; who chant his praises in the morning,
at noon, and in the evening; who sing songs
describing the exploits of this great Avat5.ra;
who every day read a portion of the RSmdyana
in Sanskrit or in Hindustanee, or in any other
vernacular; and who in their daily life follow
the teachings and the high moral and ethical
ideals exemphfied in the character of Sri Rdma,

the embodiment of Truth eternal. For the sake

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of truthfulness, Rama abandoned his throne,
went into the forest, and lived there for fourteen
long years, practising austerities in order to set
an example of perfect truthfulness. His consort
Sitd, the noblest, purest, and most perfect ideal
of womanhood that India has produced, is now
the exalted spiritual ideal of every Hindu woman,
old or young. Those who have read the Rama-
yana will remember the unparalleled character of
Sita, the ideal wife and mother. She was the
most wonderful character that the world has
ever seen. To show her faithfulness to her lord,
she sacrificed everything; she was, indeed, like
the personification of loyalty and purity. Hanu-
man, again, who is erroneously called by the
Christian missionaries the monkey god, represents
the ideal devotee and the perfect embodiment
of faith and devotion; and whenever a worship-
per of Rama thinks of these qualities, he holds
Hanum^ as the ideal before him. Those who
worship Rama are known as Ramat Vaishnavas.
They regard Rama and Vishnu as one.

Then there are many millions of Vaishna-
vas all over India who worship Krishna, the

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

Hindu Christ. Krishna is regarded as the
greatest of all Avataras or Divine Incarnations.
He lived about 1400 B.C. His life, which is
described in the Mahabharata, the history of
ancient India, as also in many Puranas, resembles
that of Jesus the Christ, not only in His miracu-
lous birth, but in all the principal events of His
earthly career. He was, for example, bom in
a cave, and at the time of his birth an Indian
Herod, Kamsa by name, ordered all infants to
be killed. Krishna also resuscitated the dead,
brought animals back to life, and performed
many other miracles. Those who have read the
Bhagavad Gita, or Song Celestial, as Sir Edwin
Arnold calls it, will remember how vast was the
divine wisdom of the sin-atoning Krishna, the
Redeemer of the world. He is regarded by all
Hindus as the Saviour of mankind in the same
way as Christ is in Christendom. They worship
him, repeat his holy name, and chant his praises
at aU hours of the day, as a devout Roman
Catholic saint would do.

Both Krishna and R^ma are manifestations

of the same Vishnu, the Lord of the universe.

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

This is a difficult thing for Western minds to
grasp, and for that reason they think the Hindus
polytheists. But they are not polytheists. They
worship One God under different names and
forms. Rama was the incarnation of Vishnu,
and so was Krishna. In their spiritual essence
they are one and the same, but in their mani-
festations they are different. Both have their
statues in all the big temples of India, just as
we see the images of Christ and Mary in the
Cathedrals of Christendom. The Christian mis-
sionaries, however, not understanding the Hindu
form of worship, have misrepresented these
statues and called them idols. Here let me
assure you that there is no such thing as idol-
worship, in your sense of the term, in any part
of India, not even among the most illiterate
classes. I have seen more idolatry in Italy
than in India. The Italian peasants even beat
the Bambino when their prayers are not answered,
but in India you will not find such spiritual dark-
ness anywhere. There the people worship the
Ideal, not the idol. Statues and figures are kept

in the temples as reminders of the deeds of the

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

great Saviours. It is the memory, the spirit,
of Rdma and Krishna, which the Hindus worship;
but if you ask a Brahmin priest whom he wor-
ships, or where is Krishna, he will tell you that
Lord Krishna dwells everywhere; he is the
Soul of our souls, the Heart of our hearts. He
is not confined to any particular form made of
wood or stone. Is this idolatry? If so, what
kind of idolatry is it? It is very easy for any
one to say that it is the worship of a false god,
or of an idol; but if a person will look beneath
the surface and inquire of the Hindus them-
selves, he can readily discover how mistaken
such assertions are. If the Hindus are idol-
worshippers because they show respect to their
Spiritual Masters, like Krishna and Rdma, why
should not the Christians be called idolaters
when they show respect to Christ, kneeling down
before his statue or picture? If the Hindu is
idolatrous because he fixes his mind on some
religious sjmibol, like the cross or triangle or
circle, why should not the same term be applied
to the Christian when he thinks of the crucifix

and keeps it on the altar?

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Images and symbols are also used in Hindu
temples as aids to the practice of concentration
and meditation. This is a peculiar mode of
worship common among the Hindus. There
may be no outward signs of worship. A man
will perhaps sit cross-legged on the floor, close
his eyes, and remain as motionless as a statue:
his devotion will all be internal. He will with-
draw his mind from the external world and fix
it upon the Supreme Being; but the starting-
point of his concentration and meditation will
be these s3nTibols and figures, because the natu-
ral tendency of the mind is to go from the con-
crete to the abstract and then to the Absolute.
So there may be many symbols in the temples;
the cross, for instance. The cross was a religious
symbol in India long before Christ was bom.
The swastika is the oldest of all forms of the
cross, and that we have in India to-day. Then
there is the triangle, which symbolizes the
Hindu Trinity; the circle, which represents
infinity; and there are many other symbols, all
of which are considered extremely helpful to
beginners in concentration and meditation.

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

The Hindus regard Krishna as the ideal incar-
nation of Divine Love. His mission was to
estabhsh Divine Love on this earth, and show
that it can be manifested through all sanctified
human relations. What Krishna has done in
India, and how he has impressed the minds of
the people, we cannot understand here. We
must go to India to see that; we must go to
Mathurd, where Krishna was born, or to Vrin-
davan, where he played as a shepherd-boy, to
find how the Vaishnavas revere and worship
him. The worship and devotion which we see
to-day in India cannot be found in any other
part of the worid. I have travelled through
many countries in Europe, and almost all over
the United States and Canada, but I have not
seen the pathos, the spiritual fire, that I have
found among the Vaishnavas in India. God
can be worshipped not only as the Master, but
also as a friend, as a child, as a husband,— that
is what they teach. They bring Him closer
and closer, and make Him the closest and near-
est to our being. Time will not permit me to

go into the details of the method of worship

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

which these Vaishnavas practise, but I can
at least tell you that there are thousands and
thousands of Hindu women who look upon
Krishna, the Saviour of mankind, as their own
child. They do not care for a human child;
they want God as their child, and they con-
sider themselves as the mother of Divinity.
This is a unique thing. The mother of God!
How much purity is required to make a woman
think of herself as the mother of Divinity or of
a Divine Incarnation! And this is their ideal.
I am not exaggerating; I have seen with my
eyes such wonderful characters, and I have
seen them nowhere else.

These Vaishnavas, or worshippers of Krishna,
can be subdivided into seven different, denomina-
tions: The followers of Sankar^charya, the great
preacher and commentator of monistic Vedanta;
the followers of RSjnanuja, another great preacher
and commentator, who hved in the southern part
of India, and whose followers arc known as
qualified non-dualists; the followers of Madhv^-
chdrya, the preacher of the dualistic school;

and the followers of Chaitanya, of Ballav^-

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

charya, of Ramananda, and Nimbacharya. Each
of these was an ideal prophet, spiritual leader, and
commentator of the philosophy of Vedanta, as
also the founder of a denomination which still
has millions of followers all over the country.
They differ only in the minor peculiarities of
their doctrines, beliefs, and modes of worship;
but they all agree on one point, — that Krishna
was the greatest of all Divine Incarnations, that
he was the Saviour of mankind and the Re-
deemer of the world.

The worshippers of Krishna and of Vishnu
or Rama are all vegetarians; they do not touch
meat, because non-killing is their ideal. They
cannot kill any animal for food. They never
drink any intoxicating liquor, neither the men
nor the women. That is a very difficult thing
to find anywhere else. They practise non-
resistance of evil, which was taught not only
by Krishna, but by Buddha and afterwards
by Christ. Their religion makes them loving,
not only to human beings, but to all living
creatures, and pure and chaste in their morals.

They practise disinterested love for humanity;

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

they will sacrifice everything for the good of
others, because their Ideal, their Master, was
the sin-atoning Krishna, who sacrificed every-
thing for the good of the world. There are no
caste distinctions among the Vaishnavas. Ma-
hometans and Pariahs have often become fol-
lowers of this faith. Krishna has indeed given
to earnest and sincere souls among the Hindus
what Jesus the Christ has given to Christendom,
and there is a great similarity in the belief and
mode of worship of the Vaishnavas and those
of the most devout followers of Jesus.

As the Vaishnavas regard Krishna and Rdma
as their Ideals, so there are Hindus who look
upon other manifestations as their Ideal. The
Shaivas, for example, worship Shiva, the third
person of the Hindu Trinity. Shiva represents
the ideal of renunciation and absolute freedom
from worldliness. He is revered by tlie Hindus
as the embodiment of contemplativeness and
Yoga; he is therefore worshipped by the Yogis,
saints, and sages of all sects. They repeat the
name of Shiva with tears of love and devotion

streaming from their eyes; they forget everything

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

of the world when they utter his sacred name.
Shiva and Vishnu, again, are one and the same
in their spiritual essence; they are two mani-
festations of the One Infinite Being who is
called Brahma a in the Vedas. A Vaishnava
can worship Shiva in the same spirit as he worships
his own Ideal Vishnu, and a Shaiva can worship
Vishnu in the same spirit as he worships his own
Ideal, Shiva; because they know that He who
is Vishnu is Shiva and He who is Shiva is Vishnu,
Shiva represents, as I have already said, con-
templativeness. Yoga, renunciation and absolute
freedom from worldliness. As Vishnu is adorned
by the Vaishnavas with all blessed qualities, with
aU that is beautiful, all that stands for wealth,
prosperity, and success in life; Shiva, on the
contrary, is adorned with all that is ugly, horrible,
and awe-inspiring. His beatific form is encircled
by venomous snakes of evil, misfortune, and
worldliness; but they cannot injure Him. Shiva
dwells in the Shmashdna, where horrors of death
and destruction surround Him, but they cannot
frighten Him or disturb His blissful Samddhi.

He is the ever-undaunted conqueror of aU dread,

INDIA A^nD HER PEOPLE.

danger, passion, and distress. He is attended
by ghosts and wicked spirits, but they cannot
hurt Him. Shiva renounces the world for the
good of humanity. Voluntarily He takes upon
Himself the burdens, anxieties, sufferings, and
pains of all humanity, and swallows the deadliest
poison to bestow immortality upon His earnest
followers and true devotees. His consort, the
Divine Mother of the universe, is His only com-
panion in austerities and penances. He lives
where nobody cares to go, and He accepts the
tiger-skin and the ashes from crematories as
His ornaments. He is the ideal of the Yogis.
If any one wishes to see and understand what
renunciation means, let him go to India and
study the worship of Shiva. He has many
forms, many incarnations, and there are many
symbols connected with His life. The Shaivas
worship the snow-white form of Shiva, which
symbolizes purity and freedom from all taint
or worldhncss, the form of Him who is the
Master of the universe. Shiva can be worshipped
under all circumstances. If a follower of Shiva
cannot find a temple, he may sit under a tree;

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

he does not need any form, statue, or symbol;

he simply closes his eyes and meditates upon

Shiva as the Lord of the universe, beyond good

and evil, beyond all relativity, the embodiment

of the Infinite and Absolute Being.

The Vaishnavas and Shaivas, as we have just

seen, regard the Lord of the universe as masculine

and give Him masculine attributes; but there

are Hindus who give to God feminine attributes

and call Him the Mother of the universe. India

is in fact the only place in the world where God

is worshipped as the Mother, and where all

women are considered as representatives of

ideal Divine Motherhood. Some people think

that the Hindus deny salvation to women, but

no Hindu ever imagined anything so crude;

on the contrary, womanhood is attributed by

him to the Lord of the universe. He knows

that the soul is sexless, and that it manifests on

the physical plane as a man or a woman only to

fulfil a certain purpose in life. The Bhagavad

Gita says: "All men and women, whether they

believe in God or not, are bound sooner or later

to reach perfection."

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Those who thus worship God as the Mother are
known as Shaktas, the worshippers of Shakti,
Divine Energy, the Mother of all phenomena.
These Shaktas believe that the Mother of the
universe manifests Her powers from time to
time in human form and incarnates as a woman.
There have been various feminine incarnations
among the Hindus. These Divine incarnations
of Shakti, or Divine Energy, are in different
forms, such as Kali, Durga, Tar^, etc. Foreigners
cannot understand the meaning of these sym-
bolic figures, used as aids to concentration and
meditation at the time of worship, and they
think, "How hideous these forms are!" Of
course some of them are hideous to Western
eyes, but to the Hindus they are spiritual sym-
bols; for the people of India are not merely
optimistic, they recognize both sides. They are
brave. They do not deny the evil side of the
world; they take that also, and adorn the Mother
on the one hand with evil, murder, plague, and
the most horrible things, while, on the other
hand, they represent Her as overflowing with

blessings and all that is good and beautiful.

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

Those who have only optimistic ideas shut their
eyes to evils and misfortunes and curse either
God or Satan when these come upon them;
but among the worshippers of the Divine Mother
you will find both men and women, who in time
of distress face danger bravely, and pray to Her
with unflinching faith and whole-hearted love,
recognizing Her grandeur and Divine power
even behind misfortune and calamity.

The whole truth of the Sankhya philosophy *
is s3mibolized in the Shakti-worship, or the
worship of Divine Mother. You will remember
that the Sankhya believes in the evolution of
the world and of the whole universe out of one
Eternal Energy, while the individual soul is
known as Purusha, the Infinite Spirit. So Shiva
represents Purusha, the formless Infinite Spirit,
and His consort or Shakti is that Eternal Energy,
which is called in Sanskrit Prakriti. The union
of the male and female principles of Divinity is
the beginning of cosmic evolution. Here you
will notice how the ultimate conclusions of
science have been sjnmbolized by the Hindus and

* Described in previous lecture.
71

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

made into objects of devotion and worship.

Ask how the evolution of the world began and

they will show you the symbol of the Purusha

and Prakriti. The religion of the Hindus, in

fact, embraces science, logic, and philsosophy.

They think that that which is unscientific, illogical,

and unphilosophical cannot be called religious,

so they take the scientific truths, make symbols

out of them, and, relating them to the Eternal

Being, they use them as the most helpful objects

for devotion and worship. The Hindu mind is

very inventive along spiritual lines. It gives

its inventive genius full play in the spiritual

field. There is no other religion in the world

which is so rich in mythology, symbology, rituals,

and ceremonials, and which possesses so many

phases of the Divine Ideal, as the Sandtana

Dharma, or the Eternal Religion of the Hindus.

Its followers are freely allowed to choose their

ideals in harmony with their thoughts and

spiritual tendencies. They believe that one

particular set of doctrines and dogmas cannot

satisfy the aspirations of all human souls. As

one coat cannot fit all bodies, so one particular

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO- DAY.

ideal cannot fit all minds, cannot suit all the
spiritual tendencies of all nations in all countries.
Do we not see how Christianity has failed in
that respect when it has tried to make the whole
world adopt one ideal? Do we not see to-day
how, among the followers of Christianity, there
is a constant fight and struggle for lack of a
better understanding of their religious ideal?
Human minds need variety; and the paths which
lead to the supreme goal should vary according
to the tendency, capacity, and spiritual develop-
ment of the individual. Therefore the eternal
religion of the Hindus prescribes no set path,
but offers various ones to suit different minds,
— the path of right knowledge and right dis-
crimination (Jnana Yoga); of concentration and
meditation (Raja Yoga); of work for work's
sake (Karma Yoga); and of devotion and
worship (Bhakti Yoga). Each one of these,
again, has various branches. Thus we see that
the Hindus alone have succeeded in giving to
the world a religion which fits all minds and all
tendencies under all conditions, — a religion which

preaches the worship of one God, the Infinite

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Being, under a variety of names and ideals.
Truth is one, but its manifestations are many.
This noble and sublime conception has made
the Hindus extremely tolerant towards other
faiths and other forms of worship outside their
own; for they consider that all religions, sects,
and creeds are like so many paths which lead to
the same goal.

Those who do not understand the Hindu
mode of thought have called it Pantheism;
but it is the worship of One Universal Spirit,
which is infinite, omnipotent, all-merciful, im-
personal and yet personal. If you call it Pan-
theism, then you use the term in the wrong
sense. Pantheism never means that. Wlien
I think that this table is God, or, if I consider
that God has become this chair, then it will be
Pantheism. But if I beheve in One God, who
pervades and interpenetrates the atoms and
molecules of the chair and the table, or any
other object of the world, then tliat will be
the worship of the One Supreme Being, who is
infinite and all-pervading.

True religion, according to the Hindus, does

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

not consist in belief in a certain creed or set
of dogmas, but in the attainment of God-con-
sciousness through spiritual unfoldment. It is
being and becoming God. It is the subjuga-
tion of selfish love and desire for self-aggrandize-
ment, and the expression of Divine love, truth-
fulness, and kindness to all. The object of such
a religion is the freedom of the soul from the
bondage of the world. A Hindu is not limited
by sectarian doctrines and dogmas; he can go
anywhere, worship any ideal that suits him and
make that his chosen Ideal. As long as he
believes in One God, there is no danger, he will
have salvation; and this salvation can be
attained in this life.

Outside of the Vaishnavas, Shaivas, and
Sh&ktas, we find Hindus who follow other
phases of religion. In the Punjab, the north-
western province of India, for instance, there
is a large population which is known as Sikhs.
The word "Sikh" is derived from the Sanskrit
"Shishya," which means "a disciple"; and the
Sikhs are so called because they are disciples
of their master. Guru Nanaka, who was a con-

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE. ;

temporary of Luther. Guru Nanaka was a

great soul. He is regarded to-day by his disciples

and followers as the manifestation of Divinity,

and he left sayings and teachings. These are

written out in a book, and this book the Sikhs

hold in the same light as the Christians their

Bible, the Mahometans their Koran, and the

orthodox Hindus their Vedas. It is to them

the revealed word of God. They put it upon

an altar, burn incense before it, and worship it

as the word of God. They cannot bear any

other form or symbol or image, or the statue of

any incarnation or manifestation of Divinity.

They are as fanatical as the Protestant Christians

in their attitude towards forms and images.

They observe no caste prejudice; they are very

broad and liberal-minded, and will accept the

followers of any faith in their religion. At one

time they converted hundreds of Mahometans

and made them Sikhs. Their book is called the

"Grantha-Sahib," or the Great Scripture, and

contains the most sublime moral and spiritual

ideals, which harmonize with the teachings of

the Vedas. They believe in One Supreme God

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

who is formless. As the Mahometans beheve
in Allah, the One Formless Being, who can
take no form, so these Sikhs believe in the
same way. Perhaps Sikhism arose in India
through the influence of Mahometanism. It is
one of the recent sects.

Besides these orthodox Hindus, there are Jains
and Buddhists. The Jains have their own
Scriptures and their own prophets, Parswa Nath,
Adinath, Mah^vira Nath, and many others, who
are called Tirthankaras (perfected souls). These
are great and immortal spiritual leaders who
came down to teach mankind; any one who fol-
lows their teachings will reach absolute freedom
from this world of imperfection. Jainism arose
in India about the same time as Buddhism.
Buddha Uved about 557 B.C. He was the founder
of the great religion which has civilized the
larger portion of Asia, which predominates in
China and Japan, which has made the Japanese
a great nation, and which prevails to-day in
Tibet, Siam, Burmah, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java,
and many other Asiatic countries. But the

orthodox Hindus regard the Jains as agnostics

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

and the Buddhists as atheists; because the Jains
neither accept nor deny soul or God; while the
modern Buddhists in India do not believe in the
existence of One Supreme Being, or in the ex-
istence of the individual soul as an eternal entity,
neither do they honor the revealed word of the
Vedas. For this reason they are classed by the
orthodox Hindus as atheists, although Buddha
himself is recognized as one of the incarnations
of Vishnu. Every Hindu believes that Buddha
came to help mankind, and ranks him with Rdma,
Krishna, and other Avataras.

There are still other heterodox Hindus who are
known as Brahmos and Arya-Somajis, and who
may be compared to the Unitarians in this
country. They reject all symbols and images,
but worship One God who is personal and with-
out form.

Thus I have given you a brief outline of the
existing phases of the dualistic and qualified
non-dualistic branches of the one Religion. But
there is still another which is the monistic phase
of the same religion. It is based upon the

fundamental principle of unity in variety. It

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

teaches that there is one existence, one reality,
one truth, one substance, in the whole universe.-
All the distinctions and differentiations which
we perceive with our senses are phenomenal,
therefore transitory and unreal. This One Sub-
stance is called by various names. In the Vedas
we find the first mention of this universal and
eternal law of unity in variety. In the Rig
Veda, which is the oldest Scripture of the world,
we read: "That which exists is One; men call
it by various names." Men worship it in
different forms, under different names. The
same Substance, the Absolute Eternal Being,
manifests itself as Brahma the Creator, Vishnu
the Preserver, Rudra the I^estroyer, and Shakti
the Divine Mother. The same Eternal Being is
worshipped as Allah by the Mahometans, Father
in Heaven and Christ by the Christians, Buddha
by the Buddhists, Jina by the Jains, Ahura
Mazda by the Zoroastrians, Ti-Tien by the
Chinese, and Shiva, Divine Mother, or Brahman,
by the Hindus. The substance is one, although
the names may vary. As the one substance

water is called in different languages by different

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

names, such as aqua, wasser, eau, agua, p^i,
v^ri, jalam, etc., so the One Infinite Absolute
Being is worshipped under different names in
different countries. This phase of rehgion uni-
fies all sects and creeds; and, putting each in the
place where it belongs, it builds up the universal
religion, which is not confined by any particular
book or Scripture, but embraces all the Scrip-
tures of the world. Its principal teaching is
that the individual souls are not born in sin
and iniquity, nor have they inherited as a birth-
right the sins of some fallen man who was tempted
by an evil spirit called Satan. On the contrary,
it tells us that all men and women, irrespective
of their color, creed, or religious beliefs, are chil-
dren of Immortal Bliss, sons of immortality;
that each individual soul is immortal by its
birthright, will attain to immortality, and con-
tinue to remain immortal forever. For if the
soul were not immortal by nature, it could not
be made so by any being, however powerful.
Each soul is a storehouse of infinite potentialities
and possesses infinite possibilities. It was not

created out of nothing, nor by the will of some

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

creator; but it is eternal, beginningless and
endless. That is the teaching; and it declares
that we are not helpless victims of our parents'
sins, but that o'.ir present condition is the resultant
of our past deeds, and that our future state will
be the result of our present actions. Parents
do not create the souls of their children; they
are but the channels, the instruments through
which the individual souls incarnate or manifest
themselves on the physical plane. This is
popularly known as the doctrine of Reincarna-
tion, which means the remanifestation on this
earth of the individual soul, or the germ of life,
according to its desires and tendencies, which
will determine the conditions of its existence.
The Hindus accept the law of Karma and do
rot believe that God creates one man to enjoy
and another to suffer, nor do they maintain
that He punishes the wicked and rewards the
virtuous. Punishment and reward are but the
reactions of our ov/n actions. Each individual
soul reaps the fruits of its own acts, either here
or in some other existence.

This universal rehgion may be called the

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

*' Science of the Soul." As modern science does
not deal with dogmas and does not insist upon
belief in the authority of any person or book,
but depends entirely upon correct observation
and experience of the facts of nature to discover
the laws which govern the phenomena of the
universe, so the monistic religion does not deal
with dogmas and creeds, but exolains through
logic and reason the spiritual nature of man
or the true nature of the soul. It describes the
origin, growth, and process of its gradual evolution
from the minutest germ of life up to the highest
spiritual man, as Christ or Buddha or Rdma-
krishna; for it claims that all souls will become
perfect in the course of evolution. Each indi-
vidual soul, however imperfect it may be at
present, is bound in the end to attain perfection
and become divine. It teaches that the human
soul in the progress of spiritual evolution passes
step by step from duahsm or monotheism to
qualified non-dualism, and ultimately reaches
the spiritual height of absolute non-dualism or
monism. So long as a soul is on the plane of
duality, or of monotheism, it believes in a God

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

who dwells outside of nature, who is extra-
cosmic, who, as the Creator of the universe,
creates something out of nothing, and who is
far, far away from us. We cannot reach Him —
He is too high, too great, too distant. He is
the Master and we are His servants; we must
worship Him in that relation. But when we
approach nearer to the Infinite Being, we gradu-
ally begin to see that He is not so far from us,
that He is immanent and resident in nature.
He is near us; why should we consider Him as
beyond, far out of our reach? Then we come
to that phase which is called qualified non-
dualistic. In this we realize that God is one
stupendous whole and we are but parts; each
individual soul is a part of the Infinite Being.
But when the soul rises still higher, it transcends
all relativity and plunges into the realm of the
Absolute. There, forgetting all names and forms,
it reaches absolute oneness with Divinity, and
then it declares: "I and my Father are one."
In that state the soul becomes perfected; all
the divine qualities and divine powers begin to

flow through it, and it is transfigured into

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Divine Glory. Then it becomes Chiist-like;
it reaches that state which is represented by
the word "Christ."

The word "Christ", according to the universal
religion, means a state of spiritual perfection,
of spiritual realization or attainment of oneness
with the Supreme Being. Whosoever reaches
that state becomes Christ. And this universal
rehgion teaches that each individual soul is
a potential Christ, is potentially divine, and that
potentiality will become actual when tlie soul
awakens to the consciousness of its divine glory.
When, transcending all bondage, all laws of
the relative, phenomenal world, it comes face
to face with the Absolute, it reaches the height
of monistic religion, then it will be Christ, then
it will be Buddha, "the Enlightened One" — or
he who has attained to spiritual enlightenment.
According to this religion, when Jesus attained
to that state. He became Christ; when Buddha
attained to that state. He was held by the
world as the Saviour of mankind, as the Re-
deemer. This universal religion brings great

comfort and consolation to us, because it assures

THE RELIGION OF INDIA TO-DAY.

US that we are not going to eternal perdition;
for it does not believe in hell-fire or eternal
damnation. It teaches that men commit mis-
takes, and those mistakes will bring their results
through the law of cause and sequence, of action
and reaction, but they will not last throughout
eternity. Death, therefore, cannot frighten the
followers of this religion.

Although this universal religion is founded
upon the teachings of the Vedas and is as old as
the Vedas, yet it has been forgotten again and
again, and again and again it has been revived
and preached by the great Saviours and spiritual
leaders who have flourished in India from time
to time. Krishna preached it 1400 years before
Christ; after the decline of Buddhism it was
preached again by Sankar&charya in the eighth
century after Christ; and lastly it was preached
by Bhagavin Sri RSjnakrishna, who lived in the
latter part of the nineteenth century and who
is regarded by thousands and thousands of
educated Hindus as the latest Incarnation of
Divinit\^ He is recognized as the prime-mover
in the great religious upheaval which has begun

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

in India. The tidal wave of this universal
religion, rising from Ramakrishna as its centre,
has inundated the whole spiritual field of India
and is rapidly spreading all over the world,
creating a revolution in the world's religious
thought, which will surely produce wonderful
results in time to come.

in.

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN
PEOPLE: THEIR SYSTEM OF CASTE.

In the last lecture we saw how the Indo-
Aryans hold the loftiest ideal of absolute freedom
in their religious belief. From time immemorial
they have shown perfect toleration toward the
followers of every faith, and no religious perse-
cution has been recorded in the whole history
of India. Even atheists and agnostics have
been allowed to live unmolested. Although the
Mahometans and the Christians hate the Hindus,
still the Hindus do not persecute them, but live
in absolute peace and harmony with them,
India is indeed the home of universal tolerance
and rebgious freedom. In their social life, on

the contrary, the Hindus are more restricted

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

than any other nation of the world. Their so-
ciety is different from that of Europe or America;
its laws are more rigid and binding. They will
not associate or intermarry with the Mahometans
or Christians, not however because of their
religious beliefs, but on account of their social
ideals.

The Hindu people are extremely conservative
in their manners and customs, perhaps more so
than the Chinese or Japanese; and this con-
servatism has been the outcome of long-standing
foreign rule and of continuous inroads and in-
vasions by foreign nations. We ought not to
forget that India was first invaded by the
Greeks, then by the Scythians, and afterward
by Mongohans, Tartars, Mahometans, and lastly
by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and other Chris-
tians, These powerful nations fell upon India
like avalanches, devastating the land of its
wealth and prosperity and destroying the glori-
ous monuments of the Indo-Aryans. They
came not to help the Hindus, but to plunder
their country and rob them of their valuable

possessions. What nation could withstand such

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

successive invasions and survive such repeated
disasters without possessing a tremendous power
of conservatism? The Egyptians, Persians, and
other nations which were unable to conserve
themselves in time of need have been swept out
of existence. This power of conservatism which
has been so marvellously displayed by the Hindu
people is indeed a great lesson to the civihzed
world. It has kept the nation alive, and has
protected the Aryan blood and Aryan literature
by creating impregnable social barriers which
the destructive forces of successive invaders
have never been able to break through.

No foreign power can demolish the social
structure of the Hindus. It has stood for ages
fim-i like the gigantic peaks of the Himalayas,
defying the strength of all hostile forces, because
its foundation was laid — not upon the quick-
sand of commercialism, not upon the quagmire
of greed for territorial possessions, but upon
the solid rock of the moral and spiritual laws
which eternally govern earthly existence. The
ancient founders of Hindu society were not like

the robber-barons or ambitious political leaders

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of mediaeval Europe; but they were sages and
Seers of Truth, who sacrificed their personal
interest, their ambition and desire for power and
position upon the altar of disinterested love for
humanity.

The Hindus of modern times trace their descent
from these great sages, saints, and Rishis of pre-
historic ages, and consider themselves blessed on
account of such exalted lineage. They glory in the
names of their forefathers, and feel an uncon-
querable pride because of the purity, unselfish-
ness, spirituality, and God-consciousness of their
holy ancestors. This noble pride has prevented
the members of different communities from
holding free intercourse and from intermarrj^ng
with foreigners and invading nations, and has
thus kept the Aryan blood pure and unadulterated.
If they had not possessed that tremendous
national pride and had mixed freely with all
people by whom they were overrun, we should
not find in India to-day the full-blooded descend-
ants of the pure Aryan family.

Hindu society is divided into hundreds of
communities; each community consists of several

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF TEEE ESTDIAN PEOPLE.

clans and each clan has its own peculiar customs

and rules. These clans, again, are made up of

numerous families, "Kula", and the members

of these families are the individual units. The

members of the family are governed by the

"Kula-Dharma" or family customs, the families

must obey the clan family customs, and the

clan families must be governed by the rules of

the community. The members of the family

enjoy absolute freedom in everything that is

approved of by the other families of the same

clan. If the common opinion of the majority

of the families of one clan be against any act

of violation of its long-standing custom, then it

should not be performed. If any one dares to

violate such custom, then he forfeits all the

privileges which he may have in his family life

in the community. He will be deprived of social

intercourse and relationship with the clan family

and of the protection of the community.

This clan family is called in Sanskrit "Gotra".

There is no English word by which I can translate

this term, the literal meaning of "Gotra" being

*''lineage", that is, the descendants of common

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

ancestors. Originally there were about twenty-
four Rishis who were Gotra-makers or makers of
clans. They were all sages and Seers of Truth,
who lived in the Vedic period and were inspired.
The hymns of the Vedas and other holy Scrip-
tures in India came through them, and they
were leaders as well as clan-makers. We all
trace our descent from these great Rishis.

Again, the community of many clans is called
in Sanskrit "J^ti", Greek "Genus", Roman
"Gens", or the patriarchal family in the largest
sense of the term. Each community consists
of many clans, which live together, obe3dng the
laws of the community. The rules of propriety
and impropriety, marriage ceremonies and funeral
rites, rituals and ceremonies, amusements and
occupations, professions and industries, nay, all
the details of social life must be in perfect
harmony with the laws and customs which have
been handed down through generations to the
existing communities. These social laws are
called "JAti-Dharma", or the duties of a J5.ti
or community. Each clan family, from the
lowest Pariah to tlie highest Brdhmin, is guided

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

and governed by the Jati-Dharma. No position,
profession, or industry can be accepted by any
member of a community if the community as a
body disapproves of it. If any member wishes
to fulfil a desire, he must first consider whether
it is in perfect harmony with the customs of the
family (Kula-Dharma), then with the duties of
the clan family (Gotra-Dharma), and lastly with
the laws of the community (Jati-Dharma); and,
after establishing harmony with all these, he can
do what he pleases. In case of difference of
opinion, whatever the community decides for
the family and the individual they must im-
plicitly obey. The leaders of the community are
the final authorities. The individual sacrifices
his freedom for the sake of the family, the
interest of the family is merged into that of the
clan, and the clan sacrifices its interest for the
community.

This is a peculiar system of government, but
it has existed in India for many centuries. A
Hindu from the time of his birth up to his last
moment lives a life which may be called a life

of self-sacrifice. Whether a man or a woman,

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

his or her ideal is not to think of himself or her-
self, not to seek his or her own comfort, not to
enjoy selfish pleasures, but to live for the good,
first, of the family, then of the clan, then of the
community. Such is the custom in India. Of
course this government by community we lind
in almost every country in some form and to
some extent, but nowhere is it so strict and so
perfectly organized as in India.

The communities, again, have no social rank
or grade among themselves. All communities
are equally great and all clans are equally good.
Each community is like a small social republic
in itself. The rules and customs of one com-
munity do not interfere with those of another,
and in this respect every community enjoys
absolute freedom as a body, but the individuals
in it cannot enjoy this freedom. They must
obey the laws of their community; and if they
violate any existing custom they must go tlirough
certain penances and austerities. Otherwise they
will be excommunicated, and excommunication
is the worst punishment that can be given to a
Hindu. He will not be invited by other mem-

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

bers of the same community, neither will his
invitation be accepted by them. At the time
of birth, death, or wedding he will be left alone
and absolutely friendless in the world. No
other community will take him. Nor can he
join another clan, because his birthright prevents
him. Such is the rigidity and power of the
communal form of social government among the
Hindus.

Outsiders and foreigners do not understand
this government, because they do not belong to
any community, and those who do not belong
to a commimity cannot know anything of it.
These are unwritten laws. You will not find
them in books; but the unwritten laws are more
binding than the written laws. Strangers who
go to India cannot see the reason why the mem-
bers of different communities under the name
of Brahmin, Kshatriya, or any other caste do not
intermarry or have free social intercourse with
one another. There are, for instance, Brahmins
all over India; but a Brahmin of Bombay will
not intermarry with the Brahmins of Calcutta,
or Madras, or the Punjab. Why? Because

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

although they are all Brahmins, they do not
belong to the same community. Again, all the
Brahmins of the Province of Bengal do not
intermarry or mix freely or eat together, because
they are members of different communities. The
descendants of different clans (Gotra) belonging
to the same community, however, will inter-
marry and have free social intercourse.

The tendency of each community is to preserve
the clan family intact and to keep the Aryan
blood of the individuals in it as pure as possible,
and also to make its members live on the highest
moral and spiritual plane. The community
approves of everything that is truly ethical and
uplifting and rejects that which debases the
moral and spiritual conduct of the family or
individual. Being thus protected by the laws
and customs of the community, individual
members grow up, rear their children, live in
joint families, fulfil their social or ratlier com-
munal duties, enjoy pleasures and amusements,
and serve the community by performing such
acts as will help other families and members of

the same community. If there be a millionaire,

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

for example, his duty is to help first his own
fainily, then all the families of his own clan, then
other families of the same community. He can
then extend his charitable and philanthropic
works to the members of other communities
or do anything for the good of the public in
general. Each community is like one family
and tremendous unity exists among its mem-
bers. For this reason, there never was any
need in India of such philanthropic organizations
and asylums as you have in Europe and America.
Orphanages, poorhouses, and charitable insti-
tutions were not necessary, because the com-
munity took care of its own poor and its own
orphans. You put the poorer classes in asylums;
but we take them into our homes, feed them, and
clothe them. That is our duty, because they are
our brothers. No grander system was ever
established in the world.

Hindu leaders of society, after trying various
methods, discovered that this form of social
government was the best suited for the Hindu
people. Their idea was that if all the existing

communities into which the whole Hindu popu-

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

lation is divided enforced these moral and spiritual
laws among the members of the different families
then the whole nation would be moral and
spiritual; just as the whole street will be clean
if every one keeps the front of his house clean.
Thus they started from these individual units
and built up a system upon natural laws, making
one family of the whole nation.

But these communities at present are not
perfect. They have now become fixed entities;
their laws, rules, and ideals have lost their flex-
ible nature and have become so rigid and binding
that they cannot be changed, for they are
considered to represent the highest and best
ideals. But the individual living within the
limits of the community may change his ideas
and adopt new ones, better suited to immediate
conditions, which will put him at variance with
the communal life and alienate him from his
clan family. Herein lies one of the serious
defects of the present system. This govern-
ment by community, however, is more effective
and beneficial than the church government such

as we find in this country. Why? Because

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

social questions must be kept separate from
religion; otherwise there will be religious dis-
sension and persecution. And this is the secret
of religious toleration in India. Religion is
never interfered with on account of social affairs.
As I explained in my last lecture, the Hindus are
absolutely free to choose any form of worship
they like, but that has nothing to do with their
social status. The government by community,
however imperfect it may be, has at least this
advantage, — that it gives freedom in religion and
confers upon all the members of these com-
munities equal rights, equal privileges, and equal
opportunities. Both men and women are al-
lowed the same right to discuss and vote upon
any disputed question.

Each community has its aristocracy, middle
classes, and lower classes. The lower and middle
classes aspire to rise to the higher ranks of the
community and expect favor, help, and support
from the superior classes. A man may possess
enormous wealth in the community, but he can
never change his birthright. Neither will he

change his clan (Gotra) or community (J^ti).

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

No other clan will accept him as a member, no
other community will give him better privileges
or protection. The social status of a Hindu
depends upon the rights which he or she has
acquired by birth in the family, clan, and com-
munity. There was, for example, a conmiunity
of fishermen. A lady in that community in-
herited a large estate. In India the women hold
property, manage their own estates, and in such
matters have great freedom. Now this lady
had unusual power and ability and she nanaged
her property most admirably. She built temples,
performed other charitable and philanthropic
works, and did incalculable good by her example
to all the members of the families and clans of
the same community. She was considered to be
like the queen of that community. All of its
members honored and respected her as the
jewel of their society, as did the communities of
Brahmins and other castes; but she never thought
of changing her clan or of rejecting the laws
and customs of her own community.

These communities, again, are subdivisions of

larger classes, which are known in English as

100

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

"castes." The word "caste" has become most
mischievous and misleading, and the less we use
it the better we shall be able to understand the
social conditions of the people of ancient and
modem India. The term "caste" is the angli-
cized form of the Portuguese word "casta",
which means "breed" or "stock." It was ftrst
applied by the rough Portuguese sailors of tlie
sLxteenth century to certain divisions of the
Hindu society. It was originally used in the
sense of pure, unmixed breed, but in Sanskrit
there is no equivalent of such a word as caste.
In the writings of the Hindus, from the Vedas
down to the Laws of Manu and the Puranas,
we do not find any word which has the same
meaning as is conveyed by the term caste, and
in India to ask a Hindu what is meant by caste
would be like asking an American what caste
means in America. The Sanskrit word which
has been translated (or mistranslated) by caste
is "Vama" (color), which imphed some eth-
nological distinction of complexion as separat-
ing the dominant from the inferior classes,

the Aryans from the non-Aryan aboriginal tribes

101

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of ancient India. Mr. R. C. Dutt says: "The
very word 'Varna', which in later Sanskrit in-
dicates caste, is used in the Rig Veda to dis-
tinguish the Aryans and the non-Aryans, and
nowhere indicates separate sections in the Aryan
community." * This distinction of color, how-
ever, gradually gave rise to separate divisions
in the Aryan community itself; as in the Bha-
gavad Gita we read: "The Lord has divided the
whole human race into four classes, according
to their color, qualifications, quahties, and
works." t The four original colors of different
races were white, red, yellow, and black; and the
intermixture of these four original colors has
produced all the various race divisions of the
world. Among the Aryans those who were white
in color were called Brdlimins; the red, Kshat-
riyas; the yellow, Vaishyas; and the black,
Sudras. Again the different qualities and works
of these four classes are thus described: "The
duties of BrAhmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, as
also of Sudras, are divided in accordance with

* Civilization in Ancient India, Vol. I, p. 65.
t Chapter IV, verse 13.
102

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

their nature-bom qualities. Peace, self-restraint,
austerities, purity, forgiveness, and uprightness,
knowledge, direct intuition, and faith in God are
the natural qualities of the Brahmin. Of the
Kshatriyas, bravery, energy, fortitude, dexterity,
fleeing not in battle, gift and lordhness are the
nature-bom qualities. Agriculture, protection
of cows, merchandise, and various industries are
the nature-born duties of the Vaishyas. Con-
scientiousness in menial service is the nature-
bom duty of the Sudras. A man attains per-
fection by performing those duties which he is
able to do." * Here you see a man's caste was
determined not only by his color but also by his
natural qualifications. That was the original idea
behind all caste distinctions among the Hindus.
It is quite different from the explanation given
by foreigners and missionaries.

The Brahmins were naturally qualified to
fulfil certain duties, and they discharged them
faithfully and perfectly. Propelled by a nature-
bom tendency they devoted themselves to the
study of the various branches of science and phi-

♦ Bhagavad Gita, Chapter XVIII, verses 41-45.

103

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

losophy, as well as the Vedic Scriptures, and
performed the religious rites and ceremonies of
all classes of people and other priestly duties.
The Kshatriyas were those who became warriors,
soldiers, commanders, and rulers of the country.
The trades, industries, and agriculture were man-
aged by the Vaishyas; while the Sudras were
those who were qualified to do only the menial
and domestic service in the household life of the
other three classes. Thus there arose a complete
system of division of labor. To every man his
place, work, rank, and remuneration were as-
signed.

This division was made perhaps during the
Vedic period, or perhaps earlier; but we find it
given in the Vedas. When the Aryans first in-
vaded India from Central Asia they were highly
civilized. They knew agriculture, and had won-
derful social and political organizations. And
when a division of labor became necessary, they
divided themselves into different classes in
accordance with their natural tendencies. But
at first these divisions were flexible and inter-
changeable. The social distinctions were not

104

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

iron-bound; neither were the occupations and
professions hereditary. We read in the Vedas
and other ancient writings of the Hindus that
the Brahmins could intermarry with the Kshat-
riyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras. They could also
become warriors if they were so qualified; while
the Kshatriyas often became the teachers of the
Brahmins; in fact, most of the philosophical
and spiritual ideals which we have to-day were
first given by the Kshatriyas, and not by the
Brahmins. The members of these classes mixed
freely, and whenever any one had the qualifica-
tions of a Brahmin or a Kshatriya he was called
Brahmin or Kshatriya. There were many Kshat-
riyas who were afterward called Brahmins on
account of their spiritual wisdom and greatness.
You will notice that almost all the incarnations
of Divinity in India were Kshatriyas, and very
few were Brahmins. Another theory about the
origin of caste is given in the Mahabharata. In
the Shanti Parva (chs. 188-189) we read:
"A sage Bharadv^ja asks another sage Bhrigu:
"If color is the principle of differentiation of
caste in the fourfold caste system, then there

105

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

is indeed seen the confusion of color among all
castes;

"Desire, anger, fear, avarice,- grief, anxiety,
hunger, and weariness sway all of us, how then
is the division of caste?

"Innumerable are the species of moving and
unmoving beings; of these various classes, whence
the determination of castes?'

"Bhrigu replied:

"There is no distinction of castes. The whole
world being created by Brahma in the beginning
consisted of Brahmins only. By actions it
underwent (the distinctions of) caste.

"Those twice-born men or Brahmins, who
were fond of the enjoyment of desires, fierce,
passionate, and daring in (the pursuit of) desired
objects, who had abandoned their own duties,
men of ruddy complexion, — these attained the
rank of Kshatriyas.

' 'Those twice-born men or Br&hmins, who had
taken to the profession of tending cattle, who
were yellow in color, lived by agriculture, and
abode not by their own duties, — these attained
the rank of Vaishyas.

106

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

"Those tvvice-born men or Brahmins, who
were fond of kiUing and telHng falsehoods, covet-
ous, who hved by all (kinds of) occupations,
dark in color, and who abandoned all cleanli-
ness,— these attained the rank of Sudras.

"Separated by these actions, the twice-boni
have undergone differentiation into castes."

These four main divisions of the Indo-Aryans

of the Vedic period, according to their Varna

(color) and occupations gradually lost their

flexible nature and became a system of hereditary

caste as early as six centuries before Christ,

when Buddha arose as a great reformer against

the separation and distinction of castes. He

gave a death-blow to priestly power and equaUzed

all classes of people by breaking down the barriers

of this artificial hereditary caste division. Under

this system if a Brahmin was a priest, his son

must be a priest also; while the son of a Kshat-

riya (soldier) must be a soldier. This was of

course started at first with the idea of perfecting

the different lines of work, and the ancient

thinkers and social leaders understood the

laws of heredity so thoroughly that they tried

107

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

to develop the best qualities through hereditary
transmission. Buddha, however, strove to bring
the whole social system into its original simple
form and make it as flexible as it was at the
outset. He would not recognize a Brahmin
because he was born a Brahmin, but he dis-
tinguished all people according to their merits
and qualifications. Any one who possessed the
beautiful qualities of peace, self-restraint, self-
control, righteousness, devotion, love for human-
ity, and divine wisdom, was called by him a
Brahmin; * and during the period of nearly a
thousand years, while Buddhism reigned over
India, people of different classes forgot their
hereditary caste distinctions and enjoyed social
and political freedom.

About 600 A.D., however. Buddhism declined,
corruptions crept in, and the orthodox Brdhmins,
regaining their power, reestablished the original
social organization in accordance with the hered-
itary system of class divisions. Then later the
Mahometans came, and for six hundred years
tried in vain to destroy the social structure of

♦ Vide Dhammapada, Chapter XXVI.
108

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

the Hindus. WTioever favored the Mahometan
ideals was ostracized and excommunicated by
the Hindus. Thus Hindu society lost many of
its most brilliant men and women. Those who
intermarried or associated freely with the Mahom-
etans were deprived of all social rights in their
community, and under no circumstances could
be taken back by the Hindus. Such was the
t5a'anny and abuse of power exercised by the
fanatical descendants of the great Aryan Rishis
and sages of ancient India. The Brdhmins and
social leaders of the middle ages were short-
sighted and superstitious; they had love of power,
they wished to rule over the people and keep
them under their control. To-day India would
be one of the mightiest nations in the world if
these short-sighted orthodox social leaders had
not pursued a policy of seclusion and isolation,
which resulted in absolute disunion among the
members of the different classes of the Hindus.
England could not have held her dominant
sword over the heads of three hundred millions
of people in India if there had been unity among

the isolated communities and clans of the four

109

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

divisions. Well has it been said by Sir Monier
Monier Williams: "And certainly the antagonism
of these caste associations and trade leagues has
helped us to govern the country by making
political combinations impracticable." *

But now the conditions are changing. India
of to-day is different from what she was fifty
years ago. Education and intellectual progress
are opening the eyes of the nation. The cry
for social reform is to be heard in every comer
of this vast country. People are begiining to
see the defects of the existing social organism.
The educated classes are now convinced that if
the present conditions are aUowed to continue
the absolute disintegration and complete anni-
hilation of the national life will be the inevitable
result. Thinking people are no longer satisfied
with the seclusion and isolation of the different
communities by iron barriers of superstition.
They wish to unify all communities into one
homogeneous whole, to make every member feel
that he is a part and parcel, not merely of a
family, clan, or community, not merely a part

* Brdhminism and Hinduism, p. 474.
110

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

of a section of the Hindu nation which is limited
by color or caste, but a most important part of
the Indo- Aryan nation as a whole. The solidarity
of all classes and all communities is the aim of
the social refonners. The work has begun, but
it will take a long time to make this reform
effective and universal.

To-day the integrity of the social organization
is weakened; social chaos and anarchy have
prevailed. Fifty years ago every one was proud
of his noble birth, but with the hard competi-
tion and extreme poverty of the masses, brought
about by an alien government, the question of
bread and butter has absorbed the whole atten-
tion of the people. The people to-day are very
poor. They need food and clothes and a shelter
over their heads. They have no means to
support their families. Their present social
status depends upon wealth. A high-class
Br^min, disregarding the ancient tradition and
custom of his caste, will now perform the most
menial tasks, like cooking in a private house or
working as a servant. To-day the question is

how to live. A Brahmin again will bow down

111

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

to a Sudra of the lowest class if the latter hap-
pens to be rich. Twenty years ago the brother
looked upon his elder as his superior, but now
he considers him merely as a good companion.
The rigors of the social organization, which
formerly ensured obedience to authority have
been loosened, and every one now feels that
he is at liberty to go his own way.

The Hindus are passing through a transition
period. Social progress is at present checked by
the vigorous efforts of an unsympathetic, greedy,
selfish, and despotic foreign government, whose
heartless officials are sucking the life-blood of
the Hindu nation. All the trade giiilds and in-
dustrial leagues which exercised such tremendous
power in the social life of the Hindus have
no longer voice or authority in the community.
English merchants, protected by the British
government, have taken possession of the market,
have driven out the native manufacturers, have
destroyed the trade and commerce of the country,
and have thus ruined millions of people. If you
go to India to-day, you will find thousands and
thousands, perhaps millions and millions, who

112

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

have no occupation. No industry is encouraged.
People are driven to live upon agriculture. The
English government wanted to make India an
agricultural country and she has succeeded in
doing so. The laboring classes in consequence
are obliged to live and support their family on
from two to five cents a day. What social
progress can we expect to see under such destruc-
tive power vigorously exercised by the so-called
monarch of European civilization? Christian
missionaries, blinded by their fanatical zeal to
Christianize India, do not see the faults and
the demoralizing influence of the present system
of despotic government which is ruining the
country, but they trace the origin of all social
evils to the religion of the Hindus. Directly
or indirectly their efforts are to destroy the
Hindu social structure, but have they any better
system to give in return? We see that the
present social government in Europe and in
this country is not perfect. It is not even as
perfect as the corrupted caste system which
exists in India! These Christian missionaries

do not reaUze that the majority of the Christian

113

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

converts in India repent as long as they live for
the great mistake they have committed in alienat-
ing themselves from the Hindu society. Have
they any social standing even among the Chris-
tians themselves? Are the negroes of America
on an equal footing with the white Christians?
No. First let the Christians root out from
their hearts the prejudice against race and color.
Have they succeeded in doing that? How then
can they solve the tremendous social problem
which faces the Hindu people? India needs
social reconstruction, but will they find that
through Christianity? No, Christianity cannot
help them, because the Christians know how to
destroy, but they do not know how to build —
especially in India. They may give their church
government, which would be worse in a country
like India. The people have suffered enough from
priestcraft; they do not want any more of it.

India needs social reorganization and social
regeneration. The Christians, like the Mahom-
etans, have poured their ideals into the sea of
Hindu society and have created waves of radical
reform. To-day the waters of that social sea

114

THE SOCIAL STATUS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE.

are being constantly stirred by the anglicized
and half-Europeanized reformers of the present
generation. Now the time has come for the
Hindu leaders of society to stand on a broader
and more universal platform and reconstruct
their system, accepting whatever is good and
noble among Western nations and adding it to
their own lofty ideals. They will have to make
their social organization more flexible than it
has ever been. That reconstruction must be
based upon the broadest and most universal
ideals of the Hindu nation, tempered by the need
of occidental aggressiveness and commercialism.
The remedy has already been discovered in the
all-embracing and unifying system of Vedanta,
which, proclaiming the divine right of all human-
ity 'rrespective of caste, creed, or color, and
teaching that all are children of God, whether
Christians or Hindus, Pariahs or Brahmins, will
once more purify the social conditions, remove
the evils of the caste system, uplift the indi-
viduals, bring solidarity among the members
of different communities, and make the Hindu
nation stand once more as a great civilizing

power among the civilized nations of the world.

116

IV.

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

Those who have studied the history of the
civiHzation of ancient India are well acquainted
with the fact that the Hindus were highly
civilized at least five thousand years ago. The
earliest records of Hindu civilization are to be
found in the Rig Veda, the oldest Scriptures of
the world, and in other writings of the Vedic
period. From these sources we learn, as was
shown in the last lecture, that the Indo-Aryans
of those prehistoric times organized their society
into four general classes: Brahmins, Kshatriyas,
Vaish3'as, and Sudras, according to their color,
qualifications, and professions. The Brahmins
were entrusted with literary and priestly duties;
while the Kshatriyas were those who devoted
their energy to protect the country against in-
vaders, to govern the land, and to look after the

116

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

welfare and safety of all the other classes. In-
dustry, trade, commerce, agriculture, and the
various duties of a commercial life were under-
taken by those who were known as the Vaishyas
or the merchant class; and the Sudras belonged
to the serving class.

The Vedic writings also tell us that the Indo-
Aryans of those days cultivated the land with
ploughs, used oxen and horses in the field,
understood irrigation by means of canals, and
knew the use of wells and reservoirs for drinking
as well as for irrigation. Various kinds of
industry, trade, and commerce, as also the
existence of current money — like pieces of gold
of a certain fixed value, for use in buying and
sellmg are mentioned in the Rig Veda. The
Indo- Aryans, we read, furthermore, were con-
tinually engaged in fighting against the non-
Aryan aboriginal tribes who were the original
inhabitants of India, and remnants of whom
are still to be found in some parts among the
hill tribes, just as you find to-day some of the
original inhabitants of America in certain parts

of this country. In these battles with hostile

117

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

tribes "the (Aryan) warriors used not only
armour and helmets, but also protecting armour
for the shoulder, probably shields. They used
javelins and battle-axes, and sharp-edged swords,
besides bows and arrows. All the weapons of
war known elsewhere in ancient times were known
in India four thousand years ago. Drums
assembled men in battle, banners led them on
in compact masses, and the use of war horses
and chariots was well known. Tame elephants
were in use too." *

The Rig Veda contains numerous allusions
which show that the use of iron, gold, and of
other metals was well known to the Hindus.
Armors worn in war are mentioned in Book I,
140, 10; in II, 39, 4; in IV, 53, 2, as in various
other places; while the javelin, in Sanskrit
Rishti, and the battle-axe, Bashi in Sanskrit,
are mentioned in the Rig Veda, V, 52, 6, and
57, 2. Three thousand mailed warriors are spoken
of in the same Veda, VI, 27, 6; and sharp-edged
swords are described in VI, 47, 10. That the
arrowheads were made of iron is sho\^Ti in

* "Civilization in Ancient India," Vol. I, p. 58.

118

POLITICAL LNSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

Book VI, 75, 15: "We extol the arrow which is
poisoned whose face is iron," and in the next
book {8;^, 1) we read: "When the battle is nigh
and the warrior marches in his armour, he
appears Hke the cloud."

It was by ceaseless fighting that the ancient
Indo-Aryans protected themselves in their newly-
conquered countr}% extended the limits of cul-
tivation, and built new towns and villages. This
interminable warring and fighting forced the
conquering Aryan tribes to organize their politi-
cal and military institutions. Thus the political
institutions of the Hindus are as old as their
civilization. They divided the country into
various kingdoms, principalities, and chiefships,
each enjoying perfect autonomy. At the head
of cch province or kingdom was a Hindu chief
or governor, who was called a Rajah, which
means "prince" or "king." These Rajahs were
absolutely independent of one another. They
entertained friendly relations with the Rajahs
of other neighboring provinces, and sometimes
they were jealous of each other. But there never

was a universal sovereignty over the whole of

119

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

India, like that of the great autocrat of Russia,

although there were powerful monarchs and

emperors to whom other kings, chiefs, and

governors of states acknowledged subordination

and paid tribute. Their autonomy, however,

was never sacrificed. Their alliances generally

bore the character of confederacies, or federal

unions, and not that of feudal baronies subject

to a ruling chief; and under no circumstances

were the servile duties of the feudal barons of

Europe exacted from the weaker Rajahs or

governors. The bond between them was of the

feeblest kind, and easily broke at every favorable

opportunity. In the Vedic period, there were

many such emperors or Chakravartins, as they

were called in Sanskrit. In the Ramayana we

read that Rama was the emperor of Ayodhyd

(modem Oudh), and his power extended all over

northern and southern India as far down as

Ceylon. From the Mah^bharata, which contains

the history of the Hindus who lived as early

as 1400 B.C., we learn that Yudhishtliira became

the emperor of India after the battle of Kuruk-

shetra. His successors, Parikshit, Janmejaya,

120

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

and many others, were known as emperors.
These emperors had a number of Rajahs under
them, who paid allegiance and tribute to them.
But their bond could break at any time for very
insignificant causes.

WTien Alexander the Great invaded India, there
was on the throne the most powerful Buddhist
emperor, Chandra Gupta, whose capital was
Pataliputra, modern Patna, on the river Ganges.
His grandson was Asoka, who lived in 260 B.C.
and became the most celebrated emperor of
those daj^s. He was like Constantine the Great
among the Buddhists. He made Buddhism the
state religion of India; he sent missionaries from
Siberia to Ceylon, from China to Egypt, and
made treaties with kings of foreign countries.
One of the edicts of Asoka, which were written
during his lifetime, says that he made treaties
with five Greek kings who were his contem-
poraries, namely, Antiochus of Syria, Ptolemaos
of Egypt, Antigonus of Macedon, Magus of
C3n'ene, and Alexander of Epiros; and he sent
missionaries to those places, as far as Alexandria,
to preach the Gospel of Buddha.

121

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Alexander the Great, however, invaded only
the northwestern corner of India, and defeated
in one battle some of the hill-tribes, but after-
wards, when he heard of the power and strength
of Chandra Gupta, he withdrew his troops and
returned to Greece. His successor, Seleucus, sent
the Greek ambassador Megasthenes, who lived
for several years at the court of this great em-
peror. From the accounts of Megasthenes,
which are the most authentic historical records
that we can gather from an outsider, we learn
many facts about the political institutions of
the Hindus as witnessed by a foreigner during
the fourth century B.C. Megasthenes left a
valuable record of tlic actual work of administra-
tion as observed by him. He sa3's: "Those who
have charge of the city are divided into six
bodies of five each. The members of the first
look after everything relating to the industrial
arts. Those of the second attend to the enter-
tainment of foreigners. To those they assign
lodgings, and they keep watch over their modes
of life by means of those persons whom they
give to them for assistants. They escort them

122

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDLA.

on the way when they leave the country, or, in
the event of their dying, forward their property
to their relatives. They take care of them when
they are sick, and., if they die, bury them. The
third body consists of those who inquire when
and how births and deaths occur, with a view
not only of levying a tax, but also in order that
births and deaths among both high and low-
may not escape the cognizance of government.
The fourth class superintends trade and com-
merce. Its members have charge of weights
and measures, and see that the products in their
season are sold by public notice. No one is
allowed to deal in more than one kind of com-
modity unless he pays a double tax. The fifth
class supervises manufactured articles, which
they sell by public notice. What is new is sold
separately from what is old, and there is a fine
for mixing the two together. The sixth and
last class consists of those who collect the tenths
of the prices of the articles sold."

The military officers "also consist of six divi-
sions, with five members to each. One division

is appointed to cooperate with the admiral of

123

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

the fleet; another with the superintendent of the
bullock-trains which are used for transporting
engines of war, food for the soldiers, provender
for the cattle, and other military requisites. . . .
The third division has charge of the foot-
soldiers, the fourth of the horses, the fifth
of the war-chariots, and the sixth of the ele-
phants."

In addition to the military and municipal
officers, there was a third class whose duty was
to superintend agriculture, irrigation, foiests, and
the general work of administration in rural dis-
tricts. "Some superintend the rivers, measure
the land, as is done in Egypt, and inspect the
sluices by which water is let out from the main
canals into their branches, so that every one
may have an equal supply of it. The same per-
sons have charge also of the huntsmen, and are
entrusted with the power of rewarding or pun-
ishing them according to their deserts. They
collect the taxes, and superintend the occupa-
tions connected with land, as those of the wood-
cutters, the carpenters, the blacksmiths, and
the miners. They construct roads, and at every

124

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

ten stadia set up a pillar to show the by-roads
and distances." *

The laws of war among the Hindus were more
humane than among the other nations of the
world, and Megasthenes mentions this fact. Ail
these Rajahs governed their country in accordance
with their laws and for the welfare of their people,
and what accoimts we get from Megasthenes
are exactly the same as those we read in Manu,
Apastamba, and other Sanskrit law-books of an-
cient time. Regarding the military law, or the
laws of war, the Hindu lawgiver Apastamba
says: "The Arj^ans forbid the slaughter of those
who have laid down their arms, of those who
beg for mercy with flying hair or joined hands,
and of fugitives." (H, 5, 10, 11.) "Let him
not fight with those who are in fear, intoxicated,
insane or out of their minds, nor with those
who have lost their armour, nor with women,
infants, aged men, and Brahmins." (Bodhayana,
I, 10, 18, II.) "The wives of slain soldiers
were always provided for." (VasishthaXIX, 20.)
Megasthenes s^ys: "For whereas among other

* MacCrindle's Translation.
125

mDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

nations it is usual, in the contests of war, to
ravage the soil, and thus to reduce it to an
uncultivated waste, among the Indians, on the
contrary, by whom husbandmen are regarded
as a class that is sacred and inviolable, the tillers
of the soil, even when battle is raging in the
neighborhood, are undisturbed by any sense of
danger. . . . Besides, they (the warriors) never
ravage an enemy's land with fire nor cut down
its trees. They never use the conquered as
slaves." *

The duties of the king, according to the law-
giver Manu, were "to protect his subjects, to
deal impartial justice, and to punish the wrong-
doer." (VII, 12, i6.) These were the three
principal duties. "Drinking, gambling and licen-
tiousness, and hunting were the most perni-
cious faults of the king." (VII, 50.) The
private life of kings is described by Manu thus:
"The king should rise in the last watch of the
night, and, having performed his personal puri-
fication and devotional exercises, he should enter
the hall of audience in the morning. There he

* MacCrindle's Translation.
126

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

should gratify all subjects who come to see him,
and, having dismissed them, he should take
counsel with his ministers in a private chamber."
(VII, 145-147.) "When the consultation is over,
then he is ready to take care of his physical needs,
meals, and so on." But his first duty is to give
an audience to his subjects and to gratify their
demands. "In the afternoon, the king should
review his army, inspect his fighting-men, his
chariots, animals, and weapons, and then perform
his twiUght devotions. After this he should give
audience to his secret spies and hear private
reports." (VII, 221-225.) "The king was al-
ways assisted by his council of seven or eight
ministers," as we read in the laws of Manu
(VII, 54-63), "who were versed in sciences,
skilled in the use of weapons, and descended from
nobie and well-tried famihes. Such ministers
used to advise the king in matters of peace and
war, revenue and religious gifts. The king also
employed suitable persons for the collecting of
revenue, and in mines, manufactories, and store-
houses; and he employed ambassadors for car-
rying on negotiations with rulers." For the

127

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

protection of villages and tovMis, separate officers
were appointed. The king appointed a lord over
each village, over ten villages, lords of twenty,
of a hundred, and of a thousand villages; and
these lords were not merely governors, but they
used to check crime and protect the villages.
These were the special duties of these special
officers. They were like superintendents. Simi-
larly, each town had its superintendent of all
affairs, who personally inspected the work of
all officials and got secret information about
their behavior and private character, because
the Hindu law says: "The servants of the king,
who are appointed to protect the people, gener-
ally become knaves, who seize the property of
others; let him protect his subjects against such
men.' (Manu, VII, 115-123.) From this you
will see that, in ancient times, government offi-
cials used to become knaves, as they do now in
a highly civilized country like America. Think
of the time when this law was written, — centuries
before Christ!

The income of the state from the royal demesnes

was supplemented by taxes. Manu fixes an

128

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

income tax of two per cent on cattle and gold.
The land revenue varied from one-sixth to
one-eighth or one-twelfth of the crops,* and
this was much less than the land-revenue tax
under British rule. Under the Hindu rule, the
king was strictly prohibited from exacting
excessive taxation. He was allowed to take
one-sixteenth part of the price made on butter,
earthen vessels and stone wares, and might
exact a day's service in each month from arti-
sans, mechanics, and other working-people; that
is, one day in a month these people would
give their service free. Of course, they were
maintained by the king, that is, they were fed
by the king at that time; and with this institu-
tion, in ancient times, they could erect wonderful
buildings, palaces, and monuments for public
use, which now they cannot do because the cost
is so great.

All these and other laws regarding administra-
tion and taxation show that an advanced sys-
tem of government prevailed in India before the
beginning of the Christian era. Megasthenes,

* Vide Civilization in Ancient India, Vol. II, p. 102.

129

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

who lived in India in the fourth century before
Christ, as also the Chinese travellers, Fa Hian,
who visited India about 400 A.D., and Houen
Tsang, who came to India about 630 a.d. and
resided there for nearly fifteen years, spoke
in the highest terms of praise of the govern-
ment and administration of the Hindu Rdjahs.
Frequently we hear that the Hindus were so
badly governed at that time that they had no
peace or justice and were constantly engaged in
fighting; but these witnesses of other nations,
who came from other countries and lived in
India, left records which speak differently.
They do not cite one single instance of a people
being ground down by taxes, or harassed by the
arbitrary acts of kings, or ruined by famines,
plagues, or internecine wars. On the contrary,
they say: "The people were happy, prosperous,
enjoying peace and justice. Agriculture flour-
ished, the fine arts were cultivated." Houen
Tsang, in his diary, which has been translated
into English by Samuel Beal, wrote thus, de-
scribing the administration of India: "As the
administration of the country is conducted on

ISO

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

benign principles, the executive is simple. . . .
The private demesnes of the crown are divided
into four principal parts: the first is for carry-
ing out the affairs of state and providing sac-
rificial offerings; the second is for providing
subsidies for the ministers and chief officers of
state; the third is for rewarding men of dis-
tinguished ability; and the fourth is for charity
to religious bodies, whereby the field of merit
is cultivated. In this way the taxes on the peo-
ple are light, and the personal service required
of them is moderate. Each one keeps his own
worldly goods in peace, and all till the ground
for their subsistence. Those who cultivate the
royal estates pay a sixth part of the produce as
tribute. The merchants who engage in corn-
men, e come and go in carrying out their trans-
actions. The river passages and the road bar-
riers are open on payment of a small toll. When
the public works require it, labour is exacted,
but paid for. The payment is in strict pro-
portion to the work done.

"The military guard the frontiers, or go out

to punish the refractory. They also mount

131

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

guard at night round the palace. The soldiers
are levied according to the requirements of the
service; they are promised certain pa3mients,
and are publicly enrolled. The governors, min-
isters, magistrates, and officials have each a
portion of land assigned to them for their per-
sonal support."

Houen Tsang also says that tributary kings
from China sent hostages to Kanishka, the great
Buddhist emperor, who reigned in Kashmir
(Northwestern India) about yS a.d., and he
treated them with special favor, and set apart
for their residence that portion of the country
which afterwards was named Chinapati. The
Chinese introduced the pear and the peach into
India, "wherefore the peach is called Chindni
and the pear is called Chinarajaputra (son of
the Chinese monarch)."

Such political conditions existed in India from
the time of Megasthenes down to Houen Tsang;
that means from nearly tlie fourth century B.C.
to the seventh century a. d. Besides these, the
most remarkable feature of tlie political organi-
zation of ancient India was the village com-

132

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF IKDIA.

munity and municipal institutions. This village
community was called "Panchayat," or com-
mittee of five. There was originally a commit-
tee of five, then aftenvards it was increased to
twelve. Each community formed itself into an
independent little republic, which managed its
own affairs and governed itself, but which was
bound to the central government by the regular
payment of an assessment or tax on the produce.
Each district, again, was divided into territories
which were governed by the village community,
or "Panchayat." Under this self-government
by community, every individual member en-
joyed absolute political freedom and independence.
Each had full voice in the government. This
government by Panchayat is described in Manu
and in other law-books of ancient India, and it
has always existed among the Hindus. The
people first elected their head-man, or president,
who was a kind of mayor, and who was paid by a
fixed proportion of land. He was the chairman
of the village or town council, and used to call
regular meetings. The next important officer

of the community was the notary, or local at-

133

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

tomey, who transacted the village business and
kept an account of the land and produce, the
rents and assessments. Then there was a
Brahmin priest, a village schoolmaster, a barber,
a carpenter, a blacksmith, a cowman, a shoe-
maker, a potter, a washerman, a druggist, an
oilman, the watchman, and the sweeper. These
made up the village community. These mem-
bers discussed and managed the whole affairs
of the territory.

From the time of Manu, or from at least four
hundred years before Christ, this form of muni-
cipal institution has existed in India, undisturbed
by foreign invasions and political convulsions,
internal wars, famine, plague, or earthquake.
Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "And here I
may observe that no circumstance in the history
of India is more worthy of investigation than
the antiquity and permanence of her village
and municipal institutions. The importance of
the study lies in the light thereby thrown on the
parcelling out of rural society into autonomous
institutions, like those of our own English parishes,

wherever Aryan races have occupied the soil

134

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

in Asia or in Europe. The Indian village or
township, meaning thereby not merely a col-
lection of houses forming a village or town, but
a division of territory, perhaps three or four
miles or more in extent, with its careful dis-
tribution of fixed occupations for the common
good, with its intertwining and inter-dependence
of individual, family, and communal interests,
with its provision for political independence and
autonomy, is the original type, the first germ,
of all the divisions of rural and civic society in
mediaeval and modern Europe. It has existed
almost unaltered since the description of its
organization in Manu's code, two or three cen-
turies before the Christian era. It has sur-
vived all the religious, political, and physical
convulsions from which India has suffered from
time immemorial. Invader after invader has
ravaged the country with fire and sword, . . . but
the simple, self-contained Indian township has
preserved its constitution intact, its customs,
precedents, and peculiar institutions, unchanged
and unchangeable, amid all other changes.'

* Brihrninism and Hinduism, p. 455.
135

" *

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

During the Mahometan rule of six hundred
years, all these political institutions of the Hindus
remained unaltered. They were never modified
or disturbed. The Hindu villagers did not know
that they were governed by the Mahometans.
The throne was occupied by a Mahometan or
Mogul emperor, to whom the native Rajahs and
queens paid tribute, but beyond that they had
no obligation; they were quite independent.
Each Rajah had his own laws, his own court,
and his own separate administraticn. The
government of the country according to the
Hindu system has always been continued in
the native states. Even at the present time
there are native states governed by Hindu
Rdjahs where you will still find*this kind of
government. The Mahometans never gained
absolute control over the whole of India. Before
the advent of the British rule, the administra-
tion of justice, the repression of crime, and other
functions of the police, the collection of cesses
and taxes, were all carried out by the govern-
ment of the village community. To-day in British

India this self-government of the Hindus has

136

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

been destroyed by the short-sighted pohcy of
the British autocrats, and its place has been given
to a most costly system of judicial administration,
unparalleled in the history of the world. They
talk about English justice. Of course there is
justice in English government, but it is very
expensive and one-sided. Indians have justice
among Indians, but if an Indian's rights are
outraged by a European he cannot hope for
similar justice. The poorer classes, furthermore,
cannot pay for justice under any conditions; it
is too expensive. The present oppression of
the police and the cruelty of revenue collectors
under British management have already driven
the masses to the verge of absolute despair and
rebellion.

Many people in this country think that England
conquered India by force of arms, but history
tells us that some English merchants first came
to India to trade at the time when the Mahometan
power was in its decline, and the Hindus were
fighting against the Mahometans to throw off
their yoke and reestablish Hindu power upon
the throne of Delhi. At this time of anarchy

137

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

and revolution, these British traders, under the
name of the East India Company, took the side
of the Mahometans and gained the confidence of
the last of the Mogul emperors, who was then
merely a titular sovereign. He had lost all
power; nobody obeyed him. As a return for
what he had received from the East India Com-
pany and as a favor to Lord Clive, this last
of the Mogul emperors, in 1765, gave a charter
making the East India Company of British
traders the Dewan, or administrators, of Bengal.
Though the Great Mogul had no real power to
do such a thing, still, as long as he was the titular
sovereign of India, his charter gave the East
India Company a legal status in the country.
The officers of the Company held that charter in
their hands wherever they went. Lord Clive
himself, in his letter to the Court of Directors
from Calcutta dated September 30, 1765, writes:
"The assistance which the Great Moghal had
received from our arms and treasury made him
readily bestow this grant upon the Company."
"I mean the Dewanec, which is the superinten-

dency of all the lands and the collection of all

138

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

the revenues of the provinces of Bengal, Behar,
and Orissa." These three provinces first came into
the hands of the East India Company, and at
that period the revenue from them was enormous.
Lord Chve writes again: "Your revenues, by
means of this acquisition, will, as near as I can
judge, not fall far short, for the ensuing year, of
250 lacks of Sicca Rupees,* including your former
possession of Burdwan, etc. Hereafter they will
at least amount to twenty or thirty lacks more.
Your civil and military expenses in time of peace
can never exceed sixty lacks of Rupees; the
Nabob's allowances are already reduced to forty-
two lacks, and the tribute to the king (the Great
Moghal) at twenty-six; so that there will be
remaining a clear gain to the Company of 122
lacks of Sicca Rupees, or £1,650,900 sterling." f
"An annual remittance of over a million and a
half sterling was to be made from a subject
country to the shareholders (of the East India
Company) in Engliand." t

* Three rupees make one dollar; a lack was 100,000
rupees.

t House of Commons Third Report, 1773, Appendix,
pp. 391-398.

X Economic History of British India, p. 39.

139

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

This was the beginning of British empire in
India. That annual remittance has now in-
creased and swelled to nearly thirty million pounds
sterling. "The scheme of administration intro-
duced by Clive was a sort of dual government.
The collection of revenues was still made for the
(Mahometan) Nawab's exchequer; justice was
still administered by the Nawab's officers; and
all transactions were covered by the mask of the
Nawab's authority. But the East India Com-
pany, the real masters of the country derived
all the profits; and the Company's servants
practised unbounded tyranny for their own gain,
overawing the Nawab's servants, and converting
his tribunals of justice into instruments for
the prosecution of their own purposes.* It is a
long story; time will not permit me to describe
the harrowing tales of the foul and treacherous
methods which were adopted by the unworthy
representatives of the English people, under the
name of the East India Company, to secure for
their motherland a market-place for her trade
and commerce, and to bring benefit and prosperity

♦ Economic History of British India, p. 43.

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDLV.

to the British nation, which was at that time the
poorest nation in Europe. Those who have
read the impeachment of Warren Hastings by
Burke, as also impartial students of the history
of the East India Company, are already acquainted
with the brutal policy of the Company, which has
ruined the most prosperous country of India.
Zemindars were dispossessed of their hereditary
rights, their lands were let to the highest bidder
by public auction, trade and manufacture were
destroyed by monopoly and coercion, prohibitive
duties were charged on manufactured articles,
etc.

Terrible famines began for the first time with
the British rule in India. In 1770 there was a
terrible famine in the district of Pumeah, in
Bengal, in which above one-third of the popula-
tion died of starvation; but the revenue from
land-tax was exacted with such tyranny and
oppression that even during that famine it was
larger than in previous years. On the 9th of
May, 1770, the Calcutta Council wrote to the
Court of Directors: "The famine which has ensued,
the mortality, the beggary, exceed all description.

141

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Above one-third of the inhabitants have perished
in the once plentiful province of Purneah, and
in other parts the misery is equal." On the
I2th of February, 1771, they wrote: "Notwith-
standing the great severity of the late famine,
and the great reduction of the people thereby,
some increase has been made in the settlements
(of taxes) both of the Bengal and the Behar
provinces for the present year." * Mr. Dutt
says in his Economic History of India: "Famines
in India are directly due to a deficien:y in the
annual rainfall; but the intensity of such famines
and the loss of lives caused by them are largely
due to the chronic poverty of the people. If the
people were generally in a prosperous condition,
they could make up for local failure of crops
by purchases from neighboring provinces, and
there would be no loss of life. But when the
people are absolutely resourceless, they cannot
buy from surrounding tracts, and they perish
in hundreds of thousands, or in millions, whenever
there is a local failure of crops." f

♦ Extracts from India OfTicc Records quoted in Hun-
ter's "Annals of Rural Bengal," 1868, pp. ai, 399.

tP. 51.

142

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDL\.

The reports of the Indian Famine Commissions
of 1880 and 1898 show that between i860 and
1900, that is, within forty years, there were ten
widespread famines in India. In i860 a famine
broke out in Northern India and the loss of Ufa
was estimated at 200,000, but was probably
much larger; in 1866 a famine in Orissa carried
off one- third of the population, or about a million
people; in 1869 there was another famine in
Northern India, during which at least 1,200,000
people died; in 1874 Bengal was visited by
famine, but the land-tax in this province is
light and is permanently settled; the people are
therefore comparatively prosperous and resource-
ful, and there was no loss of life from this famine.
The land-tax of Madras, on the contrary, is
heavy and is enhanced from time to time, and
the people are poor and resourceless; when,
therefore, a famine broke out there in 1877, five
millions perished. A third famine in Northern
India in 1878 cost the Hves of 1,250,000 people;
and during the famine of 1889 in Madras and
Orissa the loss of life was very severe, but no

official figures are available. In 1892, again,

143

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

there was a famine in Madras, Bengal, Burma,
and Rajputana, causing a heavy loss of life in
Madras but none in Bengal. In 1897 famine
swept over all Northern India, Bengal, Burma,
Madras, and Bombay. The number of people on
relief works alone rose to three millions in the
worst months. Deaths were prevented in Bengal
and elsewhere, but in the Central Provinces the
death rate rose from an average of thirty-three
per mille to sixty-nine per mille during the
year. The famine of 1900 in the Punjab,
Rajputana, the Central Provinces, and Bombay
was the most widespread ever known in India.
The number of persons relieved rose to six
millions in the worst months. In Bombay, in
the famine camps, so Sir A. P. Macdonnell,
President of the Famine Commission, reported,
the people "died like flies." "The results of
the three famines within the last ten years (1891-
1901), and of the increasing poverty of the
people, are shown in the census taken in March,
1901. The population of India has remained
stationary during the last ten years. There is
a slight increase in Bengal, Madras, and Northern

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDU.

India, while there is an actual decrease of some
millions in Bombay, the Central Provinces, and
the Native States affected by recent famines.
In other words, the population of India to-day
is less by some thirty millions than it would
have been if the nominal increase of one per cent
per annum had taken place during these ten
years." *

Warren Hastings, who had succeeded CHve as
Governor of Bengal, was made first Governor-
General in 1772. Pitt's India Bill became a
law in 1784. It removed the administration of
the East India Company from the hands of
directors and placed it under the control of the
crown, thus compelling some reforms. Lord
Cornwallis then became the successor of Warren
Hastings. The policy of all of the governor-
generals under the East India Company was to
extend the British territory, to absorb the Native
States by declaring war on the slightest pretence,
to increase the revenue, and to drain the country
of her resources. "The people of India have no
votes, and are not even represented in the

♦ Indian Famines, by R. C. Dutt, p. 2.
145

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Executive Councils of India. They have no
voice in the matter of taxation or of expenditure.
They have no share in the work of adjusting the
finances of India. Taxation exceeds ail reason-
able limits in India, and the proceeds of the
taxation are not all spent in India. A large
sum, estimated between twenty and thirty
millions in English money, is annually drained
from India to this country (England). The
disastrous results of this annual drain have been
described by many EngUsh writers anc admin-
istrators throughout the century which has just
closed." * Sir Thomas Munro, for some time
Governor of Madras, after forty years' experience
in India, wrote in 1824: "They (natives of India)
have no share in making laws for themselves;
little in administering them, except in very sub-
ordinate offices; they can rise to no high station,
civil or military; they are everywhere regarded
as an inferior race, and more often as vassals or
servants than as the ancient owners and masters
of the country. ... All the civil and military
offices of any importance are now held by Euro-

♦ Indian Famines, by R. C. Dutt, p. lo.
146

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

pcans, whose savings go to their own country."
Mr. Frederick John Shore, of the Bengal Civil
Service, wrote in 1837: "The halcyon days of
India are over; she has been drained of a large
proportion of the wealth she once possessed,
and her energies have been cramped by a sordid
system of misrule, to which the interests of
millions have been sacrificed for the benefit of
the few." Professor H. H. Wilson, the noted
English historian, also says of the annual drain
from India: "Its transfer to England is an
abstraction of Indian capital for which no equiv-
alent is given; it is an exhausting drain upon
the country, the issue of which is paid by no
reflux; it is an extraction of the life-blood from
the veins of national industry, which no subse-
qutnt introduction of nourishment is furnished
to restore." John Sullivan, at one time a Mem-
ber of the Government of Madras and President
of the Board of Revenue, writes thus in one
of his reports: "As to the complaints which
the people of India have to make of the present
fiscal system, I do not conceive that it is the

amount, altogether, that they have to complain

147

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of. I think that they have rather to com-
plain of the appHcation of that amount. Under
their own dynasties, all the revenue that was
collected in the country was spent in the country;
but under our rule, a large proportion of the
revenue is annually drained away, and without
any return being made for it; this drain has been
going on now for sixty or seventy years, and
it is rather increasing than the reverse. . . . Our
system acts very much like a sponge, drawing up
all the good things from the banks of the Ganges,
and squeezing them down on the banks of the
Thames. . . . They (the people of India) have
no voice whatever in imposing the taxes which
they are called upon to pay, no voice in framing
the laws which they are bound to obey, no real
share in the administration of their own country;
and they are denied those rights from the insolent
and insulting pretext that they are wanting in
mental and moral qualifications for the discharge
of such duties." *

The British administrators, in the first part of
the nineteenth century, did all they could to

* Report of the Select Committee, p. 40a.
148

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

promote English industries at the sacrifice of
Indian industries; for the pohcy of English ad-
ministration in India is shaped, not by states-
men and philosophers, but by merchants, traders,
and manufacturers, who are the voters of Great
Britain. British manufactures were forced into
India through the agency of the Company's
Governor-General and commercial residents, while
Indian manufactures were shut out from England
by prohibitive tariffs, as the following table will
show.

"Petitions were vainly presented to the House
of Common against these unjust and enormous
duties on the import of Indian manufactures
into England. One petition against the duties
on sugar and spirits was signed by some four
hundred European and Indian merchants," *
and it was rejected by the British Government
in England. The policy of England was to make
Great Britain independent of foreign countries
for the raw material upon which her valuable
manufactures depend, and to make India the
producer of raw materials for English manufac-

♦ Economic History of India, p. 294.
149

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

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POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

tones. The German economist, Frederick List,
said: "Had they sanctioned free importation
into England of Indian goods, the English manu-
factories would have come to a stand." * Thus,
within fifty years, India was reduced from the
state of a manufacturing to that of an agricultural
country.

Cotton and silk fabrics, shawls and woolen
fabrics, sugar, tobacco, rum, dyes, saltpetre, coffee,
tea, steel, gold, iron, copper, coal, timber, opium,
and salt,— all these, and grains of all kinds,
India had traded with other nations, both Asiatic
and European; but, under the pretence of free
trade, England has now compelled the Hindus
to receive the manufactured products of England
free of duty, and has imposed prohibitive duties
or Indian manufactures imported to England.
No Indian industry of any kind has been encour-
aged by the British Government during the last
one hundred and fifty years. And no less than
two hundred and thirty-five articles were subjected
to internal duties under the East India Company.
Section 6 of the Cotton Duties Act of 1896 runs

* The National System of Political Economy, p. 42,

151

im)lA AND HER PEOPLE.

thus: "There shall be levied and collected at
every mill in British India, upon all cotton goods
produced in such mill, a duty at the rate of 3^
per centum on the value of such goods." And
Mr. Dutt, in commenting upon this Act, says:
"As an instance of fiscal injustice, the Indian Act
of 1896 is unexampled in any civilized country
in modern times. Most civilized governments
protect their home industries by prohibitive
duties on foreign goods. The most thorough of
Free Trade Governments do not excist home
manufactures when imposing a moderate customs
duty on imported goods for the purposes of
revenue. In India, where an infant industry
required protection, even according to the
maxims of John Stuart Mill, no protection has
ever been given. Moderate customs, levied for
the purposes of revenue only, were sacrificed in
1879 and 1882. Home-manufactured cotton
goods, which were supposed to compete with
imported goods, were excised in 1894. And
home goods which did not compete with foreign
goods were excised in 1896. Such is the man-
ner in which the interests of an unrepresented

152

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

nation are sacrificed." * This will give you a
rough idea of how India has prospered in her
economic condition during British rule.

A special liw still exists under the English
Government to provide laborers for the cultiva-
tion of tea in Assam. "A dark stain is cast on
this industry by what is known as the 'slave-law'
of India. Ignorant men and women, once in-
duced to sign a contract, are forced to work in
the gardens of Assam during the term indicated
in the contract. They are arrested, punished,
and restored to their masters if they attempt to
run away; and they are tied to their work under
penal laws such as govern no other form of
labor in India. Hateful cases of fraud, coercion,
and kidnapping, for securing these labourers,
have been revealed in the criminal courts of
Bengal, and occasional acts of outrage on the men
and women thus recruited have stained the
history of tea-gardens in Assam. Responsible
and high administrators have desired a repeal
of the penal laws, and have recommended that
the tea gardens should obtain workers from

* India in the Victorian Age, p. 543.
1^

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

the teeming labor markets of India under the
ordinary laws of demand and supply. But the
influence of capitalists is strong; and no Indian
Secretary of State or Indian Viceroy has yet
ventured to repeal these penal laws, and to
abolish the system of semi-slavery which still
exists in India." *

Now let us see what is the present political
condition of the Indian people: "The East
India Company's trade was abolished in 1833,
and the Company was abolished m 1858, but their
policy remains. Their capital was paid off by
loans, which were made into an Indian Debt, on
which interest is paid from Indian taxes. The
empire was transferred from the Company to the
Crown, but the people of India paid the purchase-
money." t In 1858 the public debt was seventy
million pounds, which had been piled up by the
East India Company during the one hundred
years of their rule in India, while they were
drawing tribute from India, financially an unjust
tribute, exceeding 150 millions, not counting

* India in the Viclorian Age, p. 353.
I Economic History of India, p. xii.
164

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

interest. Besides this, they had charged India
with the cost of the wars in China, Afghanistan,
and in other foreign countries. India, therefore,
in reaUty owed nothing at the close of the Com-
pany's rule. Her Pubhc Debt was a myth.
On the contrary, there was a balance of over loo
millions in her favor out of the money that had
been drawn from her. The administration of
the Crown doubled this Public Debt in nineteen
years, bringing it up to 139 million pounds in
1877, when the Queen became Empress of India.
Over 40 millions sterling of this represented the
cost of the Mutiny wars, which was thrown on
the revenues of India. India was also made to
pay a large contribution to the cost of the Abys-
sinian war of 1867. In 1900 the debt amounted
to 224 millions sterling. The construction of
railways by Guaranteed Companies or by the
State, beyond the pressing needs of India and
beyond her resources, was largely responsible
for this increase. It was also largely due to the
Afghan wars of 1878 and 1897.

India pay^ interest on this debt, which annually
increases. Besides this, she pays for all the

155

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

officers, civil and military, and a huge standing
army, pensions of officers, and even the cost of
the India Building in London, as well as the
salary of every menial servant in that house.
For 1901-2 the total expenditure charged against
revenue was ;^7i,394,282, out of which £17,368,-
655 was spent in England as Home Charges,
not including the pay of European officers in
India, saved and remitted to England. These
Charges were as follows:

1. Interest on Debt and Management of Debt £3,052,410

2. Cost of Mail Service, Telegraph Lines, etc.,

charged to India 227,288

3. Railways, State, and Guaranteed (Interest

and Annuities) 6,416,373

4. Public Works (Absentee Allowances, etc.)- 5^.214

5. Marine Charges (including H. M. Ships in

Indian Seas) i73.5oa

6. Military Charges (including pensions) 2,945,614

7. Civil Charges (including Secretary of State's

EstabUshment, Cooper's Hill College,

Pensions, etc.) 2.435.37°

8. Stores (including those for Defence Works) 2,057,934

Total -£17.368,655

The following, again, is a comparative table of

salaries paid out;

156

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

55
I

Eurasians.

£
3
w

In Thousands of Rupees.

Total
Salaries

of
Natives.

Total
Salaries
of Eura-
sians.

Total
Salaries
of Euro-
peans.

Civil department.
Military

I
4

121 1
854
23Q

947
12

151
11

25.274
13,268

3,415
113

Public works

Incorporated local
funds

2313

1002

207

42,070

Besides these 105 officers drawing Rs., 10,000
a year or more are employed by the railway
companies; they are all Europeans, and their
salaries amount to 16 lacks and 28 thousand
rupees (about $542,667). Among the officers,
who are paid between Rs. 5000 and Rs. 10,000 a
year, we find 421 natives in the civil department
as against 1207 Europeans and 96 Eurasians.
In the military department 25 natives are
employed and 1699 Europeans and 22 Eurasians;
while, in the Department of Public Works, there
are 85 natives, as against 549 Europeans and 3
Eurasians.

Mr. Alfred Webb (late M.P.), who has studied

the subject with care, says: "In charges for the

157

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

India Office (in London); for recruiting (in
Great Britain, for soldiers to serve in India);
for civil and military pensions (to men now living
in England, who were formerly in the Indian
service); for pay and allowances on furloughs
(to men on visits to England); for private remit-
tances and consignments (from India to England);
for interest on Indian Debt (paid to parties in
England); and for interest on railways and other
works (paid to shareholders in England), — there
is annually drawn from India, and spent in the
United Kingdom, a sum calculated at from
;^25,ooo,ooo to ;^30, 000,000" (between $125,000,-
000 and $150,000,000).

It would have been bad enough if this drain
had continued for a few years, or even for one
year, but it began with the day when India
came under England's power and has been
kept up ever since. Of this Mr, Brooks Adams
writes: "Very soon after Plasscy (fought in 1757)
the Bengal plunder began to arrive in London,
and the effect seems to have been almost instan-
taneous. . . . Possibly since the world began, no

investment has ever yielded the profit reaped

158

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

from the Indian plunder." * The stream of
wealth ruthlessly drawn from the conquered
people of India, and poured from Indian treasuries
into English banks, between Plassey and Waterloo
(fifty-seven years), has been variously calculated
at from ;^5oo, 000,000 to ^1,000,000,000. The
"Westminster Gazette" of London, April 24,
1900, estimates the drain from India to England,
during the closing twenty-five years of the
nineteenth century, to have been £500,000,000
($2,500,000,000). It would be impossible to
believe these enormous figures if they were not
taken from authentic records. Can we wonder
that India to-day is so impoverished? Could
any nation withstand so merciless and unceasing
a drain upon its resources?

The popular belief is, that England has sunk
her enormous capital in the development of
India; but the truth is, that England has not
spent a cent in governing India. (Compare
this with the Colonial Governments.) The In-
dian Government means to-day the government
of a bureaucracy, which includes the Viceroy

♦ Law of Civilization and Decay, pp. 259-364.

159

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

and the Members of the Executive Council,
the Commander-in-Chief, the Mihtary Mem-
ber, the Home Member, the PubHc Works Mem-
ber, the Finance Member, and the Legal Mem-
ber. The people are not represented in this ^
Council; their agriculture, their landed interests,
their trades and industries, are not represented;
there is nut, and never has been, a single Indian
member in the Council. The members are
high English officials, who draw large salaries
and get pensions for life after their service is
over.

Then in each large Indian province there is
a Legislative Council, and some of the members
of these smaller councils are elected under the
Act of 1892. The principal function of the
Legislative Council is legislation. In theory
it exercises control over finance, but in prac-
tice the budget is submitted to the autocracy
merely for criticism; the representatives, how-
ever, can exercise no control over its being
passed.

The Council consists of twenty-five members,
four of whom are Indians, recommended by

1(>0

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF IKDIA.

certain constituencies but appointed by the
Viceroy. He has the power to appoint any one
he pleases. He calls them elected, for the pur-
pose of argument. The four Indians sit at one
end of the table and the Englishmen at the
other end. Beginning with the Indians, each
one reads the speech he has prepared in order
of seniority, each speech being prepared with-
out knowledge of what the others will say,
consequently without reference to what they
have said. There is no real discussion. The
Viceroy may turn its course as he pleases. The
representatives cannot produce any impression
on the Council, nor can they divide the Council
or shape the decision in any way. It is indeed
no representation of the natives in the proper
sense of the term.

The Viceroy of India is under the orders
of the Indian Secretary of State, who is a mem-
ber of the English Cabinet. The Secretary of
State lives in England, six thousand miles away
from the governed people. He is assisted by
a Council of ten retired Anglo-Indian officials,

who seek the interest of their own nation. The

161

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

whole system is, as Sir William Hunter calls it,
an "oligarchy" which does not represent the
people.

The government of India is as despotic as it
is in Russia, because three hundred millions of
people who are governed have neither voice
nor vote in the government. The interest of
the British nation i3 the first aim of the present
system of government. People pay heavy taxes
of all kinds, and that is all. The government
sends out expeditions to Soudan, Egypt, China,
Tibet, and other places outside of India, and
then the poor people of India are forced to
pay the enormous cost of these expeditions,
amounting to millions of dollars.* The land-
tax, income tax, and various kinds of taxes
are higher than in any other civilized part of
the world. "In India the State virtually in-
terferes with the accumulation of wealth from
the soil, intercepts the incomes and gains of
the tillers, and generally adds to its land-revenue
demand at each recurring settlement, leaving the
cultivators permanently poor. In England, in

• Vide India in the Victorian Age, p. 604.
162

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDLA.

Germany, in the United States, in France, and
other countries, the State widens the income
of the people, extends their markets, opens
out new sources of wealth, identifies itself with
the nation, grows richer with the nation. In
India the State has fostered no new industries
and revived no old industries for the people;
on the other hand, it intervenes at each recur-
ring land settlement to take what it considers
its share out of the produce of the soil." *

"But the land-tax levied by the British Gov-
ernment is not only excessive, but, what is worse,
it is fluctuating and uncertain in many prov-
inces. In England, the land-tax was between
one shilling and four shillings in the pound,
i.e., between 5 and 20 per cent, of the rental,
during a hundred years before 1798, when it
was made perpetual and redeemable by William
Pitt. In Bengal the land-tax was fixed at
over 90 per cent, of the rental, and in Northern
India at over 80 per cent, of the rental, between
1793 and 1822." t

* Economic History of British India, p. xi,
t Ibid. p. ix.

163

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

To-day the masses of people in India live on from
two to five cents a day and support their faimilies
with these earnings. Expecting to have their
grievances removed by the government, they
have been agitating for the last twenty years
by calling annual public meetings and special
public meetings, where the best classes of edu-
cated people have been represented. Although
the Indian Government has spared no pains to
stop all such agitations, still the people have
been passing resolutions and sending them to
the Viceroy and to the Secretary of State.
Not one single word of encouragement has ever
come from the despotic rulers, who are deter-
mined to follow the steps of the Russians in
their methods of administration. Indeed, Sir
Henry Cotton says: "Even the Russian Gov-
ernment, which we are accustomed to look
upon as the ideal of autocracy, is not such a
typical autocracy as the Government of India."

Ambitious, unsympathetic young civilians go

out to India for a few years to exploit the country,

satisfy their greed and self-interest, and return

home to live like lords, drawing upon the taxes

164

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

of the impoverished millions. I will give you
an illustration of Lord Curzon's administra-
tion. Lord Curzon was the most unpopular
Viceroy ever in India. His policy was one of
interference and distrust. He is no believer in
free institutions or in national aspirations. He
took away the freedom of the press, which was
steadily gaining in weight and importance, by
passing the Official Secrets Act. The policy of
his administration was to keep all civil as well
as all military movements of the government
secret. He sent the expedition to Tibet. He
wasted the resources of the country on the
vain show and pomposity of the Durbar while
millions were dying of famine and plague. He
condemned the patriotic and national spirit of
the Indians, and lastly he carried out the Roman
policy of divide and rule by partitioning the
Province of Bengal, simply to cripple the unity
of the educated natives, as also of seventy mil-
lions of inhabitants. .\11 these and many acts
he carried out with such despotism and high-
handedness, against the unanimous opinion of

seventy million people, that they were driven to

165

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

boycott all English goods and manufactures.
The fire of boycott has spread all over the
country, like wildfire in a forest. The people
have unanimously appealed to the Viceroy and
to the Secretary of State again and again, but
all the higher officials of India and England
have turned deaf ears to them. It is to be hoped
that this boycott will bring the English auto-
crats and despots to their senses.

The people of India are loyal and peace-loving,
but they are discontented and impoverished after
carrying for one hundred and fifty years the
burden of an unsympathetic alien government.
There would have been continuous rebellion and
mutiny had they not so long depended upon
passive resistance with the expectation that
some day the famous proclamation of the late
Queen Victoria would be carried into effect.
On the morrow of the dark mutiny Queen
Victoria proclaimed:

"We desire no extension of our present terri-
torial possessions; and, while we will permit no
aggression upon our dominions or our rights

to be attempted with impunity, we shaU sanc-

IGG

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

tion no encroachment on those of others. We
shall respect the rights, dignity, and honor of
Native Princes as our own; and we desire that
they, as well as our own subjects, should enjoy
that prosperity and social advancement which
can only be secured by internal peace and good
government.

"We hold ourselves bound to the Natives of
our Indian territories by the same obligations
of duty which bind us to all our subjects, and
those obligations, by the blessing of Almighty
God, we shall faithfully and conscientiously
fulfil.

"Firmly relying ourselves on the truth of
Christianity, and acknowledging with gratitude
the solace of religion, we disclaim alike the
right and the desire to impose our convictions
on any of our subjects. We declare it to be
our royal will and pleasure that none be anywise
favored, none molested or disquieted, by reason
of their religious faith and observances, but
that all shall alike enjoy the equal and impar-
tial protection of the law; and we do strictly

charge and enjoin all those who may be in

167

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

authority under us that they abstain from all
interference with the religious belief and wor-
ship of any of our subjects, on pain of our high-
est displeasure.

"And it is our further will that, so far as
may be, our subjects, of whatever race or creed,
be freely and impartially admitted to offices in
our service, the duties of which they may be
qualified, by their education, ability, and in-
tegrity, duly to perform."

(Lord Curzon, however, openly declared that
all Indians were disqualified by reason of their
race. )

This proclamation was repeated by King
Edward VII on the day of his coronation. But
have the Anglo-Indian bureaucracy shown any
desire to do the things which were promised
by the late Empress and the present Emperor,
King Edward? No.

People have now organized themselves, have
sent delegates to England and America, and
have awakened to the truth of what John Stuart
Mill said: "The government of a people by
itself has a meaning and a reality, but such a

168

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS OF INDIA.

thing as government of one people by another
does not and cannot exist. One people may
keep another for its own use, a place to make
money in, a In mi an cattle farm for the profit
of its o%vn inhabitants."

The natives of India are now determined to
stand on their own feet, but it is a hard prob-
lem for an enslaved nation to raise their heads
while the dominant sword of a powerful alien
government is held close to their necks. If
the people of America wish to know what would
have been the condition of the United States
under British rule, let them look at the poHtical
and economic condition of the people of India
to-day.

Well has it been said by Mr. Reddy, an Eng-
lish friend of India: "England, through her mis-
sionaries, offered the people of India thrones
of gold in another world, but refused them
a simple chair in this world." *

* India, Oct. 13, 1905.
169

V.
EDUCATION IN INDIA.

Education in India can be divided into four
periods: The first, the pre-Buddhistic, or before
the sixth century B.C.; the second, the Bud-
dhistic period, from 500 B.C. to the tenth cen-
tury A.D.; the third, the Mahometan; and the
fourth, the period under British rule.

In order to get a correct idea of the educa-
tion of a people, we must first be familiar with
the civilization of that people, because the
standard of education must go parallel with
the culture and civilization of a nation. As
we have already seen, the earliest civilization
of the Hindus began in the Vedic period. His-
tory tells us that during that time the Indo-
Aryans developed their voluminous scriptural
works known as the Vedic literature, which
consists of the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sdma

170

EDUCATION IN INDU.

Veda, and Atharva Veda, with their Brahmanas,
Aranyakas, and Upanishads. All these are in
the Sanskrit language and are the most ancient
Scriptures of the world. The Hindus of to-day
consider these Vedas as revealed just as other
nations believe in their Scriptures as revealed.
Long before the art of writing was known these
Vedas were studied, committed to memory,
and taught from mouth to mouth. In those
early days the study of these Sacred Scriptures
formed the principal feature in the education of
the boys and girls of the Brahmins, Kshatriyas,
and Vaishyas.

The Ufe of a Hindu at that time was divided
into four periods. The first was that of the
student. The Aryan boys were initiated as stu-
dents between the ages of eight and twelve.
They then v/ent to the teacher's house, re-
mained there and studied the Vedas. As in
this age the students of civilized countries live
in the universities for several years, so in ancient
times the Hindu boys used to leave their homes
and stay with their teachers. Some lived with

them for twelve years, some for twenty-four,

171

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

others for thirty-six or forty-eight years, in
accordance with their desire to master one, two,
three, or four Vedas. When they had finished
these years of study under various instructors
and professors, the students returned to their
homes, after making a handsome gift to their
masters. According to Hindu custom, no teacher
should ever sell his knowledge or receive any
salary in return for his instruction, but the
students were allowed to make presents to their
masters at the close of their studies. Having
returned home, they married and settled them-
selves as householders. Some, however, did
not return, but devoted their whole life to the
study of various Shastras or sciences.

The main object of education at that time
was the moral and spiritual culture of the soul,
the attainment of God-consciousness and the
knowledge of the various sacrifices that are
described in the Vedas. Along with the Vedas
the students had to learn the six Veddngas or
limbs of the Vedas. These were regarded as
the most important branches of Scriptural study.
The first was Shikshd or the science of phonetics,

\T2,

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

that is, the science which explains the correct
pronunciation of the Sanskrit words and texts
used in the Vedas. The second was Chhanda,
or metre. The Vedic hymns have different
metres, and one must be famihar with them in
order to read or chant correctly. The scholars
and professors of Sanskrit in Europe and America
find great difficulty in pronouncing Sanskrit
words and sentences because their tongues arc
not flexible enough to express the minute shades
of difference that exist in the sounds of Sans-
krit words. The Hindus, however, used to
study metre, as also the science of pronuncia-
tion and grammar. At that time (even as early
as 1400 B.C.) they had a scientific grammar.
The Greek and Sanskrit languages have the
best grammars, but the Sanskrit is the most
perfect grammar that exists in the world. Then
Nirukta, the fourth branch, was the science which
describes the etymology, the meanings of differ-
ent words, as well as the use of the same word
in various senses. Also there was Kalpa, which
includes Shrauta-sutras, or the laws about sac-
rifices, Dharma-sutras, or laws regarding the

173

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

duties of a true citizen, Grihya-sutras, the rules
of domestic life, and Sulva-sutras, the geomet-
rical principles for constructing sacrificial altars.
And the last branch was Jyotisha, or astronomy.
In order to fix the time for Vedic sacrifices they
had to study astronomy. Without knowing
astronomy they could not understand the Vedas
and could not perform any of the sacrifices.
For this reason we find many astronomical
references in the Vedas.

These were the main branches of study to
which every Hindu belonging to the upper
three classes — Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaish-
yas — was entitled. Besides this private educa-
tion in the house of some teacher, who, as I
have already said, took no salary, there were
public places for instruction. The courts of
the enlightened kings and MahdrAjahs were the
principal seats of learning where education was
bestowed free of charge; and there were also
the Parishads, which corresponded to the uni-
versities of Europe. "At the period of transi-
tion from the Vedic to the Brahmanic stage of

religious development about 1200 B.C. the courts

174

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

of the kings were the centers of culture. . . .
At a later period, looo B.C., there arose Brah-
manic settlements, called Parishads, which we
might call collegiate institutions of learning." *
These public institutions were started and
established by Brahmin professors and scholar?.
The students in them used to stay with the
teachers and do some work in their households
in return for free board and tuition. Professor
Max Miiller, in his "History of Sanskrit Litera-
ture," says that a ''Partshad used to consist
of 21 Brahmins well-versed in philosophy, theol-
ogy, and law. Sometimes three or four learned
Brahmin scholars would form a small Parishad
in a village." In the Upanishads we find men-
tion of this kind of ancient Hindu university
system. For instance, in the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad, VI, 2, we read that Svetaketu went
to the Parishads of the Panchalas for education.
In these colleges were taught the Vedas,
philosophy, theology, and Hindu law, civil and
criminal, — law of agriculture, of property, of
usury, laws of inheritance and partition. These

♦ Education in India, W. I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., p. 20.

175

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

taws still govern Hindu society even under
British rule. England has not succeeded in
changing the Hindu laws and has not found
any others more just or more perfect than those
of the Hindus. This is not an exaggeration.
Students of law, who have studied Roman and
European law for years, cannot complete their
course without studying Hindu law.

I have already shown in the first lecture that
there were six schools of philosophy among
the Hindus of the pre-Buddhistic peri>d, that
is, between 1400 and 600 B.C. These six schools of
philosophy included logic, psychology, the science
of numbers and the evolution theory of Kapila,
the atomic theory of Kan^da, the science of
thought, metaphysics, and the monistic science
and philosophy of Vedanta. The students re-
ceived instruction in these various branches in
the Parishads or universities. Arithmetic, Al-
gebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Decimal nota-
tion, and Astronomy were also taught during
the pre-Buddhistic period. You may be sur-
prised to know that in those ancient times such
sciences and philosophies were known to the

17il

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

Hindus; but it is a matter of history that these
various branches of science and philosophy owed
their origin to the Vedic rehgion of India. Geom-
etry was developed from the rules for the con-
struction of Vedic altars as described in the
Vedas. For instance, it is told there to de-
scribe a circle, make a triangle, or inscribe a
triangle in a circle, and so on. When geometry
fell into disuse in the Buddhistic period, after
sacrifices were no longer made, algebra took
its place. "The science of algebra indeed re-
ceived a remarkable degree of development in
India; the application of algebra to astronom-
ical investigations and to geometrical demon-
strations is a peculiar invention of the Hindus;
and their manner of conducting it has received
the admiration of modem European mathe-
maticians." *

Besides these, the great epics of Ramdyana
and Mahabharata, which contain the ancient
national history of the Hindus as well as the
essence of all Hindu sciences and philosophies,
came into existence during the pre-Buddhistic

* Civilization in Ancient India, Vol. II, p. 246.

177

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

period. They were studied by all classes of
people, both men and women. They were
written especially for those classes who were
not fitted for Vedic studies. The Vedas and
the various sciences and philosophies existed
among the Hindus long before the art of writ-
ing was known in the world. Can you believe
that the hundreds of volumes which have been
handed down to us were origincilly learned and
taught from memory? They were transmitted
from generation to generation by word of mouth.
What a marvellous memory the people of that
time had! The Mahdbh^rata, for example, con-
tains one hundred thousand verses in Sanskrit,
and when I was in India I knew a Brahmin
lady who could recite every sentence from the
beginning to the end; and there are many
scholars who can recite a volume with its com-
mentary without looking at the book. All
sciences and philosophies were originally written
in Sanskrit, but lately they have been trans-
lated into the various spoken dialects, of which
there are at present about one hundred and
fifty in India. Through these the masses obtain

178

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

their moral and spiritual training. Public lec-
tures and readings are given in almost every
Hindu village for the education of the illiterate
classes. Even to-day, in all Hindu communi-
ties, this old system of reading a Sanskrit verse
and then explaining it in the vernacular lan-
guage is very common. Those who cannot read
or write receive moral and spiritual instruction
through these Kathakatd, or public readings.

There were also medical schools for the study
of Ayurveda, or the medical science. The word

"Ayus" means hfe, and "veda" means wisdom,
knowledge, and hence science. Ayurveda, there-
fore, is the "science of hfe." It contains the
Hindu materia medica, which is much older than
the sixth century B.C. It was taught long
before the time of Hippocrates, the "father
of medicine," who hved about 400 B.C. Even
in that early pre-Buddhistic age, Hindu medi-
cine received scientific treatment, and there were
separate schools and colleges for medical stu-
dents. During the Buddhistic period, medical
science made considerable progress, and ex-
haustive scientific works were written on medi-

179

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

cine. Among these, the works by Charaka and
Sushruta were the best. Their writings became
so widely known that translations of them were
already familiar to the Arabs in the eighth century
A.D., at the time of Haroun-al-Raschid; and they
still remain to-day the standard medical works
among Hindu physicians. They contain ex-
haustive chapters on anatomy and physiology;
on sjmiptoms, diagnoses, and causes of various
diseases, and on their proper treatment. Their
words may be archaic, but they give a scien-
tific treatment which was unknown in any other
part of the world at that time.

Chemistry, in Sanskrit "Rasayana," was also
famihar to the Hindus from very early times.
"Nor is this surprising, as the materials for
preparing many chemical products have abounded
in India. Rock-salt was found in Western India;
borax was obtained from Tibet; saltpetre and
sulphate of soda were easily made; alum was
made in Cutch; and sal ammonia was familiar
to the Hindus; with lime, charcoal, and sulphur
they were acquainted from time immemorial.

The alkalies and acids were early known to the

180

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

Hindus, and were borrowed from them by the
Arabians. The medicinal use of metals was also
largely known. We have notices of antimony
and of arsenic, of medicines prepared with quick-
silver, arsenic, and nine other metals. The
Hindus were acquainted with the oxides of
copper, iron, lead, tin, zinc, and lead; with the
sulphurets of iron, copper, antimony, mercury,
and arsenic; with the sulphates of copper, zinc,
and iron; with the diacetate of copper and the
carbonates of lead and iron." * Dr. Royle also
says, in his essay on ' ' Hindu Medicine " : " Though
the ancient Greeks and Romans used metallic
substances as external applications, it is gener-
ally supposed that the Arabs were the first to
prescribe them internally. . . . But in the works
of Charaka and Sushruta, to which, as has been
proved, the earliest of the Arabs had access,
we find numerous metallic substances directed
to be given internally." f History tells us that
Alexander the Great kept Hindu physicians in
his camp for the treatment of diseases which

* Civilization in Ancient India, Vol. II, p. 254.
t Royle, p. 45.

181

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Greek physicians could not heal; and in the
eighth century a.d. the Mahometan Badshaw,
Haroun-al-Raschid, retained in his court two
Hindu physicians. As early as 260 B.C. the
Buddhist emperor Asoka also established many
public hospitals, not only for men, women, and
children, but also for animals.

Megasthenes, after his long residence at the
court of Chandra Gupta in the fourth century
B.C., testified that he found among the Hindus
various kinds of schools suited to the different
CcLstes. There were Brahmin schools, whose
function was to train priests and teachers; war-
rior schools, where the pupils received military
training; industrial schools for the merchant
class; and schools for the lowest caste, where
manual labor was taught.

During the Buddhistic age, and before the
Mahometan invasion, Hindu culture in every
branch of science and philosophy made tremen-

dous progress. Arya Bhatta, the noted Hindu

astronomer, who lived about 476 a.d. and who

is called the Newton of India, wrote many works

on algebra and astronomy. It was he who

182

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

first discovered the rotation of the earth on its
own axis. As a Jewish writer says: "The
theory that the earth is a sphere revolving on
its own axis, which immortahzed Copernicus,
was previously known only to the Hindus, who
were instructed in the truth of it by Aryabhatta
in the first century before the common era." *
He also discovered the true cause of solar and
lunar eclipses, and it was he who, for the first
time, grasped the idea of gravitation toward the
center (caUed in Sanskrit Mddhydkarshan, that
is, attraction towards the center), and correctly
calculated the distance of the earth's circum-
ference. His successor, Varahamihira, another
noted astronomer (500-587 a.d.), left valuable
works, especially his "Brihat Sanhita," which
covered ahnost every department of natural
history and was encyclopedic in its nature.
Brahma Gupta, who lived in 628 a.d., described
in his astronomical system the true places of the
planets, the calculation of lunar and solar eclipses,
and wrote a treatise on spherics. There are

♦ Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. XII, p. 689.
18S

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

still some ruins of Hindu observatories in Benares
and other cities.

In the sixth century A.D., this golden age of
science and letters reached its climax in the
reign of the great Hindu emperor, Vikram5,ditya,
who was what Augustus was to the Romans,
what Alfred was to the Enghsh, what Charle-
magne was to the French, what Asoka was to
the Buddhists, and what Haroun-al-Raschid was
to the Mahometans. He was the great supporter
of learning and education among the Hindus.
To the learned, to the illiterate, to poets, to
story-tellers, to dramatists and novelists, to
astronomers, lexicographers, and historians, to
the old and to the young, the name of Vikram^-
ditya is as familiar in India as the name of any
great patron of science, drama, poetry, and
education of modem Europe. He had nine
gems in his court, and the finest among them
was Kaliddsa, the great Hindu dramatist. He
was as great as Shakespere of England; indeed,
he is called the Shakespere of India. His best-
known drama, "Sakuntal^," has been translated

into more than one European language, and

184

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

has been considered by such great scholars as
Augustus William Von Schlegel, Alexander Von
Humboldt, and Goethe as one of the dramatic
masterpieces of the world. Goethe speaks thus
of it:

"Wouldst thou the life's young blossoms and the fruits

of its decline,
And all by which the soul is pleased, enraptured,

feasted, fed, —
Wouldst thou the earth and heaven itself in one sweet

name combine?
I name thee, O SakuntalA, and all at once is said."

You have heard something about " SakuntalA,"
" Vikramorvasi," and the other dramas and mas-
terpieces which Kalidasa left. His " Megha-duta,"
or the " Cloud Messenger," can stand side by side
with the best poems of Shelley and Wordsworth,
if not higher. One critic says: "Like Words-
worth, he looked upon Nature with the eye of
a lover, and his knowledge of the physical laws
is superior to that of any other Hindu poet."
Kalidasa's successors, — BhS,ravi, Dandin, B^a-
bhatta, Subandhu, Bhartrihari, Bhavabhuti, — all
these great Hindu poets and dramatists lived in
the sixth century a.d. Their writings are still

185

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

studied in all Sanskrit colleges, as they were
twelve centuries ago.

The fables of Panchatantra and of Hitopa-
desha,* which gave foundation to ^Esop's fables
and to the fables of Pilpay, are also still studied
in the primary schools of India. They came
into existence in the sixth century after Christ,
and have been translated into all the civilized
languages of the world. Panchatantra "was
translated into Persian in the reign of Naushar-
wan (531-572 A.D.). . . . The Persian ransla-
tion was rendered into Arabic, and the Arabic
translation was rendered into Greek by SjTneon
Seth about 1080. ... A Spanish translation of
the A^rabic was published about 1251. The first
German translations were published in the
fifteenth century." f Besides these, the vast
literature known as the " Purdnas " is still studied
by all classes of people, both men and women,
as they were a thousand years ago.

From this you will get an idea of the civil iza-

* The fables of llitopadcsha have been translated by
Sir Edwin Arnold under the name of "The Book of
Good Counsels."

t Civilization in Ancient India, Vol. II, p. 297.

186

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

tion of the Hindus during the ancient pre-
Buddhistic and mediaeval ages, and you will be
able to form some conception of what kind of
education they received before the advent of
the British in India. The Hindus, it must be
remembered, have gone through a great many
national disasters, calamities, and vicissitudes;
and during the Mahometan occupation, which
began in the eleventh century a.d. and con-
tinued for nearly six hundred years, they made
very little progress in scientific education. They
had to fight to protect themselves against the
invaders, and turn their attention to their polit-
ical condition; consequently they neglected the
study of science. Furthermore, the Mahometan
sword and fire destroyed the glorious monuments
of Hindu culture and ci\alization. The Mahome-
tan rulers never encouraged any kind of study
outside of the reading of the Koran, for which
classes were attached to the mosques. It is
said that the Mogul Emperor Arangzeb, in the
seventeenth century, established universities in
all the principal cities and erected schools in the

smaller towns, but it is now difficult to get any

187

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

historical evidence to support this statement.
A Mahometan beheves that the essence of all
literature and of all science is summed up in the
Koran, so nothing outside of the Koran is to
be studied. If all that is worth knowing is in
the Koran, then there is no use of studying any
other books. So they destroyed aU the Scrip-
tures, and all the works on science and phi-
losophy, which they could get hold of. But the
caste prejudice of the Hindus kept the Brahmins
from mixing with the Mahometans, anc one of
the most beneficial effects of the caste system
was the preservation of the Sacred Books of the
Hindus from the destructive hands of fanatical
Mussulmans.

Mahometan elementary schools were started
for the study of the Persian and Arabic lan-
guages'. Many Hindu boys used to study
these languages in Mahometan schools. They
had no feeling of prejudice, so far as education
was concerned. In the advanced Mahometan
schools, there were complete courses in rhetoric,
logic, law, ritual, and theology; all these and

the Arabic language were taught to Mussulman

188

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

students, but not to the Hindus. Euclid and
Ptolemy's astronomy, and other branches of
natural philosophy, were also taught in the high
schools for Mahometans at the time when British
rule began in India, about the middle of the
eighteenth century.

The pioneers of Western education in India
were the Christian missionaries. Some Danish
missionaries arrived at Tranquebar, in Southern
India, in 1706, and at once began to study the
vernacular languages in order to teach the
Bible. They founded some schools for that pur-
pose, which were of minor importance. Their
object was to convert the students to Christianity.
In 1727 the first English mission estabhshed in
India a society for promoting Christian knowl-
edge, but it did not make much progress until
the beginning of the nineteenth century, when
the third missionary society of the Enghsh
Baptists was established in Bengal. Their repre-
sentatives were Carey and Marshman, who were
men of abiHty and distinction. They studied
the vernacular languages, and established schools
for the teaching of the Bible.

180

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

The East India Company, however, hesitated
to impart Enghsh education to the natives of
India. When, in 1792, Wilberforce proposed to
add two clauses to the Charter Act of the year
for sending out schoolmasters to India, the di-
rectors of the Company strongly objected to
the proposal. "On that occasion one ot the
Directors stated that we had just lost America
from our folly in having allowed the establish-
ment of schools and colleges, and that it would
not do for us to repeat the same ;ict of folly in
regard to India; if the natives required any-
thing in the way of education they must come
to England for it." * This policy still exists at
the bottom of the educational system estab-
lished by the British Government in modern
India. Although this policy, or rather fear,
has apparently been modified, and schools, col-
leges, and universities have been founded, still
the government of India does not feel safe in giv-
ing the natives substantial higher education of
the same nature as can be obtained in England,

*J. C. Marshman's Evidence, Lords' Second Report,

1853-

190

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

Europe, or America. It was on account of this
fear that the only educational institutions which
were established up to 1792 were a Mahometan
College at Calcutta, founded by Warren Hast-
ings in 1781, and a Sanskrit College at Benares,
founded by Lord Comwallis in 1792. The main
object of these institutions was to train law
officers, both Mahometan and Hindu, to help
the Enghsh judges in the judicial administra-
tion of the country. For twenty years longer
the English Government was disinclined to spread
English education in India.

In 1813 the British Parliament, for the first
time, offered the sum of £10,000 from the revenue
of India, to be appropriated for the education
of the people of the three provinces of Bengal,
Bombay, and Madras. Nothing, however, was
done for ten years until 1823.* In the mean-
time the Hindus themselves, under the leader-
ship of the great Hindu reformer, whose name
is known all over the world. Rajah Ram Mohun
Roy, became anxious to learn the English lan-

* Vide Sir Charles Trevelyan's Evidence, Lords' Second
Report, 1853.

101

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

guage. He was the first Hindu who learned
English thoroughly by his private exertions, for
there was no school at that time; and he was
the first native of India who went to England,
where he died. His grave still exists in Bristol.
At that time there was in Calcutta an illiterate
English watchmaker, Mr. David Hare by name.
He was a man of great energy and practical
sense. Rfijah Ram Mohun Roy consulted with
him and planned to open an English seminary.
The project started in 1815, and this energetic
Mr. Hare had some circulars written out and
distributed. He first succeeded in interesting
some of the English officers and some representa-
tive Hindus, and in 1817 he established a school
at Calcutta which is known to-day as the Hare
School. It was the first respectable English
seminary in Bengal, and was founded by the
Hindus tliemselves before the British Govern-
ment did anything for education in India.*

In 1820 the Government of India started an
inquiry to find out the indigenous method of

♦ Vide Rev. Alexander Duff's Evidence, Lords' Second
Report, 1853.

192

EDUCATION IN INDL\.

education among the Hindus in the Presidencies
of Madras, Bombay, and Bengal; but for two
years nothing was done. In 1822 Sir Thomas
Munroe, the Governor of Madras, finding the
decay of literature and arts and the deep igno-
rance of the masses, started an investigation,
from which he discovered that the number of
Hindu schools and colleges under the old Hindu
system, in the Presidency of Madras alone,
amounted to 12,498 among a population of
something over twelve millions. In his report
to the Court of Directors, which was made known
in 1826, he says: "I am inclined to estimate the
portion of the whole population who receive
school education to be nearer one-third than
one-fcurth of the whole. The state of education
exhibited, low as it is, compared with our own
country, is higher than it was in most European
countries at no very distant time." *

In 1823 Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bom-
bay, found that there was in the Bombay Presi-
dency alone 1705 Hindu schools and colleges;
and in 1835 Lord Bentinck discovered 3355

* Minute dated March 10, 1S26.
193

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Hindu schools among a population of seven
millions in Bengal alone. This will prove how*
the Hindus have always cared for knowledge,
culture, and education. In every village there
was an elementary school where the village boys
were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and
the elements of mensuration. These elementary
schools were called Pdthasdlds, or school-houses.
Besides these, there were collegiate institutions
like the Parishads, which I have already described,
for higher education in grammar, mathematics,
rhetoric, poetry, astronomy, and other branches
of science and philosophy, as they were known
to the Hindus at that time. The proportion of
the latter to the former, that is, of collegiate
schools to village schools, was one to three.

A Committee of Public Instruction was ap-
pointed by the East India Company's govern-
ment in 1823, and the ;fio,ooo, which had been
granted by Parliament ten 3'ears before, were
expended in establishing an English school, under
the name of Hindu College, in Calcutta, six
Oriental colleges, and a number of elementary
schools in Bengal and Rajputana. The Com-

194

EDUCATION IN INDU.

mittee also gave its attention to the publication
of Oriental books, and started a press in
1824.

Between 1823 and 1833 no special thing was
done in the educational line other than to add
classes in English in all the chief colleges. In
1835 Lord Bentinck, the Governor-General of
India, enlarged the Committee of Public Instruc-
tion and appointed Macaulay as its president.
Two distinguished Hindu gentlemen of the time,
Sir R^jah Radha Kanta Deb Bahadur and Ros-
somoy Dutt of Calcutta, and Takawar Jung, the
Mahometan Nawab of Bengal, were enrolled as
members of the Committee. With Macaulay's
support and assistance, Lord Bentinck passed the
famous resolutions of March 7, 1835, by which
the English language was established as the
language of superior education in India. The
resolutions were these:

(i) That the chief aim of the educational
policy of the Government should be to promote a
knowledge of European literature and science.

(2) That henceforth no more stipends should
be conferred, but that all existing stipends

195

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

should be continued as long as the natives con-
tinue to avail themselves of them.

(3) That the printing of Oriental books should
at once cease, and that the funds thus set free
should be employed in promoting European
studies through the medium of the English
language.

In Madras, about tliis time, a Hindu named
Pachiapa left a large donation for religious uses,
and out of this sum, which amounted to nearly
£80,000, a central educational institution, which
is now known as Pachiapa's College, was estab-
lished by the Hindus in 1839. It still con-
tinues to be the most flourishing college for the
study of English in Madras, and it was the first
college established there. In 1830 Alexander
Duff arrived in Calcutta as the missionary of
the General Assembly of the Scotch Kirk, and
established a school which was at first a great
success; but his aim was to convert the natives
to Christianity, and when some of the students
were persuaded to accept Christianity, the whole
Hindu community protested against the object

and plan of the missionary schools and would

196

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

not allow their children to enter them as students.
During his stay, Alexander Duff succeeded in
converting only forty young Hindus who were
studying in his school, and the conversion of
these created a great sensation in the city of
Calcutta. About that time the Hindus began
to study Thomas Paine's "Age of Reason."
The book spread like wildfire among native stu-
dents and scholars, and Dr. Duff, finding that
it was a great obstacle in the path of converting
the Hindus, bought all the copies that were in
the market, piled them in the street and made
a bonfire out of them; but the Hindus reprinted
the book and distributed it among themselves.

Being thus aroused, the native Hindus of
Calcutta were determined to start schools and
colleges for the education of their boys in Enghsh.
Foremost among them was Pundit Iswara Chun-
der Vidyasagar, the most distinguished edu-
cationalist and the greatest Hindu scholar of
his time. He established by his own individual
efforts, unaided by the Government, the Metro-
politan School in Calcutta, and to-day it is one

of the most powerful and best conducted colleges

197

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

in India. It has always been entirely under
Hindu management, and all its teachers and
professors are Hindus. Hundreds and thousands
of students study English and graduate every
year under native professors.

Lord Hardinge established one hundred schools
in the different districts of Bengal for the pur-
pose of imparting education in the vernacular
as a preliminary step to higher education in
English. He also passed the famous resolution
of 1844 for the selection of candidates for public
employment from those who had been educated
in the institutions established. This gave a
tremendous impetus to native efforts to start
schools, colleges, and seminaries in Calcutta and
other places. Intense desire to learn and teach
English was expressed by all classes of people
and no caste distinction was observed. Students
from all castes and all classes wanted to study
and to teach English, and schools sprang up on
all sides for imparting English education.

In 1836 Hoogly College was opened, and in
three days twelve hundred names were enrolled
and an auxiliary school was immediately filled.

198

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

In 1843 there were fifty-one schools and colleges,
containing 8,200 students, of whom 5,132 were
studying EngUsh, 426 Sanskrit, 572 Arabic,
and 706 the Persian language. In 1839 Lord
Auckland offered a grant from the Government
treasury of 25,000 rupees (about S8000) to pro-
mote Oriental education; and in 1845 Mr.
Thomason, the Governor of the Northwestern
Provinces, started a plan to encourage the native
village schools of the Hindus, which have existed
in India for ages. This plan involved the estab-
lishment of: (i) An elementary school for circles
of villages, each school to be situated in a central
village and no village to be more than one mile
from the central school; (2) A middle school at
the headquarters of each subdivision; (3) A
high school in each Zillah or district. This plan
was sanctioned by the Directors, who made an
allowance of 500,000 rupees. Operations began
in 1850, and after four years there were eight
District High Schools in the whole Northwestern
Province. For the support of these state schools
(which were not free) monthly fees, which
varied from one to twelve rupees, were exacted

199

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of all students. In the state schools the fees
were higher than in the private schools.

The missionary schools were mostly element-
ary or primary. Only three or four of them
imparted secondary education, and some of
them were free of charge to help the poorer
classes. Up to this time the Government had
not taken any step to educate the girls. Female
education received no support from the Govern-
ment; while the missionaries were trying their
best to educate native girls in the tenets of
Christianity, denouncing the religion of their
forefathers and condemning everything of Hindu
origin or which had to do with Hindu society
and religion, in the same manner as they did in
the schools for boys. This is one of the greatest
drawbacks in the missionary methods of educa-
tion. They condemn everything that is outside
of their religion, their standards and their ideals.
They are too narrow to see good in any but
their own creed and dogmas. They do not con-
sider the Hindu religion as a religion or the
Hindu Saviours as Saviours; but they think
that the Hindus arc all going to eternal perdi-

200

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

tion and so they are very anxious to save their
heathen souls! An American missionary, in
referring to the schools for non-Christians in
India, writes: "These are especially established
with a view to reaching and affecting the non-
Christian community. . . . They represent the
leaven of Christianity in India. They furnish
excellent opportunity to present Christ and his
Gospel of salvation to a large host of young ,
people under very favorable circumstances. . . .
And I fearlessly maintain that more conversions
take place and more accessions are made through
these schools than through any other agency."
This wiU give you an idea of the fanaticism and
bigotry of these apostles of Christianity, who
pretend to impart free education to the boys and
girls of poor, illiterate parents. The poor Hindu
boys and girls come to study and learn some-
thing, but instead of receiving the blessing of
true education, their minds are fiUed with super-
stitious and unscientific doctrines and dogmas,
and they are forced to leave the community of
their parents and relatives and become converts
to Christianity. These missionaries do not think

201

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

for a moment why the Hindus should give up
their own prophets and Saviours and worship
the prophets of the Semitic race, especially of
the Jews. Why should the Hindus abandon their
ancient traditions and the religion of their Aryan
forefathers? Why should they forsake the Aryan
prophets and accept the Jewish prophets in-
stead? Those who never had any higher phi-
losophy, higher religion, or a spiritual leader like
Christ, may accept with delight the banner of
Christ, but not the Hindus, who have many
Saviours, — Krishna, Rama, Buddha, Chaitanya,
Ramakrishna, — each of whom, according to the
Hindus, was as great as the Saviour of Nazareth.
The Christian missionaries, before preaching
Christ among the Hindus, should first convert
the Jews.

The East India Company's charter was renewed
in 1853, and a Lords' Committee was appointed
to make necessary additions or modifications in
the policy of the government of India. Among
other things, the Committee discussed the sub-
ject of education of the people of India. After

collecting evidence from all sides, the Committee

202

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

issued a Despatch in 1854, constituting the great
Charter of Indian education; and on this De-
spatch the whole system of education in India of
to-day is based. It approved of the higher edu-
cation and the estabhshment of universities in
Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, the chief towns
of the three Presidencies under British rule. The
Despatch of 1854 extended the field of education
and prescribed these objects: "First, the con-
stitution of a separate department of the admin-
istration of education. Second, the institution
of the universities at the Presidency towns.
Third, the establishment of institutions for train-
ing teachers for all classes of schools. Fourth,
the maintenance of the existing Government col-
leges and high schools, and the increase of their
number when necessary. Fifth, the establish-
ment of new middle schools. Sixth, increased
attention to vernacular schools, indigenous or
other, for elementary education. And seventh,
the introduction of a system of grants-in-aid."

"Aid is to be given (so far as available
fimds may render it possible) to all schools im-
parting a good secular education, provided

303

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

they are under adequate local management
and subject to Government inspection, and pro-
vided that fees, however small, are charged in
them." In the assignment of these grants,
however, there were no less than five systems
in operation. They were as follows:

(i) The Salary Grant System, in use in Madras
only, was applied to secondary education.
Under this system the Government contributed
a fixed proportion of the teacher's salary in
accordance with his qualifications.

(2) The Results Grant System was in Madras
applied to primary education only, and in Bom-
bay to secondary education. To obtain this
grant it was necessary to pass Government
examinations.

(3) The combined Salary-Results System.

(4) The Fixed Period System was in operation
in the greater part of Northern and Central
India. Under this an average grant was paid for
periods of three or five years.

(5) The CaptJtative System was applied to a

few girls' schools in Bengal.

The seven articles of the Despatch of 1854

204

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

helped in a systematic manner the promotion
of education in India. The EngHsh language
became the medium in the higher branches and
the vernacular in the lower. The system of
grants-in-aid was based upon the principle of
absolute neutrality. Aid was given from 1854
to all schools imparting a good secular educa-
tion. Three universities were established in
1857 by Lord Canning after the model of the
London University. Thus the inspiring in-
fluence of Western education reached a larger
circle of the population. Two more universi-
ties have been added since, — one in the Punjab
in 1882 and the other in Allahabad in 1887;
so there are altogether five universities in India,
— one in Calcutta, one in Bombay, one in Madras,
one in the Punjab and the other in Allahabad.
These universities consist of a chancellor, the
governor of the Presidency ex officio, a vice-
chancellor, and not less than thirty fellows, who
constitute a Senate. The Senate controls the
management of the funds of the universities,
and frames rules and regulations, which are
subject to Goverimient approval and under

205

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

which examinations are held periodically in the
various branches of art and science by exami-
ners chosen from among themselves or nomi-
nated from outside. The Senate is divided into
four faculties, — Arts, Law, Medicine, and En-
gineering. The executive government of the
university is in the hands of a syndicate, which
consists of the vice-chancellor and eight of the
Fellows. This syndicate selects examiners, reg-
ulates examinations, recommends for degrees,
honors, and rewards, and carries on the busi-
ness of the university. Boards of studies in the
various departments are also appointed from
among the Fellows by the s}Tidicate. The
Fellows do not correspond to the Fellows of this
country, nor of Europe, nor even of England.
The office of Fellow is an honorary office, usually
conferred on some representative man or upon
those who have been active in the cause of
education. They may be natives or Europeans.
The Indian universities are without a staff of
teachers. They simply hold examinations and
grant degrees, but they have no courses of
lectures. In India we do not have anything

200

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

like the universities of this country and nothing
like Cambridge and Oxford. I will give you an
idea of the examinations that are held under
the universities:
The subjects of examinations are: (i) English;

(2) A classical (Oriental or European) or vernacu-
lar language; (3) Physics and Chemistry; (4) His-
tory; (5) Geography; (6) Arithmetic, Algebra,
Geometry. This is the examination for entrance
into college. Under each university there are
many schools and colleges started and managed
by the natives. Then after two years' study in a
college the student prepares for the First Ex-
amination in Arts. The subjects are: (i)
English; (2) A classical language (Oriental or
European) or a vernacular; (3) Logic; (4) Mathe-
matics; (5) History and Geography; and (6)
Physical Science. Two years later comes the
B.A. Examination. This has two branches —
the Language Division and the Science Division.
The subjects in the Language Division are: (i)
English; (2) A classical or vernacular language;

(3) Mathematics; (4) and (5) any two of the

following: Moral Philosophy, History, and Ad-

207

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

vanced Mathematics. The Science Division con-
sists of (i) English; (2) Mathematics; (3)
Chemistry; (4) Physical Geography; (5) either
Physics, Physiology, or Geology.

For the degree of Masters of Arts there is an
honor examination in Language, Mental and Moral
Philosophy, Natural Science, or History and
Mathematics. Then there are Law examinations,
Medical examinations, and Civil Engineering
examinations with degrees.

This system has been in existence /or the last
forty-eight years. The total number of stu-
dents in schools and colleges all over British
India is 4,405,042. To-day, excluding cities,
three villages out of four are without schools,
and seven children out of eight are growing up
in ignorance and darkness. According to the
census of 1901 there are 147,086 educational
institutions of all kinds in British India. Of
these 104,743 are public institutions (that is,
institutions open to all classes but not free),
which are divided as follows: 44 Professional
Colleges, 141 Art Colleges, 5461 Secondary
Schools, 98,133 Primary Schools, 170 Training

208

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

Schools, and 494 Special Schools. In addition
to these there are 42,343 private institutions, of
which 4306 are advanced, 26,668 elementary,
11,016 teaching the Koran only, and 263 not
conforming to departmental standards. "Dur-
ing the past three years the sum of 4,000,000
rupees has been contributed by the (native)
public in the United Provinces towards educa-
tion. Nearly half of this sum was given in the
year 1905. The numbers attending public in-
stitutions of all kinds have increased, while
those attending private institutions have de-
clined. The past year witnessed the erection of
several schools and boarding-houses, the in-
stitution of schemes for the development of
Sanskrit, Arabic, the enlargement of the Medical
School at Agra, the development of mechanical
training and electrical work at Rurki and the
starting of an institution for mechanical and
manual training at Lucknow." *

The Government does not give free educa-
tion in India and although the Hindus pay all
kinds of taxes — 40 per cent more than the tax-

* The Indian Nation, Jan. 22, 1906.
209

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

payer of Great Britain and Ireland — and support
the most expensive system of administration,
still they do not receive from the Government
free education. The Government now spends
annually nearly 27 million pounds sterling for
military expenses and about £750,000 for the
education of the natives. The Rev. J. T. Sunder-
land, after long residence in India, says: "Much
credit has been given to the Indian Government
for education. It has done some good work in
this direction, for which let it have full praise.
But how little has it done compared with the
need, or compared with what the people want,
or compared with its ability, if it would only
use its resources primarily for India's good!
Why has so little of the people's money been
spent for education? In the schools of India,
of all kinds, high and low, there are some 4,418-,
000 scholars (if we include the native states).
But what is this number in a population nearly
as large as that of all Europe? How much does
the Indian Government spend annually for
education? The munificent sum of one penny

and a fifth per head of the population! Think

210

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

of it! Is it any wonder that, after a century
and a half of British dominance, the number
of persons in India who can read and write is
only about eleven in a hundred among males,
and one in two hundred among females? With
their native industries so badly broken down,
the Indian people have special need for indus-
trial, technical, and practical education. But
their rulers are giving them almost nothing of
this kind. Britain's neglect of education is a dark
stain upon her treatment of India." *

The Government has no school or college for
female education. The first girls' school was
estabhshed in Calcutta by Mr, Drinkwater
Bethune (a legal member of the Governor-
General's Council), who gave £10,000 from his
own pocket. This school is the most success-
ful institution for girls in India, and teaches up
to the highest grades of university examina-
tions. The Indian universities bestow degrees on
women, and lady graduates take their degrees
in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. There are

* Paper on "The Causes of Famines in India," before
the Canadian Institute, p. 22.

211

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

many girls' schools which have been started by
the Hindus. In private primary schools, little
boys and girls are taught together. Ihe total
number of girls who receive education is about
half a million; but the majority of Hindu girls
receive their education at home. The illiterate
women in India are given moral and spiritual
instruction, as well as instruction in religious
truths and moral duties, and in their national
traditions and literature, to a much larger extent
than in Europe.

About 85 per cent of the population of India
to-day depends upon agriculture. Yet the Gov-
ernment had no agricultural institution in the
country until recently, when it started one agri-
cultural college in Poona, near Bombay.

Education in India is very expensive, consider-
ing that the average annual income per head is
£2, out of which from 14 to 15 per cent goes to-
wards paying taxes. Furthermore, the educated
Hindus, who have spent a considerable part of
this income in receiving university degrees, have
no prospect of obtaining higher positions in Cov-
er nment offices. All the liigher positions are

212

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

occupied by English officials, who draw large
salaries, while native graduates are allowed to
remain as clerks on a salary of from three to
ten dollars per month. Until recently, these
Hindu graduates had the one chance of enter-
ing Government offices through competitive ex-
aminations. But Lord Curzon closed that door
by passing the University Bill, which brings the
universities and schools under rigid official con-
trol. Now none but those who are appointed
by the Government can hold any Government
position. The Official Secrets Bill passed by
Lord Curzon has also gagged the Indian press.
There are a number of daily and weekly papers
published in English by the Hindus. But they
cannot agitate the political and economic policy
of the Government. Thus people are kept in
absolute darkness. Notwithstanding his de-
spotic rule, however, Lord Curzon did on good
act in allowing a permanent grant of £220,000
from the surplus revenue for primary education.
India needs to-day free education, and free
industrial and technical schools and colleges for

the masses. India needs schools and colleges for

213

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

the education of girls, not under the management
of Christian missionaries, but under the man-
agement of the Hindus. India needs a national
university where boys and girls will receive
secular education free of charge, and where all
technical and manual training can be obtained
freely.

To-day the Hindus have shown to the world
that intellectually they are equal to the most
intellectual people of Europe and America, but
they are downtrodden and poor. The whole
weight of the British Government is grinding the
nation and crushing the spirit of progress. Fur-
thermore, India is impoverished under British
rule; yet the Hindus are raising private funds
and sending their students to America and Japan
to receive better and more substantial education
than what they receive under the British Gov-
ernment. The Hindus are eager to learn, and
they are indebted to England for introducing
Western education in India. If England has
done any good to India, it is by the introduction
of English education. This is the greatest bless-
ing that India has received under British rule.

214

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

The seed of Western education is sown in the
soil of India; future generations will reap the
fruit.

Herbert Spencer says "education is training

for completeness of hfe." The Hindus now see

the defects of the present system of education

in India, and are endeavoring to reform it and

to make it as perfect as it is in this land of free

education and political independence. May their

noble efforts be crowned with glorious success!

215

VI.

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA ON WESTERN
CIVILIZATION, AND THE INFLUENCE OF
WESTERN CIVILIZATION ON INDIA.

The dawn of Aryan civilization broke for the
first time on the horizon, not of Greece or Rome,
not of Arabia or Persia, but of India, which may
be called the motherland of metaphysics, phi-
losophy, logic, astronomy, science, art, music,
and medicine, as well as of truly ethical religion.
Although students in the schools and colleges of
modern Europe and America are generally
taught that the Greeks and Romans were the
fathers of European civilization and that phi-
losophy and science first arose in ancient Greece,
still it has been proved by the Oriental scholars
of Europe and by all impartial students of
history that ancient Greece was greatly indebted
to India for many of her best ideas in philosophy,

216

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

science and intellectual culture, as also for many
of her ethical and spiritual ideals.

If we read the writings and historical accounts
left by Pliny, Strabo, Megasthenes, Herodotus,
Porphyry and a host of other ancient authors
of different countries, we shall see how highly
the civilization of India was regarded by them.
In fact, between the years 1500 and 500 B.C.,
the Hindus were so far advanced in religion,
metaphysics, philosophy, science, art, music, and
medicine that no other nation could stand as
their rival, or compete with them in any of these
branches of knowledge. On the contrary, many
of the nations which came in contact with the
Hindus through trade or otherwise, accepted the
Hindu ideas and moulded their own after the
Hindu pattern. For instance, the science of
geometry, as I have already said, was first
invented in India by the Hindus from the Vedic
rules for the construction of sacrificial altars;
from these rules they gradually developed geom-
etry, and it has been admitted by the great
scholars that the world owes its first lesson in

this science, not to Greece, but to India. The

217

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

geometrical theorem that the square of the hy-
potenuse of a rectangular triangle is equal to the
squares of its sides was ascribed by the Greeks
to Pythagoras, but it was known in India at
least two centuries before Pythagoras was bom.
It was contained in the two rules: "(i) The
square of the diagonal of a square is twice as
large as that square; and (2) The square of the
diagonal of an oblong is equal to the square of
both its sides." These rules formed a part of
the Sulva Sutras, which date from the eighth
century before Christ. There is a Greek tradition
that Pythagoras visited India, and most prob-
ably he did, because in his writings we find such
ideas as were very common among the Hindus,
but which were unknown to other nations.
Probably he learned from the Hindus his first
lessons in geometry, mathematics, the doctrine
of pre-existence and transmigration of souls, and
of final beatitude, ascetic observances, prohibition
of eating flesh, vegetarianism, the conception of
the virtue of numbers, and lastly, the idea of a
fifth element, which was unknown in Greece and
Egypt at that ancient time. The Egyptians and

218

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

Greeks admitted four elements, but ether as an

element was known only among the Hindus of

those days. All these things were taught by the

Hindus centuries before the time of Pythagoras.

Prof. E. W. Hopkins admits this in his "Religions

of India," as you will recall from the first lecture,

when he says: "Before the 6th century B.C. all

the religious-philosophical ideas of Pythagoras

are current in India."

Geometry gradually fell out of use among the

Hindus, and geometrical truths were represented

by algebra and arithmetic. The Greeks could

not rival the Hindus in the science of numbers.

The world indeed owes decimal notation to India.

The Arabs first learned it from the Hindus and

then introduced it into Europe. It was unknown

to the Greeks and Romans, and arithmetic as a

practical science would have been impossible

■without decimal notation. The Hindus have

also given algebra (Vijaganita) to the Western

world through the Arabs, who translated it in

the eighth century a.d.; and Leonardo da Pisa

first introduced it into Europe in the thirteenth

century. So the world received its first lesson in

319

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

algebra from India. The Hindus were also the first
teachers of plane and spherical trigonometry.
The great Indian mathematician, Bhaskara-
chdrya, who lived from 1114-1150 a.d., wrote
exhaustive treatises * on all these subjects, and
his works contain solutions of remarkable prob-
lems which were not achieved in Europe until
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. f In
astronomical observations, the Hindus were the
first to fix the lunar mansions, lunar Zodiac, and
the divisions of the constellations. The Chinese

* Those treating of algebra and arithmetic have been
translated by Colebrooke, and the portion on spherical
trigonometry has been translated by Wilkinson.

t "A striking history has been told of the problem
to find X so that ax^-Vh shall be a square number. Fre-
mat made some progress towards solving this ancient
problem, and sent it as a defiance to the English alge-
braists in the seventeenth century. Euler finally solved
it, and arrived exactly at the point attained by Bh4skara
in 1 1 50. A particular solution of another problem given
by Bh4skara is exactly the same as was discovered in
Europe by Lord Brounker in 1657; and the general
solution of the same problem given by Brahmagupta,
in the seventh century a.d., was unsuccessfully attempted
by Euler. and was only accomplished by De la Grange
in 1767 A.D. The favorite process of the Hindus known
as the Kuttaka was not known in Europe till published
by Bachet de Mezeriac in 1624 a.d."— Civilization in
Ancient India, Vol. II, p. 246.

220

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

and Arabs borrowed these from India. The
Hindus first developed the science of music
from the chanting of the Vedic hymns. The
Sama Veda was especially meant for music. And
the scale with seven notes and three octaves
was known in India centuries before the Greeks
had it. Probably the Greeks learned it from the
Hindus. It will be interesting to you to know
that Wagner was indebted to the Hindu science
of music, especially for his principal idea of the
"leading motive"; and this is perhaps the
reason why it is so difficult for many Western
people to understand Wagner's music. He be-
came familiar with Eastern music through Latin
translations, and his conversation on this sub-
ject with Schopenhauer is probably already
familiar to you.

The Western world, again, owes its first lesson
in medicine to India. In the preceding lecture
I gave proofs that Alexander not only had in
his camp Hindu physicians, but that he pre-
ferred them to Greek physicians. Megasthenes,
Nearchus, and Arrian spoke highly of the won-
derful healing powers of the Hindu physicians.

221

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

In 1837 Dr. Royle, of King's College, London,
wrote his celebrated essay on "Hindu Medicine,"
in which he showed that Hippocrates, the father
of medicine, who lived in Greece in the fourth
century B.C., borrowed his Materia Medica from
India. Dr. Royle says, "We owe our first system
of medicine to the Hindus."

Herodotus, who lived in the fifth century B.C.,
states that the Hindus were the greatest nation
of that age. He also writes that the Hindus
had trade with Egypt, while from other sources
we gather that they had trade with Babylon
and Syria. From another authentic source we
learn that there was a Hindu philosopher who
visited Socrates at Athens, a fact which Prof.
Max Miiller confirms in his book on "Psychologi-
cal Religion." This Hindu philosopher, we are
told, had a conversation with the great Greek
philosopher. He asked in what the philosophy
of Socrates consisted, and Socrates replied that
his philosophy consisted in inquiries about the
life of man, upon which the Hindu philosopher
smiled and answered: " How can you know things

human without first knowing things divine^ "

222

THE INFLUENCE OF INDU.

And that is an answer which could not have
been given by any other than a Hindu, because
the Hindus ascribed all true knowledge to Divine
origin, and did not care much for the knowl-
edge of anything human before knowing God.

Ralph Waldo Emerson says: "Plato was a
synthesis of Europe and Asia, and a decidedly
Oriental element pervades his philosophy, giving
it a sunrise color." In fact, in teaching asceti-
cism, Plato was more of a Hindu than a Greek,
because, of all nations, the Greeks were least
ascetic. My friend. Professor Edward Howard
Griggs, in his lecture on the "Philosophy of
Plato" before the Vedanta Society of New York,
also admitted this in saying: "Plato's belief
in the conquest of the senses, as the only means
of attaining true knowledge, was preeminently
Oriental and non-Greek." Moreover, if we study
Plato carefully, comparing his ideas with those
of the Upanishads and other Vedic writings, we
find that his weU-known figure of the man
chained in the cave is merely an allegorical
presentation of the Vedanta doctrine of M^yd,
that the phenomenal world is like a dream;

223

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

while his other figure of the chariot was a favor-
ite theme of the Vedic writers who lived cen-
turies before Plato. In the Katha Upaiiishad,
for instance, we read: "This body may be com-
pared to a chariot, intellect to the charioteer,
mind to the reins, the five senses to the horses,
whose path is the object of senses." Sir William
Jones, the first eminent Sanskrit scholar among
the English, confirming this fact, writes that
"it is impossible to read the Vedanta, or the
many fine compositions in illustration of it,
without believing that Pythagoras and Plato
derived their sublime theories from the same
fountain with the Indian sages." *

Professor Max Miiller and other Oriental
scholars maintain, as you know, that the logic
of Aristotle was perhaps a Greek presentation
of the Hindu logic. You will also remember
that Professor Hopkins writes, in his "Religions
of India," that Thales and Parmenides were both
anticipated by the sages of India, while the
Eleatic School appears merely a reflection of the
Upanishads. He even suggests that the doc-

♦ Works (Calcutta Ed.), pp. 20, 125, 127.
224

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

trines propounded by Anaximander and Hera-
clitus might not have been known first in Greece.
We should, indeed, bear in mind that after the
invasion of India by Alexander the Great the con-
nection between India and Greece became closer
than ever before, and many Hindu philosophers
lived at Athens and in other parts of Greece.
They were known as G^nnnosophists, or Hindu
philosophers from India. At that time Alex-
andria became the center of trade and commerce
between India and Greece, and there was great
opportunity for interchange of ideas between
the Hindus and Western nations. Porphyry
speaks of the wise men from India in high terms
of praise for their wisdom, morality, and knowl-
edge of the mysteries of the universe. In regard
to Neo-Platonism, Professor Garbe has said that
Plotinus was in perfect agreement with the
Hindu philosophers, and that his disciple Porphyry
knew of the Yoga doctrine of union with the
Deity. It was unknown to any of the Western
nations, like the Hebrews, Parsees, or Egyptians.
Through Plato and his followers, the Neo-

Platonists, Stoics, and Philo of Alexandria were

225

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

also influenced by the Hindu Philosophy. The
idea of the Logos which formed the comer-stone
of the philosophy of Plato, of the Neo-Platonists,
of Philo, and later of the Fourth Gospel, first
arose in India. In the Vedas we find reference
to it; and it has moulded Hindu thought, as well
as the religious ideals of other nations.

Christianity as a religion owes a great deal to
India. This may startle some of our friends,
but from the historical standpoint it is true.
If we read the religious history of the East, we
find many evidences which are undeniable.
For instance, Asoka, who lived in 260 B.C., had
his edicts inscribed on pillars of stone during
his lifetime, and in one of those edicts we read
that he sent Buddhist missionaries to different
parts of the world, from Siberia to Ceylon, from
China to Egypt, and that, for two centuries before
the advent of Jesus, the Buddhist missionaries
preached the sublime ethics of Buddha in Syria,
Palestine and Alexandria. The same ethical
ideas were afterwards repeated and emphasized
by Christ. The Christian historian Mahaflfi,
speaking about those Buddhist missionaries, de-

226

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

clared it to be a fact that they were the fore-
runners of Christ. These preachers influenced
the Jewish sect known as the Essenes; and the
Roman historian PHny, who hved between 23
and 79 A.D., described the mode of Hving of the
Essenes, — that they lived like hermits, without
having any possessions or any sex relation,
being celibates and associates of palm-trees. It
can be shown that they belonged to the sect
founded by the Buddhist monks from India,
who lived in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Phi-
losophers like ScheUing and Schopenhauer, and
Christian thinkers like Dean Mansel and D. Mill-
man, admit that the sect of the Essenes arose
through the influence of the Buddhist mis-
sionaries who came from India. Moreover, it is
a V. ell-known fact that John the Baptist was an
Essene. Ernest Renan, speaking of John the
Baptist, says: "He led there a life like that of a
Yogi of India, clothed with skins or cloth of
camel's hair, having for food only locusts and
wild honey. . . . We might imagine ourselves
transported to the banks of the Ganges, if special

features had not revealed in this recluse the last

227

INDU AND HER PEOPLE.

descendant of the grand prophets of Israel.** •
Again he says: "The teachers of the young
were also at times a species of anchorites, re-
sembhng to some extent the Gurus (spiritual
preceptors) of Brahminism. In fact, might there
not in this be a remote influence of the Mounts
(sages) of India? Perhaps some of those wan-
dering Buddhist monks who overran the world,
as the first Franciscans did in later times, preach-
ing by their actions and converting people who
knew not their language, might have turned
their steps towards Judea, as they certainly did
towards Syria and Babylon. . . . Babylon had
become for some time a true focus of Buddhism.
Boudasp (Bodhisattva) was reputed a wise
Chaldean, and the founder of Sabeism. Sabeism
was, as its etymology indicates, baptism.''' f
And he continues: "We may believe, at all
events, tliat many of the external practices of
John, of the Essenes, and of the Jewish spiritual
teachers of this time, were derived from in-
fluences then but recently received from the far
East. The fundamental practice which gave to

* Life of Jesus, p. 126. ^ Ibid., p. 137.

228

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

the sect of John its character, and which has
given him his name, has always had its center
in lower Chaldea, and constitutes a religion
which is practised there to this day. This prac-
tice was baptism or total immersion. Ablutions
were already familiar to the Jews, as they were
to all the religions of the East. The Essenes
had given them a peculiar extension." *

Thus we see that baptism by water was in-
troduced among the Essenes by the Buddhist
missionaries, having originated in India. Bap-
tism afterwards became the principal ceremony
at the time of the initiation of the disciple in the
religion of John. The hfe of Jesus the Christ
as described in the Synoptic Gospels, — the immac-
ulate conception of a virgin mother, the miracu-
lous birth, the story of the slaughter of infants
by Herod, and the chief events of his life, all
these seem like repetitions of what happened in
the lives of Krishna (1400 B.C.) and of Buddha
(547 B.C.). In fact, the idea of the incarnation
of God is purely a Hindu idea. It was not known
among the Jews. The Jews never accepted

* Renan, Life of Jesus, p. ia8.
229

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Christ as the incarnation of Divinity, but from
the Vedic period the Hindus accepted many
Avataras or Incarnations of the Lord in a human
form, and this is at the foundation of the rehgion
of the Hindus. Many of the famous parables
of Jesus the Christ existed among the Hindus
and Buddhists of the pre-Christian era. In the
Gospel of Buddha, for instance, we find the
parables of the prodigal son and of the marriage
feast, which were taught by Buddlia to his dis-
ciples about five centuries B.C., and they re-
semble in every way the similar parables of
Jesus the Christ. The Roman Catholics have
taken a great many of their ideas — their form of
worship, the monastic life, the nunnery and the
idea of purgatory — from the Buddhists of India.
In the religious history of the world, Buddha
was tlie first to organize communities of monks
and nuns and to establish monasteries and nun-
neries. Under cover of the legend of Barlaam
and Josaphat, the story of Buddha has found a
niche in tlie row of canonized Catholic saints
and has his Saint-day in the calendar of the Greek
and Roman churches.

230

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

The Buddhist missionaries and preachers also
influenced the faith of the Gnostics and Mani-
cheans,* and introduced the idea of reincarna-
tion among them. Many of the early church
Fathers, like Origen, admitted that the soul
existed before birth and would be born again,
that this was not the first or the last time that we
had come or would come to this world. The doc-
trine of pre-existence and reincarnation of souls
was accepted by the majority of the Christians
until it was suppressed in 538 a.d. by Justinian,
who passed this law: "Whoever shall support the
mythical presentation of the pre-existence of the
soul and the consequently wonderful opinion of
its return, let him be Anathema." It was for-
eign to Judaism until about the eighth century
A.D., when under the influence of the Hindu
mystics it was adopted by the Karaites and other
Jewish sects. The Jewish Encyclopedia says:
" Only with the spread of the Cabala did it begin
to take root in Judaism, and then it gained

- -■ — — - ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ _ — -■ , , , , J

* Professor E. W. Hopkins declares that " Neo-
Platonism and Christian Gnosticism owe much to India "
in their philosophical beliefs. See p. 25,

231

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

believers even among men who were little in-
clined toward mysticism." And again: "Like
Origen and other church Fathers the Cabalists
used as their main argument in favor of the
doctrine of metempsychosis the justice of God!"*

The Sanskrit grammar of Panini, who, accord-
ing to Max Miiller, was the greatest grammarian
that the world has ever seen, has given a key
to the science of comparative philology. Many
of the English words which we commonly use
can be traced back to a Sanskrit ongin. For
instance: Mother, in Latin mater, is in San-
skrit Mdtar; father, in Latin pater, is in
Sanskrit Pitar; brother, in Sanskrit Bhrdtar;
sister, Swasar; daughter, Duhitar; path, in
Sanskrit Patha; serpent, Sarfa; bond, Bandha;
etc. The word "punch" has an interesting
history. It originally meant "five" in Sans-
krit; so the expression, "Give him a punch,"
means litcriilly "Give him five fingers." We
also use the name "punch" for the drink, which
implies that it is made up of five ingredients.

In the last lecture, I showed how the fables

♦ Vol. XII. p. 332.
232

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

of ^sop and Pilpay originated in India. In-
deed, these stories of animals, with their wonder-
ful Hindu morals, have influenced the young
minds of Europe and America for many centu-
ries. I think no child is brought up without
studying some of them and learning the morals
attached to them. Roman law and Roman juris-
prudence also were perhaps not left uninfluenced
by the more perfect system of ancient Hindu
law.

Now, I will show you the more recent influ-
ence of India upon Western civilization. Those
who have studied Schopenhauer's philosophy
have undoubtedly noticed that he was full of
Buddhistic ideas, as well as of the principles of
the Vedanta philosophy. He paid a great tribute
to the latter by his celebrated saying, "There
is no study more beneficial and elevating to
mankind than the study of the Upanishads *

* "Fifty Upanishads, tinder the name of Oupenek'hat,
were translated from the Sanskrit into Persian in 1656
at the instance of the Sultan Mohammed Dara Shakoh,
and from the Persian into Latin in 180 1-2 by Anquetil
Duperron." — Philosophy of the Upanishads, Pavil Deus-
•en, p. 36.

2»

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

(Vedanta). It has been the solace of my life,
and it will be the solace of my death." And
Max Miiller declares, "If philosophy is moant to
be a preparation for a happy death, or Euthan-
asia, I know of no better preparation for it than
the Vedanta philosophy"; while Schopenhauer's
direct disciple, Paul Deussen, writes in his "Phi-
losophy of the Upanishads": "God, the sole
author of all good in us, is not, as in the Old
Testament, a Being contrasted with and distinct
from us, but rather . . . our divine self. This
and much more we may learn from the Upan-
ishads: we shall learn the lesson if we are willing
to put the finishing touch to the Christian con-
sciousness, and to make it on all sides consist-
ent and complete." In fact, the philosophy of
modern Europe has obtained a new life since
the introduction of the doctrines of Vedanta into
it. Carlyle was influenced by the teachings of
Krishna through the English version of the
Bhagavad Gita,* first translated by Charles
Wilkins during the administration of Warren
Hastings, and now well known to you as the

♦ Published in London in 1785 and in New York in 1867.

234

TH^ INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

**Song Celestial." Many other translations have
also been published in Europe and America.
Frederick Schlegel, Victor Cousin, Amiel, Paul
Deussen, Max Miiller, and Emerson were great
advocates of the Vedanta philosophy. Emerson
was, indeed, the pioneer of Hindu thought in
America. He says in his Journal that the study
of the Upanishads was a favorite recreation with
him. Perhaps you have read his poem on
Brahman, which he calls "Brahm"; it begins
with this celebrated verse:

'■If the red slayer thinks he slays,
Or if the slain thinks he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again."

This is almost a literal translation of a passage
in the Bhagavad Gita, which runs thus:

"He who thinketh It to be a slayer and he
who thinketh It to be slain, — both of these know
not, for It neither killeth nor is killed" (chap, ii,
verse 19).

Like Emerson, the Concord sage, Thoreau, was

also deeply imbued with the sublime teachings of

Vedanta. "The Hindus," he writes, "are more

235

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

serenely and thoughtfully religious than the He-
brews. They have, perhaps, a purer, more inde-
pendent, and impersonal knowledge of God. Their
religious books describe the first inquisitive and
contemplative access to God; the Hebrew Bible,
a conscientious return, a grosser and more per-
sonal repentance. Repentance is not a free and
fair highway to God. A wise man will dispense
with repentance. It is shocking and passionate.
God prefers that you approach him thoughtfully,
not penitent, though you are the chief of smners.
It is only by forgetting yourself that you draw
near to Him.

"The calmness and gentleness with which the
Hindu philosophers approach and discourse on
forbidden themes is admirable.

"What extracts from the Vedas I have read

fall on me like the light of a higher and purer

luminary, which describes a loftier course through

a purer stratum, — free from particulars, simple,

universal. It rises on me like the full moon

after the stars have come out, wading through

some far summer stratum of sky.

"The Vedant teaches how, ' by forsaking re-

236

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

ligious rites,' the votary may 'obtain purification
of mind.'

"One wise sentence is worth the State of
Massachusetts many times over.

"The Vedas contain a sensible account of God.

"The reHgion and philosophy of the Hebrew
are those of a wilder and ruder tribe, wanting
the civility and intellectual refinement and
subtlety of the Hindus.

"I do not prefer one religion or philosophy to
another. I have no sympathy with the bigotry
and ignorance' which makes transient and partial
and puerile distinctions between one man's
faith and another's, as Christian and heathen.
I pray to be delivered from narrowness, par-
tiality, exaggeration, bigotry. To the philoso-
pher, all sects, all nations, are alike. I like
Brahma, Hari, or Buddha, the Great Spirit, as
well as God."

To-day the whole Western world is permeated

with Hindu thoughts and ideals. The educated

men and women of Europe and America, who

have outgrown the superstitions, doctrines, and

dogmas of orthodox Christianity, are finding the

237

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

right solutions of the problems of life and death,
and of the riddles of the universe, as also the
greatest comfort and happiness in the universal
religion of Vedanta, which is in perfect harmony
with the science, logic, and philosophy of modern
Europe. To-day the moral influence of Bud-
dhism and the ethics of Vedanta are strongly felt
in all European and American communities.
You see how many vegetarians are springing up,
how many people now prefer a vegetarian diet
to animal flesh. I saw the other day in New
York a hospital for dogs and cats, but, as I have
already told you, such a hospital was built in
260 B.C. by the Buddhist emperor, Asoka. Then,
again, the interest in concentration, meditation,
breathing exercises, New Thought, etc., which is
to be found at present all through Europe and
America, is the result of Eastern influence. Mrs.
Eddy's early editions of "Science and Health"
had quotations from the Bhagavad Gita; and
Celia Thaxter, we know, was deeply influenced
by the teachings of Krishna, gathered from the
same source. The Theosophists have, indeed,

disseminated the Hindu teachings most widely

23S

THE ESTFLUENCE OF INDIA.

all over the world. Even in Mexico I discovered
that the teachings of Vedanta were spreading
rapidly.

From very ancient times the Hindus as a
nation have practised the subUme ethical pre-
cept of non-resistance of evil, and the grand
moral doctrine of returning good for evil and
"love thy neighbor as thyself." "Love thy
neighbor as thyself" was taught by Christ, but
why? The reason was not given by Him. In
the Vedas we find the reason: "Thou shalt love
thy neighbor because thou art thy neighbor
in spirit. Thou art one with him." ''Tat twam
asi,^'' "That art Thou." Love means expression
of oneness. The Hindus have always practised
these higher ethical virtues, but as a result India
has been invaded again and again by the greedy
nations of Europe and Asia. To-day they have
been enslaved by the swords of a Christian nation,
whose Master proclaimed before the world the
doctrine of non-resistance of evil, of returning
good for evil, and of loving one's enemies. As
nations, the so-caUed Christian nations of Europe
do not follow the path of their Master, do not

239

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

practise non-resistance of evil, do not love their
enemies; on the contrary, they worhip Mammon,
and seek worldly success and material prosperity
instead of the Kingdom of Heaven. They send
missionaries as forerunners of conquest and pio-
neers for territorial possession. They do not
spread peace and goodwill among the people,
but fire and guns, as we have seen lately in the
British expedition to Tibet. We cannot forget
how the poor, innocent Tibetans were mowed
down by Maxim guns. We cannot forget how
the Portuguese and Dutch Christians held in one
hand the Bible and in the other a gun, and
demolished the Hindu temples in India. We
cannot forget how the Christian missionaries,
under the name of religion, destroyed the monu-
ments of Buddhism in Japan until they were
driven out by the Japanese Government in 1614
A.D. The Hindu and Buddhist missionaries, on
the contrary, have always carried, instead of
fire and sword, the gospel of peace and goodwill,
and have civilized the nations.

Think what Buddhism has done for China and
Japan, for Tibet and Burmah! The whole civ-

240

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

ilization of Japan is indebted to Buddhism for
its art, as for most other things. Buddhism was
introduced into Japan in the sixth century after
Christ, and since that time has lived there in
absolute peace and harmony with Shintoism and
Confucianism. Buddhism was introduced into
China in 65 a.d., and it has existed among the
Chinese for nearly two thousand years without
destroying anything of Taoism and Confucianism,
at the same time broadening the religious ideals
of the nation, humanizing and civilizing them.
Lafcadio Heam, in his book on Japan, shows
how much Buddhism has done for Japan; and
those who have read "The Soul of a People,"
by H. Fielding Hall, cannot help admiring the
humane, loving, and spiritual qualities of the
Buddhist people. Religious toleration has always
been practised by the Hindus and Buddhists.
When the Parsees were driven out of Persia by
the Mohometans, they took refuge in India,
where they are now flourishing and living un-
molested. Under the influence of this religious
toleration of the Hindus, Western nations, espe-
cially the English, are beginning to learn and

241

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

practise it. The Hindus and Buddhists have
never robbed their neighbors to enrich them-
selves, but they have given to the world the
highest moral and spiritual truths, not in mere
theories, but by setting their noble examples.
The Hindus and Buddhists have always been
the true spiritual teachers of the world; they
know how to preach and how to live religion.
By a strange irony of fate, to-day they are called
barbarous and uncivilized heathens by the ag-
gressive pioneers of European conquest.*

Practical morality and spirituality have always
been considered by the Hindus as greater than
mere intellectual culture. In India, religion
has been the source of philosophy, science, art,
music, and everything. From religion the Hin-
dus have gained their education and culture,
therefore religion is a vital thing with them.
It is the primary thing, while intellectual cul-

*" Unhappy Asia! Do you call it unhappy Asia?
this land of divine needs and divine thought ! Its slumber
is more vital than the waking life of the rest of the globe,
as the dream of genius is more precious than the vigils
of ordinary men. Unhappy Asia, do you call it? It
is the unhappiness of Europe over which I mourn."
Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield).

242

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

ture is seconda^J^ The Hindus cultivate the
feeUngs of the heart and do not care much for
external reforms. It is for this reason that
their civilization is based upon the highest moral
and spiritual standards. Hindu civilization is
founded, not upon the commercial and indus-
trial interests of the people, but upon the eter-
nal moral and spiritual laws which govern our
lives. It is not like the European civiliza-
tion of to-day, which inspires a nation mainly
to protect its self-interest at the expense of
other nations, and to gain material and com-
mercial prosperity by depriving others of their
rights, by robbing the weaker nations who are
kind, innocent, and humane.

According to the Hindu idea, that man is
civilized who is versed in the Scriptures; who
is learned and wise in the various branches of
knowledge; who is truthful, unselfish, and who
obeys the moral laws; who helps the poor and
distressed; who returns good for evil; and who
conquers hatred by love, avarice by generosity.
These are the high moral virtues which should
adorn the character of a thoroughly civilized

243

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

man. A civilized man must always cultivate
these virtues, and control the brute impulses and
animal propensities with which he is bom. By
these virtues the civilized man is distinguished
from a barbarous savage, as also from lower
animals. A civilized man or woman must have
polished manners, not simply as an external form,
as we see in Europe to-day, but they must pro-
ceed from tlie feelings of the heart. European
civilization,* on the contrary, has left moral
and spiritual standards in the background, and
made material prosperity and intellectual cul-
ture the chief factors of civilization. The old
brutal law of "might is right" is still in its
ascendancy in the civilization of the West. The
West looks mainly to externals, but India looks
chiefly to the internal. With the former, worldly
prosperity is the goal, and intellectual preemi-

* "Asia revivified would act upon Eurojjc. The Eu-
ropean comfort, which they call civilization, is, after
all, confined to a very small space, — the Island of Great
Britain, France, and the course of a .single river, the
Rhine. The greater part of Europe is as dead as Asia,
without the consolation of climate and the influence of
immortal traditions." — Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beacon»-
lield).

244

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

nence is its watchword. With the latter, the
attainment of spiritual perfection is the highest
aim of civilization, and the cultivation of moral
virtues is a necessary step or auxiliary. In
Europe, religion has always retarded the progress
of true civilization and freedom of thought by
the Inquisition, and by continuous persecution
on the part of priests and clergy. Think of the
fate of Galileo, Giardino Bruno, and a host of
other eminent thinkers of the Middle Ages!
G)nsequently religion has been put aside from
practical daily hfe. But freedom of thought
must be the constant companion of true civiliza-
tion. Social and political freedom are also the
outcome of the most advanced kind of civiliza-
tion. Freedom is the goal for every man, but
that freedom must be based upon moral and
spiritual laws.

Through the influence of the dominant or
rather militant civilization of Europe, India has
lost her social and political freedom. She has
become a slave. She cannot talk freely; she
cannot discuss the unjust policy and oppressive
methods of the so-called civilized government

245

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

which rules over her. European civilization has
given to India the standard of commercialism, and
has set an example of extreme selfishness, and this
has been undermining the moral and spiritual
standards of the Hindus. The ideal of simplicity
and of humanitarianism is every day sacrificed
upon the altar of commercialism and greed for
material possession. Those who try to live in
India a Christ-like life of purity and righteousness
are robbed and dispossessed of their prooerty by
the selfish pioneers of the aggressive civihzation
of England. Under the influence of British
rule, the culture of the feelings of the heart
among the younger generation has become almost
an impossibility. The moral and spiritual
standards of the Hindus are giving place to
hypocrisy and intellectual culture for material
gain. The vices of Christian civilization, with
slaughter-houses and saloons, with the liquor
trade and the opium trade as Government
monopolies for revenue, have been spreading all
over India under the civilizing power of English
rule.

The influence of Western civili2ation is de-

246

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

stroying the social structure of the Hindus,
and is breaking the harmony of the household
life which has existed from time immemorial.
But it has done some good. It has loosened the
rigidity of caste rules and caste distinctions,
and has removed the degenerating evil effects
of priestcraft. India was groaning under priest-
craft, but to-day its evil effects have been re-
moved by English education. English educa-
tion, on the other hand, has disturbed the minds
of the people; has shaken their faith in their
religion; has made its students advocates of
atheism, agnosticism, and utilitarianism, which
are the banes of scientific education. The great
mass of Hindu students who come out of the uni-
versities every year do not believe in God or the
human soul, do not care for anything but worldly
success, social position, fame, and glory. Their
first object in life is to earn their bread and butter
by some honest profession. The heartless and
demoralizing influence of business competition,
which never existed imder caste rules in India,
is suppressing the moral and spiritual develop-
ment of the people. The gladiatorial pohcy of

247

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

European civilization is now in full force. The
educated Hindus of to-day do not know which
step to take in the path of their worldly career.
They run for help toward the governing power,
as a child would run to its father for protection
in time of distress, but their hearts are filled
with despair when they meet the frowning eyes
of task-masters under the garb of Western
culture and civilization. A civilized English-
man in India kicks his native servant to death,
and is fined perhaps five dollars by the Govern-
ment. A civilized Englishman on a tea planta-
tion in Assam will carry on a coolie trade, which
is almost as bad as the old slave-trade, and is
seldom punished by the Government. Such are
the examples which the Hindus are witnessing
every day in India.

Western civilization under British rule has
opened the eyes of the masses, has made them
realize that a foreign government is no better
than a curse of God upon a nation; and a nation
which tyrannizes over another nation for its
own gain is not entitled to be called civilized,

according to the Hindu standard of civilization.

248

THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA.

But I must say that India has derived certain
benefits from Enghsh rule. After one hundred
and fifty years of oppression and tyranny, it has
made the Hindus stand on their own feet, and
has brought out their national and patriotic
feelings, in which they were lacking for nearly
a centurj\ It has brought India in close touch
with European and American culture, and has
driven away many superstitious ideas from the
minds of the Hindus. The Hindus are now
taking lessons in commercialism from the civil-
ized masters of Europe, and are studying their
ways and manners, so that in future they will
be able to become their worthy disciples. Japan
has shown to the world what ready disciples of
Western civilization her people have become in
less than half a century. Now it will be the
turn for poor and downtrodden India. We
may not see it, but future generations will enjoy
that freedom which is the goal of all nations.

Another good thing has come from the influ-
ence of Western civilization, and that is the
blessing of scientific education for the masses.
It has opened a new field, and has brought a

249

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

tremendous power of knowledge with it. India
is beginning to wake np from her sleep in the
darkness which prevailed during the night of
the Mahometan rule of six hundred years, and
her children are now receiving the light of science
and the blessings of knowledge which have come
from her contact with England. India will
always remain gratefully indebted to the West,
especially to England, for this blessing, and will
always thank the Lord that He has given to her
people so glorious an opportunity to accomplish
her future greatness and political regeneration.
India needs the spirit of Western civilization,
while the West needs yet to learn from the
Hindus the lesson of religious toleration, as also
that practical method by which it will establish
its civilization upon the principles of higher
ethics and true spirituality taught by the uni-
versal religion of Vcdanta, which is the crest

jewel of the civilization of India.

260

WOAUN'S PLACE IN HINDU RELIGION.

VII.
WOMAN'S PLACE IN HINDU RELIGION.

Well has it been said by Louis Jaccoliot, the
celebrated French author of the "Bible in India,'*
that: "India of the Vedas entertained a respect
for women amounting to worship; a fact which
we seem httle to suspect in Europe when we
accuse the extreme East of having denied the
dignity of woman, and of having only made of
her an instrument of pleasure and of passive
obedience." He also said: "What! Here is a
civilization, which you cannot deny to be older
than your own, which places the woman on a
level with the man and gives her an equal place
in the family and in society."

Long before the civil laws of the Romans,
which gave the foundation for the legislation of
Europe and of America, were codified by Jus-
tinian, the Hindu laws of Manu were closely

253

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE,

observed and strictly followed by the members
of Hindu society in general. Many of the Ori-
ental scholars, having compared the digest of
Justinian and the Mosaic laws of the Old Testa-
ment with the Hindu laws, have arrived at the
conclusion that the code of Manu was related to
them as a father is to his child. Yet the Hindu
law-givers only repeated and codified the ethical
principles which were inculcated in the Vedas.
Following the teachings of the Vedas, the Hindu
legislator gave equal rights to men and women
by saying: "Before the creation of this phe-
nomenal universe, the first-born Lord of all
creatures divided his own self into two halves,
so that one half should be male and the other
half female." This illustration has established
in the minds of the Hindus the fundamental
equality of man and woman. Just as the equal
halves of a fruit possess the same nature, the
same attributes, and the same properties in equal
proportion, so man and woman, being the equal
halves of the same substance, possess equal
rights, equal privileges, and equal powers. This
idea of the equality of man and woman was the

254

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

comer-stone of that huge structure of religion
and ethics among the Hindus which has stood
for so many ages the ravages of time and change,
defying the on&Jaughts of the short-sighted
critics of the world. Therefore, in India, what-
ever is claimed for the man may also be claimed
for the woman; there should be no partiality
shown for either man or woman, according to
the ethical, moral, and religious standards of the
Hindus.

The same idea of equality was most forcibly
expressed in the Rig Veda (Book 5, h3min 61,
verse 8). The commentator explains this pas-
sage thus: "The wife and husband, being the
equal halves of one substance, are equal in every
respect; therefore both should join and take
equal parts in all work, religious and secular."
No other Scriptures of the world have ever given
to the woman such equality with the man as
the Vedas of the Hindus. The Old Testament,
the Koran, and the Zend-Avesta have made
woman the scapegoat for all the crimes com-
mitted by man. The Old Testament, in describ-
ing the creation of woman and the fall of man, has

255

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

established the idea that woman was created for
man's pleasure; consequently her duty was to
obey him implicitly. It makes her an instru-
ment in the hands of Satan for the temptation
and fall of the holy man with whom she was
enjoying the felicity of paradise. Adam's first
thought on that occasion was to shift the burden
of guilt on to the shoulders of the woman. St.
Paul, in the New Testament, shows that, through
Adam's fall, woman was the means of bringing
sin, suffering, and death into the world. Popu-
lar Christianity has been trying lately to take
away this idea, but, in spite of all the efforts of
the preachers, it still lurks behind the eulogies
that have been piled upon the conception of
womanhood in Christian lands. How is it pos-
sible, for one who believes the accounts given in
Genesis to be literally true, to reject the idea
there set forth that woman was the cause of the
temptation and fall of man, thereby bringing sin
and suffering and death into the world? For
one who accepts the Biblical account, there is no
other alternative left.

In India, such ideas never arose in the minds

256

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

of the Vedic seers, nor have kindred notions
found expression in the writings of the law-givers
of later days. The Hindu legislators realized
that both sexes were equal, and said before the
world that women had equal rights with men
for freedom, for the acquirement of knowledge,
education, and spirituality. It is for this reason
that we find in the Rig Veda the names of so
many inspired women who attained to the
reahzation of the highest spiritual truths. These
inspired women are recognized by all classes as
the Seers of Truth, as spiritual instructors, divine
speakers and revealers, equally with the inspired
men of Vedic hymns. Those who believe that
the Hindu religion debars women from studying
the Vedas, or from acquiring religious ideas ought
to correct these erroneous notions by opening
their eyes to the facts, which are indelibly written
on the pages of the religious history of India.
The one hundred and twenty-sixth hymn of the
first book of the Rig Veda was revealed by a
Hindu woman whose name was Romasha; the
one hundred and seventy-ninth hymn of the
same book was by Lopamudra, another inspired

257

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

Hindu woman. I can cite at least a dozen names
of women revealers of the Vedic wisdom, such
as Visvavara, Shashvati, Gdrgi, Maitreyi, Apala,
Ghosha, and Aditi, who instructed Indra, one of
the Devas, in the higher knowledge of Brahman,
the Universal Spirit. All of these are the names
of inspired women revealers of the spiritual
wisdom. Every one of them lived the ideal life
of spirituality, being untouched by the things of
the world. They are called in Sanskrit Brali-
mavMinis, the speakers and revealers of Brahman.
They were devout performers of the religious
rites, singers of holy hymns, and often discussed
with great philosophers the most subtle problems
of life and death, the nature of the soul and of
God, and their inter-relation, and sometimes, in
the course of these discussions, they defeated the
most advanced tliinkers among their opponents.

Those who have read the Upanishads, the
philosophical portions of the Vedas, know that
Gargi and Maitreyi, the two great women Seers
of Truth, discoursed on pliilosophical topics with
YAjnavalka, who was one of the best authorities
in the Vedic lore. There are many instances of

258

WOMAN S PLACE IN HINDU RELIGION.

women acting as arbitrators on such occasions.
When Sankaracharya, the great commentator of
the Vedanta, was discussing this philosophy with
another philosopher, a Hindu lady, well versed
in all the Scriptures, was requested to act as
umpire.

If, in the face of such facts, the Christian
missionaries say that the Hindu religion prevents
women from studying the Vedas, or denies them
a place in religion, we can only console ourselves
by thinking that the eyes of our missionary
brothers and sisters are not open to truths which
exist outside the boundary-line of their own
particular creed and religion. It is the especial
injunction of the Vedas that no married man
shall perform any rehgious rite, ceremony, or
sacrifice without being joined in it by his
wife; should he do so, his work wiU be incom-
plete and half finished, and he wiU not get the
full results, because the wife is considered to
be a partaker and partner in the spiritual life
of her husband: she is called, in Sanskrit, Saha-
dharmini, "spiritual helpmate." This idea is

very old, as old as the Hindu nation. It is true

259

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

that there were certain prohibitions for some
women against certain studies and ceremonies,
which were prescribed for those only who were
in a different stage of spiritual development, just
as a certain class of men were proscribed from the
studies of some portions of the Vedas, or from
performing certain ceremonies simply because
they were not ready for them.

Coming down from the Vedic period to the
time when the Puranas and Epics were written,
we find that the same idea of equality between
men and women was kept alive, and that the
same laws were observed as during the time of
the Vedas. Those who have read the Ram-
dyana will remember how exemplary was
the character of Sit^, the heroine. She was
the embodiment of purity, chastity, and kind-
ness, the personification of spirituality. She still
stands as the perfect type of ideal womanhood
in the hearts of the Hindu women of all castes
and creeds. In the whole religious history of
the world a second Sit^ will not be found. Her
life was unique. She is worshipped as an In-
carnation of God, as Christ is worshipped among

260

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

the Christians. India is the only country where
prevails a behef that God incarnates in the form
of a woman as well as in that of a man.

In the Mahabharata we read the account of
Sulabha, the great woman Yogi, who came to
the court of King Janaka and showed wonderful
powers and wisdom, which she had acquired
through the practice of Yoga. This shows that
women were allowed to practise Yoga; even
to-day there are many living Yoginis in India
who are highly advanced in spirituality. Many
of these Yoginis become spiritual teachers of
men. Sri Ramakrishna, the greatest Saint of
the nineteenth century, was taught spiritual
truths by a Yogini.*

As in religion the Hindu woman of ancient
times enjoyed equal rights and privileges with
men, so in secular matters she had equal share
and equal power with them. From the Vedic
age women in India have had the same right to
possess property as men; they could go to the

♦ See "Life and Sayings of Ramakrishna," by Prof.
F. Max MuUer, published by Scribner and Sons, New
York.

361

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

courts of justice, plead their own cases, and ask
for the protection of the law.

Those who have read the famous Hindu drama,
called Sakuntala, know that Sakuntala pleaded
her own case and claimed her rights in the
court of King Dushyanta. Similar instances
are mentioned in the one hundred and eighth
hymn of the tenth book of the Rig Veda. As
early as 2000 B.C. Hindu women were allowed
to go to the battle-fields to fight against
enemies. Sarama, one of the most power-
ful women of her day, was sent by her hus-
band in search of robbers. She discovered
their hiding-place and afterwards destroyed
them.

In the fifth book of the Rig Veda we read that
King Namuchi sent his wife to fight against his
enemies. She fought and eventually conquered
them. There have been many instances of
women holding high political powers, governing
states, making laws, and administering justice
to all. Throughout the history of India are to
be found the names of many women who have
governed their own territories. Some women

262

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

of later dates resisted foreign invaders.* The
history of India records the wonderful general-
ship of the Rdni of Jhansi, who held a portion of
the British army in check during the famous
mutiny of 1857-58. She headed her troops
against the British, dressed like a cavalry officer,
and after a hard fight she fell in battle and died,
in June, 1858. Sir Hugh Rose declared that
the best man on the enemy's side was the Rant
of Jhansi, not knowing that the Rant was not a
man, but the Queen herself.

Not long ago a Hindu lady, Aus Kour by
name, was elevated by the Hindus, with the
help of the British Government, to the disputed
throne of the disorganized and revolted State of
Patiala, in the northwest of India. She has
been described by Enghsh historians as the most
competent person to govern that state. In less
than a year she brought peace and security into
all parts of her dominions.

Ahalyd Bai, the Queen of M^lwd, governed

♦ The heroic queen Chand Bibi, who defended the
fort of Ahmednagar against the attacks of the Mogul
emperor Akbar, may be called the Joan of Arc of India.

263

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

her kingdom with great success for twenty years,
devoting herself to the rights and welfare of her
people and the happiness of her subjects; she
was so great and popular that both the Mahome-
tans and the Hindus united in prayers for her
long life; so little did she care for name and
fame that, when a book was written in her honor,
she ordered it to be destroyed, and took no
notice of the author.

America boasts of her civilization and the
freedom of her women, but we know how little
power and how few privileges have been given
to women. The cause of this is deeply rooted
in the Bibhcal conception of womanhood. It is
claimed that Christianity has elevated the con-
dition of women; but, on the contrary, history
tells us that it is Christianity that has stood
for centuries in the way of the religious, social,
and political freedom of women. Think of the
women's suffrage societies, and how hard they
are strugghng to win recognition of the rights
of their sex.* Roman law and Roman juris-

♦ The following extract from a letter sent by Mrs.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Bishop Potter, of New York,

264

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

prudence gave woman a place far more elevated
than that given to her by Christianity. The
Christians learned to honor women from the
pagans. The Teutonic tribes believed, like the
Hindus, in the perfect equality of both sexes
in all domestic and social relations, and held
that a queen was as good as a king. Even
to-day the Christian nations fail to see this
equality between man and woman.

on 15th January, 1901, will give an idea of the situa-
tion:

"Ever and anon public thought is aroused by a terrible
tragedy, like the one enacted in Paterson, or by some
unusually open manifestation of vice in the streets of
our cities. Though an aroused public sentiment can
repress the evils for a time in one locality, they reappear
at once, with renewed energy, in many others. Occa-
sionally, church officials make their protests, but no
one seems to imderstand the hidden cause of all these
outrages.

"The authorities of the Episcopal Church are just
now aroused to action. The first step to be taken is
to teach woman a higher respect for herself, and the
rising generation a more profoimd reverence.

"The Church and the Bible make woman the foot-
ball for the jibes and jeers of the multitude.

"When, in their marriage service, it is the duty of
woman to obey, and be given away by some man, she
is made the inferior and subject of man.

"All our efForts to suppress the social evil are hope-
less until woman is recognized, in the canon law and all

265

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

The Hindu law allows the women a much
greater share in the management of property
than most of the statutes of the Christian nations.
In family affairs, religious or secular, especially
in business or trade, a husband in India cannot
take any step without consulting the female
members of the family.

It is often said that Hindu \vomen are treated
like slaves by their husbands, but it is not a
fact. On the contrary, the Hindu women get
better treatment than the majority of the wives

church discipline, as equal in goodness to bishops, arch-
bishops, and the Pope himself.

"The sentiments of men in high places are responsible
for the outrages on woman in the haunts of vice and
on the highway. If the same respect the masses are
educated to feel for cathedrals, altars, symbols, and
sacraments were extended to the mothers of the race,
as it should be, all these problems would be speedily
settled.

"When our good men in State and Church try to
suppress the terrible outrages on woman, while thry
deal with the evil on the surface, they should begin the
lasting work of securing to her equal honor, dignity, and
respect by sharing with her all the liberties they them-
selves enjoy.

"The les.son of inferiority is taught everywhere, and
in these terrible tragedies of life we have the result of
the universal degradation of woman."

206

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

of Englishmen or of Americans endowed with
the spirit of an Enghsh husband. Sir Monier
Monier Wilhams says : ' ' Indian wives often possess
greater influence than the wives of Europeans."
The number of wife-beaters is considerably
smaller in India than in Europe or America.
He is not a true Hindu who does not regard a
woman's body as sacred as the temple of God.
He is an outcast who touches a woman's body
with irreverence, hatred, or anger. "A woman's
body," says Manu the law-giver, "must not be
struck hard, even with a flower, because it is
sacred." It is for this reason that the Hindus
do not allow capital punishment for women.
The treatment of woman, according to Hindu
religion, will be better understood from some of
the quotations from the laws of Manu and other
law-givers. Manu says:

1. "The mouth of a woman is always pure."
V, 130.

2. "Women must be honored and adorned by
their fathers, husbands, brothers, and brothers-
in-law, who desire their own welfare." Ill, 55.

3. "Where women are honored, there the Devas

267

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

(gods) are pleased; but where they are dishon-
ored, no sacred rite yields rewards." Ill, 56.

4. "Where female relations live in grief, the
family soon wholly perishes; but that family
where they are not unhappy ever prospers."

ni, 57.

5. "In like manner, care must be taken of
barren women, of those who have no sons, of
those whose family is extinct, of wives and
widows faithful to their lords, and of women
afflicted with diseases." VIII, 28.

6. "A righteous king must punish like thieves
those relatives who appropriate the property of
such females during their lifetime." VIII, 29.

7. "In order to protect women and Brahmins,
he who kills in the cause of right commits no
sin." VIII, 349.

8. "One's daughter is the highest object of
tenderness; hence, if one is offended by her, one
must bear it without resentment." IV, 185.
(Compare this with the statements of the mission-
aries that the Hindu religion sanctions the killing
of girls.)

9. "A maternal aunt, the wife of a maternal

368

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

uncle, a mother-in-law, and a paternal aunt,
must be honored like the wife of one's spiritual
teacher; they are equal to the wife of one's
spiritual teachei." II, 131.

(In India, the wife of a spiritual teacher is
regarded as a living goddess.)

10. "Towards the sister of one's father and of
one's mother and towards one's elder sister, one
must behave as towards one's mother; but the
mother is more venerable than they." II, 133.

11. "But the teacher is ten times more vener-
able than the sub-teacher, the father a hundred
times more than the teacher, but the mother a
thousand times more than the father." II, 145.

12. "A chaste wife, who after the death of her
husband constantly remains chaste, reaches
heaven, though she have no son, just like those
chaste men." V, 160. (Compare this with the
statements of the missionaries that Hindu widows
are cursed by their religion.)

13. "In that family where the husband is
pleased with his wife and the wife with her hus-
band, happiness will assuredly be lasting." Ill,
60.

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

14. "Offspring, the due performance of re-
ligious rites, faithful service, highest conjugal
happiness, and heavenly bliss for the ancestors
and one's self, depend upon the wife alone." IX,
28.

15. "Let mutual fidelity continue till death;
this may be considered as a summary of the
highest law for husband and wife." IX, loi.

From other Hindu laws:

"Woman possesses an unequalled means of
purification: they never become (entirely) foul."
"Women are pure in all limbs."

1. "Man is strength, woman is beauty; he is
the reason that governs and she is the wisdom
that moderates."

2. "He who despises woman despises his
mother."

3. "He who is cursed by a woman is cursed
by God."

4. "The tears of a woman call down the fire
of heaven on those who make them flow."

5. "Evil to him who laughs at a woman's
sufferings; God shall laugh at his prayers."

6. "The songs of women are sweet in the ears

'270

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

of the Lord; men should not, if they wish to
be heard, sing the praises of God without women."

7. "There is no crime more odious than to
persecute women, and to take advantage of their
weakness to despoil them of their patrimony."

8. "The woman watches over the house, and
the protecting divinities (Devas) of the domestic
hearth are happy in her presence. The labors
of the field should never be assigned to her."

9. "When relatives, by some subterfuge, take
possession of the property of a woman, her car-
riages or her jewels, such evil-doers shall descend
into the infernal regions."

10. "The virtuous woman should have but
one husband, as the right-minded man should
have but one wife."

Here is the definition of a wife given in the
Mahabharata : —

A wife is half the man, his truest friend;
A loving wife is a perpetual spring
Of virtue, pleasure, wealth; a faithful wife
Is his best aid in seeking heavenly bliss ;
A sweetly-speaking wife is a companion
In solitude, a father in advice,
A mother in all seasons of distress,
A rest in passing through life's wilderness." '
271

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

The Christian missionaries say that these laws
are most horrible! Yet to-day in some parts of
Europe women are yoked together with horses
and cattle in the field, and obhged to do the
roughest labor!

The unmarried daughter, not the son, inherits
the mother's estate. This is the Hindu law.
The special property of the wife which she gets
as dowry cannot be used by the husband. A
wife in India is not responsible for the debts
of her husband or son. The mother in India
owns her children as much as the father does.

Mrs. F. A. Steele, who has written several
novels on Indian life, and who resided in India
for twenty-five years, writes of Indian women:
"In regard to the general position of women
in India, I think it is rather better than our
own. Women in India can hold property, and
a widow always gets a fixed portion of her hus-
band's estate."

Some American ladies who lived in India,
not as missionaries but as impartial observers,
have corroborated these statements. It is gen-
erally said that the Hindu law makes no provi-

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

sion for the Hindu widows. Let us see what
an Enghsh historian says:

"In the absence of direct male heirs, widows
succeed to a hfc-interest in real and abso-
lute interest in personal property. The daugh-
ters inherit absolutely. Where there are sons,
mothers and daughters are entitled to shares,
and wives hold peculiar property from a variety
of sources over which a husband has no control
during their lives, and which descends to their
own heirs, with a preference to females." *

Much has been said against the marriage
customs of the Hindus. I have heard a great
deal of objection to them, in this country espe-
cially. It is true that marriage by courtship
is not considered by the Hindus to be the highest
and best system; they say this method generally
proceeds from selfish desires, or the mere grati-
fication of passion. Marriage, according to the
Hindu ideas, must be based on the ideal of the
spiritual union of the souls, and not on the
lower desires for sense pleasures. It must be
a sacred bond. The Hindus were the first to

♦Mill's History of India, Vol. I, p. 248.
273

INDL.\ AND HER PEOPLE.

recognize marriage as an indissoluble holy bond
between two souls. Even death does not dissolve
it; and this idea prevails in the hearts of many
Hindu wives, who do not care to remarry after
the death of their husbands, but prefer to de-
vote their lives to fulfilling spiritual duties.

Mrs. Steele says: "I have seen many a virgin
widow who gloried in her fate." Marriage is
not considered to be the only aim of life. There
are nobler and higher purposes, and they must
be accomplished before death comes. The whole
spirit of the marriage laws in India is in favor
of the legal union between one man and one
woman, but they allow a little latitude for the
preservation of the race. It is said that a man
may marry a second wife for progeny alone,
with the consent of his first wife, in case she
should be barren.

The aim of Hindu law-givers was to build a
society where the moral and spiritual evolution
of the individual should be free from legal inter-
ference. Therefore they divided society into
classes, and set forth laws for each class; the
marriage laws in India have been many-sided in

274

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

order to suit the different tendencies which pre-
vailed among different classes. Hindu law-givers
understood that one law would not do for all
people. The higher the class in society, the
more restricted are their lav/s; for instance, the
same law-giver, who allows the marriage of widows
amongst the lower classes, sets forth arguments
against its practice among women of a higher
class. Nearly all Hindu widows of the lower
classes can remarry after the death of their
husbands; but it depends upon the choice both
of the husband and the wife. The Hindu law
provides for the remarriage of widows * and of
divorced women in the same way as for the
remarriage of widowers and divorced men. Ac-
cording to the law, a wife may abandon her
husband (if she choose) if he be criminal, insane,

* "That the remarriage of widows in Vedic times was
a national custom can be easily established by a variety
of proofs and arguments. The very fact of the Sans-
krit language having from ancient times such words as
didhishu, 'a man that has married a widow,' parapurva,
'a woman that has taken a second husband,' paunar-
bhava, 'a son of a woman by her second husband,' are
enough to establish it." — "Indo-Arians," by Rajendra
Lala Mitra, Vol. 11, p. 155.

276

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE,

impotent, outcast, or afflicted with leprosy, also
because of his -long absence in foreign lands, and
can take another husband. The Roman law-
gives no other causes of divorce than these.
Similarly, a husband may abandon his wife if
she be drunken or adulterous, afflicted with lep-
rosy, or cruel towards husband and children, and
can remarry. But the Hindu law does not allow
a divorce simply for incompatibility of temper,
nor because of the simple desire in either party
to marry another.

It is said that the greatest curse is the child-
marriage in India, and that it is sanctioned by
religion; but this is not true. Religion distinctly
forbids it, and in many parts of India so-called
child-marriage is nothing but a betrothal. The
betrothal ceremony takes place some years
before the real marriage ceremony; sufficient
cause may prolong the period of betrothal for
even three or four ^^-cars. In Northern India the
real marriage docs not take place until the parties
are of proper age; it is attended with music,
feasting, and the presentation of gifts. A be-
trothed wife stays in her father's house until

276

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

the time of her real marriage. In Southern
India, customs are not the same; many abuses
have crept in, and child-wives are often given
to their husbands at too tender an age. The
Hindu law does not prevent the remarriage of
the betrothed wife after the death of her be-
trothed husband, but it says that under such
circmnstances the parents of the betrothed wife
commit a sin as of giving false witness before
the court of justice.

According to the Hindu law, it is better for a
girl of a high caste to remain unmarried for life
than to marry one who is not of noble birth or
from a family of the same caste, or one who is
unqualified and illiterate.

Eight different kinds of marriages are described
and discussed by Hindu legislators,* among
which marriage with the consent of the parents
of both parties, and not a sentimental love con-
tract, is considered to be the highest. In ancient
times, when the country was governed by Hindu
kings, the Svayambara system of marriage was
very common. It was the system of free choice

* Manu, III, 21 — 3;^.
277

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

of a husband by the maiden. Those who have
read "The Light of Asia," by Sir Edwin Arnold,
will remember how Buddha was married. But
when the Hindus lost their pohtical freedom they
would have been unable to prevent the inter-
mixture of races had such liberty been continued;
so they abandoned that system of marriage and
adopted that of betrothing their sons and daugh-
ters in their youth. The betrothal, however, is-
not practised in all parts of the country.

Christian missionaries have brought false
charges against the moral character of Hindu wo-
men; and some of our own countrywomen, having
enlisted their names as Christian converts, have,
I regret to say, joined these missionary detractors
in bringing false charges against Hindu women.
If you wish to know the true condition of the
women in India, you will have to reject ninety-
nine per cent of the statements which you hear
from the missionaries, or from Christian con-
verts who come from India. There are immoral
women in India, as there are in every other
country, but it is more than wicked to make such
sweeping statements as that there is no morality

278

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

among Hindu women. The Pandita Ramabai
said: "I would not trust one of my girls in any
Indian home. The immorality in that country
is horrible!" ♦

Self-burning of widows was not sanctioned by
the Vedic religion, but was due to other causes.
Some say that, when the Mahometans conquered
India, they treated the widows of the soldiers
so brutally that the women preferred death,
and voluntarily sought it. It is often said that
the "Christian government" has suppressed
Suttee; but the truth is, that the initiative in
this direction was taken by that noble Hindu,
Rdjah R^jn Mohan Roy, who was, however,
obhged to secure the aid of the British Govern-
ment in enforcing his ideas, because India was
a subject nation. The educated classes among
the Hindus had strongly protested against the
priests f who supported this inhuman custom
(which prevailed only in certain parts of India),
and efforts had been made to suppress the evil
by force; but, as it could not be done without

* Fitchburg Sentinel, i8 April, 1898.
t BrAhminism and Hinduism, p. 482.
279

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

official help, appeal was made to the Viceroy,
Lord Bentinck, and a law against Suttee was
passed. Thus the evil was practically sup-
pressed by the Hindus themselves, aided by
the British Government.

Sir Monier Monier Williams says: "Perhaps the
most important point to which he (Rajah Ram
Mohan Roy) awakened attention was the absence
of all Vedic sanction for the self-immolation of
widows (Suttee, in Sanskrit Sati) . It was princi-
pally his vehement denunciation of this practice,
and the agitation against it set on foot by him,
which ultimately led to the abolition of Sati
throughout British India in 1829."*

The exclusion of women from the society of
men, which we find in some parts of India, is
not due to their religion, but to other causes.
Although this custom existed among the aristo-

♦ Some of the BrAhmin priests perverted the meaning
of the Vedic text which describes the funeral ceremony
of the ancient Hindus. The true meaning of that verse
is: "Rise up, woman, thou art lying by one whose life
is gone; come, come to the world of the hving, away
from thy husband, and become the wife of him who
grasps thy hand and is willing to marry thee." — Rig
Veda. Bk. 10, Hymn 18, verse 8.

280

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

cratic classes of the Hindu community, still it
came into practice largely for self-defence against
Mahometan brutality. The Purda system, that
is, the custom of not allowing women to appear
in public without a veil, was not of Hindu origin,
but was introduced into India by the Mahome-
tans. There are many parts of India where the
Purda system does not exist at all, where men
mix freely with women, travel in the same vehicle,
and appear in public with the women unveiled.
Sir Monier Monier Williams writes : ' ' More-
over, it must be noted that the seclusion and
ignorance of women, which were once mainly
due to the fear of the ^Mahometan conquerors,
do not exist in the same degree in provinces
unaffected by those conquerors."

Every one has heard the old missionary tale
of the Hindu mothers throwing their babies to
the crocodiles in the Ganges. Touching pic-
tures of a black mother with a white baby in
her arms, calmly awaiting the advent of a large
crocodile, have adorned many Sunday-school
books. Perhaps this story arose from the fact
that in certain places poor Hindu mothers place

281

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

the dead bodies of their little ones by the river-
side, because they cannot afford the expense of
cremating them.

The zeal of the pious missionaries for Chris-
tianizing India was the cause of the story of the
car of Jaggannath. Sir Monier Monier Williams
says: "It is usual for missionaries to speak with
horror of the self-immolation alleged to take
place under the car of Jaggannath. But, if
deaths occur, they must be accidental, as self-
destruction is wholly opposed both to the letter
and spirit of their religion." *

As regards female infanticide, Pandita RamA-
bai herself wrote:

"Female infanticide, though not sanctioned by
religion and 7ievcr looked upon as right by con-
scientious people, has nevertheless, in those
parts of India mentioned been silently passed
over unpunished by society in general." f

The Pandita does not perhaps know that
numbers of dead bodies of illegitimate babies
are picked up every year in the streets and

♦ Brfthmanism and Hinduism, p. ii8.
t High-caste Hindu Women, p. 26.
282

woman's place in HINDU RELIGION.

vacant lots of New York and other large Ameri-
can cities. What does American society do
about such criminals? Is it not equally reason-
able to charge these evils to the Christian re-
ligion as to lay all the sins of India at the door
of the Hindu religion?

High-caste Hindu women generally learn to
read and write in their own vernacular, but they
do not pass public examinations. Hindu religion
does not prevent any woman from receiving
education; on the contrary, it says that it is the
duty of the parents, brothers, and husbands to
educate their daughters, sisters, and wives. So,
if there be ignorance among Hindu women, it is
not the fault of their religion, but rather of their
poverty.

Malabar boasts of seven great poets, and four
of them were women. The moral sentiments
uttered by one of them (Avyar) are taught in the
schools as the golden rules of life. The writings
of Lilavati, a great woman mathematician, still
form the text-book in native schools of the
Hindus.

It is often said by the Christian missionaries

283

INDIA AND HER PEOPLE.

that Hindu religion teaches that women have
no souls, and that they are not entitled to sal-
vation. On the contrary, all the sacred books
of the Hindus testify against such outrageous
falsities. Those who have read the Bhagavad
Gita, or the Upanishads, know that, according to
Hindu religion the soul is sexless, and that all
men and women will sooner or later reach the
highest goal of religion. It was in India that
women were first allowed to be spiritual teachers
and to enter into the monastic life. Those who
have read the life of Buddha know that his
wife became the leader of the Buddhist nuns.
There are to-day hundreds of Hindu Sannydsinis
(nuns) who are recognized as spiritual teachers
by the Hindus. The wife of Sri RA,makrishna,
the great Hindu Saint of the nineteenth century,
has become a living example of the great honor
and reverence that are paid by Hindus to a
woman of pure, spotless, spiritual life.

Lastly, the position of women in Hindu re-
ligion can be understood better by that unique
idea of the Motherhood of God, which is nowhere
so strongly expressed and recognized as in India.

284

woman's place in HINDU REUGION.

The mother is so highly honored in India that
the Hindus are not satisfied until they see divin-
ity in the form of earthly mother. They say
that one mother ^s greater than a thousand
fathers, therefore the Hindus prefer to call the
Supreme Being the Mother of the Universe.
The Divine Mother is greater than the "Creator"
of other religions. She is the Producer of the
Creator, or the First-born Lord of all creatures.
There is no other country in the world where
every living mother is venerated as an incarna-
tion of the Divine Mother, where every village
has a guardian mother who protects all as her
own children.

Listen to the prayer that rises every day to
the Almighty Mother of the universe from the
hearts of Hindu worsliippers :

"O Mother Divine, Thou art beyond the
reach of our praises; Thou pervadest every par-
ticle of the universe; all knowledge proceeds
from Thee, O Infinite Source of wisdom! Thou
dwellest in evfery feminine form, and all women

are Thy Uving representatives upon earth."

285

How to be a Yogi, (^ifth Edition.)

BY SWAMI ABHEDANANDA

I. Introductory. III. Science of Breathing.

II. What is Yoga? IV. Was Christ a Yogi?

I2mo, l88 pages. Portrait of author, frontispiece.
Cloth. $i.oo. Postage, 8 cents.

** For Christians interested in foreig^n missions this book is M
Bioment, as showing the method of reasoning which they must be
prepared to meet if they are to influence the educated Hindu. To
the Orientalist, and the philosopher also, the book is not without
interest. , . . Swami Abhedftnanda preaches no mushroom creed
and no Eurasian hybrid 'theosophy.' He aims to give us a co;n-
f>endious account of Yoga. Clearly and admirably he performs his
task. In form th^ littk book is excellent, and its English style is
jood." — A'ew York Times Saturday Review c/ Books, Dec. 6, 190a.

*' ' How to be a Yogi ' is a little volume that makes very interest-
ing reading. The book contains the directions that must be fol-
lowed in physical as well as in mental training by one who wishes
to have full and perfect control of all his powers." — Record'
Herald, Chicago, Feb. 28, 1903.

*' The Swimi writes in a clear, direct manner. His chapter oa
Breath will elicit more than ordinary attention, as there is much ia
it that will prove helpful. The book makes a valuable addition to
Vedanta Philosophy." — Mind, June, 1903.

*' The book is calculated to interest the student of Oriental
thought and familiarize the unread with one of the greatest philo-
sophical systems of the world." — Buffalo Courier, Nov. 23, 1902,

" • How to be a Yogi ' practically sums up the whole science of
Vedanta Philosophy. Thie term Yogi is lucidly defined and a full
analysis is given of the science of breathing and its bearing on the
highest spiritual development. The methods and practices of Yoga
are interestingly set forth, and not the least important teaching of
the book is the assertion of how g;reat a Yogi was Jesus of Naz-
areth."— The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer, Jan. 15, 1903.

" This book is well worth a careful reading. Condensed, yet
■ -"i-r and concise, it fills one with the desire to eoLUiate these Yogis
t£i attaixuag qxritual perfection." — UnUy, Kansas City, Oec, 190a.

Orders received by and checks and money
orders made payable to

VEDANTA ASHRAMA

West Cornwall, Conn.

Great Saviors of the World

rvoi. I.)
A NEW BOOK

SWAMI ABHEDANANDA

Cloth, ^i.oo net. Postage, 6 cents. Portrait
of each Savior.

CONTENTS.

I. Great Saviors of the World (Introductory.)
II. Krishna and His Teachings.

III. Zoroaster and His Teachings.

IV. Lao-Tze and His Teachings.

" These studies are scholarly and comprehensive reviews of
historic fact. They are also broad and open interpretations of moral
and spiritual forces. The author's attitude is reverent toward all.
His mind is free. His speech is peculiarly impressive. Surely, it
speaks well for the world that its people can look without bitterness
and jealousy upon the fact that God has sent, and will send, many
Saviors into tne world. This is a good study, htted to open the
heart and liberalize mind.^'— iVasAiHgten Star. June 39, 1913.

"A valuable contribution to metaphysics."— /'(Or</a«<^C7r<'^o««a(».
June 33, 1913.

"The work is taken up somewhat in chronological order. . . .
The teachings of the thinkers who form the subject of the lectures are
faithfully reported. The author holds no special brief for any of
those remarkable men but endeavors to state precisely what their
ideas were. The style of the author is interesting as well as perfectly
lucid."— ^«^a/» Nttvs, April ai, 1912.

Swami Abhedananda emphasizes the similarities in the teachinfr
of these great men. His aim is " 10 show that the fundamental teach,
ings of the founders of the great religions of the world have had the
same spiritual keynote and that the stories connected with their lives
and miraculous deeds are similar to those of Jesus Christ."— .S'/. Pam/
Piotutr Frtfty August 4, 1919.

Press Notices. — Continued.

" He (author) attempts to explain their ideas accurately and pays
much attention to the legends ot the east relative to the orig^in of the
great leaders in sacred affairs.'"— Z?<rj Moints Ca/ital, June s, 191a.

" It sets forth in picturesque language the principal CTents in the
lires of his heroes and gives a good concise idea of their teachings."
— The Indianapolis S/ar, May 26, 1912.

"Swami Abhedjnanda's discourses point to the essential harmony
of religions . . . and offer an unusual opportunity to study from
conemporaneous expressions the companion viewpoints of faith and
pure culture." — New York Worlds May 25, igia.

" The life and teachings of three great Sages, of whom the West-
ern world knows far too little, is treated in a wonderfully clear and
attractive manner. . . . Their illumined efforts in lifting up a new
ensign for the people of their respective countries are described by an
Oriental Scholar, who is perfectly titled for the task, and has familiar-
ized himself with the available records of their almost superhuman
labors. Each of these great souls is made to live again in the respect-
ive chapters of this engrossing work, very interesting side lights are
thrown on alleged inaccuracies, many abscure points are made plain,
and the underlying principles they set out to teach are conveyed in
simple, but scholarly style." — Ihe Column, June, 1913.

" Swami's book will do infinitely more good at the present time
in the west than any book he could have written upon the different
schools of Vedanta."— JVi/aw/a Universal Messenger, Dec, iqu.

*' It breathes the spirit of deep vision and profound learning and
one sees that the Swami is actuated by the spirit of his Master, Sri
Ramakrishna, that Synthesis of the Religious Cr-nsciousness. . . .
The quotations from learned authors, bearing relation to the historical
features of the Avataras wuh which the book is replete, shows how
diligently the Swami has prepared himself for his arduous task. He
has left nothing unsaid. — Awakened Inditi, Nov., 1913.

"This collection of lectures by the well-known Vedantist con-
stitutes the first of a series of three volumes dealing with the same
subject. As the author indicates in his preface, the word " Saviour"
is jsed by him in the broad sense, and not as denoting "a Saviour
who saves from eternal damnation." The present volume deals with
the lives and teachings of Krishna, Zoroaster, and Lao-Tze, viewed
in the unifying light of the Vedanta. The many admirers of Swimi
Abhedananda's works will welcome this addition to the list, whilst
those who have not yet had the p'easure of becoming acquainted
with the grandeur of the teachings of this religio-philosophy, through
the light of which "the Unity of the Godhead under variety of names
and forms" may be perceived, will assuredly read the book not only
with interest, but come from its perusal with the conviction that the
SwSmi possesses the happy gift of bringing to light in an interesting
and attractive manner the harmony existing between the leading
world.rel:gions."— Of.w// Review, July, 1912, London, England.

In the Press

GREAT SAVIORS OF THE WORLD
Vols. II. aod III.

Human Affection and
Divine Love

SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
Flexible cloth. Price, 35 cents. Postage, 3 cents.

A suitable gift- book full of inspiring thoughts. It describes
the evolution of Love in its various stages — aninial, human,
and divine ; and shows that love is not an emotional sentiment
as commonly understood but an attribute of our Real Self.

" Beautifully expressed sentences, on the idealism of love, reflected
from India." — Portland Ore^ontan, June 23, 1912.

"Never under any circumstances is divine love an evil thing, but
is everlasting in its beneficent blessings. In this little book the author
contrasts the endurinp beauty of the divine love with that of human
affections which if misdirected in its selfishness results in murder,
robbery and other crimes. His book is divided into two parts and the
Later inciudcs numerous quotations to prove his argument." — Des
Moisnes Capitate June s, 1913.

" It is written simply and the mysticism in it is somewhat akin to
the mysticism of Maeterlinck, Kmerson and of Thomas i Kempis—
different as they all are." — St. Paul Pioneer Pren, Aug. 4, tgta.

"A tiny book but containing a volume of profound thought wis-
dom and beauty. It was Flrummond who wrote that the greatest
thing in the world was " Love," and since then love hassomehow had
a greater significance and more exalted place in the world than it ever
occupied before. But even Drummond did not put it on the high
plane or give it such exquisite meaning .ts this writer has. He casts
away the material and shows that the love that exalts, the love that
worketh only good reaches through the material to the divine." — Or**
goH Journal, April a8, 1913.

Press Notices. — Continued.

" Human affection has ever been manifested in attachment to some
object, and the enlightened passages in this practical little Tolume
show the same tendency on the animal plane by means of a very fine
comparison. The nature and expression of Divine Love is also very
skillfully analysed, and a nice distinction drawn, between it and the
human quality. The author feelingly portrays an ideal behind both,
which might well be ii-i opted by the individual, and typified in his
relation to others q daily life, with invaluable results to all. The
words of the Swami on "that Divine Love that knows no fear," but
realizes everything comes from God are uttered in a decisive style that
will appeal to an army of souls, who to-day feel the truth of such a
principle. Those will be greatly helped by the plain and highly intell-
igent explanation of a great truth, in which the vividness of Oriental
expression is reproduced in Western terms by a master of both
languages. This especially applies to the closing chapter where aptly
chosen illustrations so dear to the oriental mind elucidate the two
characteristics of ecstatic love, the three states of consciousness and
their correspondence to the five sheaths of the soul, beyond which is
the True Self, the Absolute. An elevating manual quite in keeping
with the Author's previous best work."— 7"A# Column, June, igia,

"It is thoroughly sound and happily written book, a fine intro-
duction to Bhakti Marga. It is profitable reading to every person
while to the more philosophically inclined it affords valuable instruct-
ion."— The Brakmavadin, Madras India, Dec, igia.

"Carefully does the Swami draw the distinction, showing how
human love attains its climax in directing itself to GoA."— Awakened
India, Nov., 1912.

" This is a book presenting somewhat of the old. Indian phil-
osophy, which is noble and pure. It is in no sense a departure from
Western thought, as one might be led to suppose. It is well written
aad free from meuphysical speculations."— .5ro<»-t/>i» Eagle, June 14,
1911.

Unity and Harmony

A New Lecture by

SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
Price, 10 cents. Postage, i cent.

Divine Heritage of Man.

BY SWAMI ABHEDANANDA

I3mo, 215 pages. Portrait of »uthor, frontispiece.
Cloth, ^i.oo. Postage, 8 cents.

Contents. I. Existence of God. II. Attributes of God.
III. Has God any Form? IV. Fatherhood and Motherhood
of God. V. Relation of Soul to God. VI. What is an Incar-
nation of God? VII. Son of God. VIII. Divine Principle
in Man.

" The SwSmi Abhedinanda's writings are also companionable and read-
able. . . . The Philosophy of India, being the brinffing together of the
best thoughts and reasonings of the best men for the thousandsof preced-
ing years, had under consideration the self-same problems that are to-day
Texing^ the souls of our philosophers. The Swfimi's book is therefore not
so radical » departure from accepted thought as might at first be imagined.
... It is not meat for babes, but rather will it give new liri •• of thought
to the brightest intellects." — Transcript, Boston, Aug. 1903.

" His method of dealing with these fundamental questions is peculiarly
free both from dogmatic assertion and from pure metaphysical specula-
tion."— Inter-Ocean, Chicago, Aug. 1903.

" He bases his arguments, not on theological hypotheses, but on scientific
facts." — Cleveland Plain Dealer, Aug. 1903.

" It is written in a plain and logical style, and cannot fail to interest all
who are anxious for information concerning the philosophy of which tho
aathor is such an able exponent.'' — Times Pittsburg, June, 1903.

" A glance over a few of its pages would be sufHcieiit to convince the
reader that he is in the presence of an intellect of high order, more
thoroughly conversant with the philosophies and sciences of the Occi-
dental world than most Europeans or Americans. . . . The "Divine
Heritage of Man " gives a rare insight into the religious views of educatt-d
Hindoos and in its argumentation furnishes an intellectual treat."—
Chronicle, San Francisco, Aug. 1903.

" Fully cognitant of modern scientific discoveries, the author treats
his subject broadly." — Bookseiler, SeivsdeaUr, and Tuhtisher, New
York, Aug. 1903,

"The student of religions will find much of value in the discourses,
since they are full of historical information concerning the origin ana
growth of certain ideas and beliefs dominant in Christianity." — Ktftvbli-
can, Denver, July, 1903.

"There is no disposition on \\\<: part of the .luthor to as.sail any of tha
Christian principles, but he siniplv presents his subject with calmness,
not attempting to reconcile reli;.'i'on and science, for to him they aa«
one.''--U asAi/tgton J'eit, June, 1^03

Self-Knowledge (Atma-Jnana).

BY SWAMI ABHEDANANDA

Qoth, |i.oo. Postage, 8 cents. Portrait of author,
frontispiece.

Contents.
I. Spirit and Matter. IV. Search after the Self.

II. Knowledge of the Self. V, Realization of the Self.

III. Prana and the Self. VI. Immortality and the Self.

" So practically and exhaustively is each phase of the subject
treated that it may well serve as a text-book for anyone striving
for self-development and a deeper understanding of human nature."
— Toronto Saturday Nighty Dec. 1905.

" It will also be welcomed by students of the Vedic Scriptures,
since each chapter is based upon some one of the ancient Vedas
known as the Upanishads, and many passages are quoted." —
Chicago Inter-Ocean, Jan. 1906.

" The book, from the gifted pen of the head of the Vedanta
Society of New York, presents in a clear manner, calculated to
arrest the attention of those not yet famiUar with Vedic literature,
the principles of self-knowledge as taught by the leaders of that
philosophy. . . . The many passages quoted prove the profound
wisdom and practical teaching contained in the early Hindu Scrip*-
tures." — Washington Evening Star, Dec. 1905.

*' A new book which will be welcome to students of Truth,
Tvhether it be found in the Eastern religions, in modern thought
or elsewhere." — Unity, Nov. 1905.

" The book is very well written." — San Francisco Chronicle^
Dec. 1905.

"In forcefulness and clearness of style it is in every way equal
to the other works by the Swami Abhedananda, who has always
shown himself in his writings a remarkable mcister of the English
language." — Mexican Herald, Dec. 1905.

*' The volume is forcefully written, as are all of this author's
works, and cannot fail to be of great interest to all who have entered
this field of thought. A fine portrait of the Swami forms th«
frontispiece." — Toledo Biade, Nov. 1905.

India and Her People

{Lectures delivered before the Brooklyn Institute

of Arts and Sciences during the season

of 1905-1906.)

SWAMI ABHEDANANDA

THIRD EDITION
Cloth, $1.25. Postage, 10 Cents

Contents

I. Philosophy of India To-day.
II. Religions ci India.

III. Social Status of India: Their System of Caste. ,

IV. Political Institutions of India.
V. Education in India.

VL The Influence of India on Western Civilization and the
Influence of Western Civilization on India.

"This book has more than usual interest as coming from one who
knows the Occident and both knows and loves the Orient. ... It
is decidedly interesting. . . . The book has two admirable qualities:
breadth in scope and sugpestiveness in material." — Bulletin o/ tk*
A merican Geographical Hociety, Sept, 1906.

"This volume, written in an attractive style and dealing with the
life, philusophy and reliy:ioa of India, should prove a useful addition to
the literature of a fascinating and as yet largely unknown subject. It
is designid for f^'opuUr reading, the metaphysical portions being so
handled that the reader runs little risk of getting beyond his depth."
— Literary Digest, Feb. 16, 1907.

" The Swami possesses the exceptional advantage of being able to
look upon his own country almost from the standpoint of an outsider
and to handle his subject free from both foreign and native prejudice."

— New York iyorlii,K\i^. 4, 1906.

" It is a valuable contribution to Western knowledge of India, con-
taining precisely what the American wants 10 know about that region.'

— IVajAington JSvenin^ Star, Aug. 4, igo6.

" It is imposbible lu quarrel with his book. He (Swami) writes too
interestingly and be is a man with a mission." — The Sunday Oregonian,
Ang. 36, 1906.

PRESS NOTICES OF "INDIA AND HER PEOPLE."

" The views set forth in this work by Swami Abhedananda ... are
interesting, as being those of a native of India who has devoted much
time and attention to the study of those questions which aflect the

fovernmeni and general administration of the country. The author
as selected a wide range of subjects for treatment, embracing the
social, political, educational, and religious conditionsas they now exist,
and, speaking generally, has invariably exercised sound tact and judg-
ment in discussing the many diflferent questions embraced under those
headings." — Journal ef the Royal Colonial Institute^ April, igo7,
London, England.

" An excellent contribution to the very scanty literature on India.
. . . All chapters are instructive to any one aspiring to a knowledg^e
of this vast country. ... It is a book which every non-Indian visit-
ing India or making a temporary or permanent stay therein, and also
every son of the soil, should have by bis side." — Tht Arya, February,
zgo7, Madras, India.

Reincarnation.

(New and Enlarged Edition^

I. Reincarnation.

II. Heredity and Reincarnation.

III. Evolution and Reincarnation.

IV. Which is Scientific, Resurrection or Reincarnation?
V. Theory of Transmigration.

Paper, 45 cents. Cloth, 60 cents. Postage, 5 and 7 cents.

" In these discourses the Swami Abhedananda considers the questions
of evolution and the resurrection in their bearing upon the ancient
teaching of rebirth, the truth, logic and justice of which are rapidly
permeating the best thought of the Western world. For the preserva-
tion of this doctrine mankind is indebted to the literary storehouses of
India, the racial and geographical source of much of the vital knowledge
of Occidental peoples. Remcarnation is shown in the present volume
to be a universal solvent of life's mysteries. It answers those questions!
of children that have staggered the wisest minds who seek to reconcile'
Xj^f law of evolution and the existence of an intelligent and just Creator,
wih the proposition that man has but a single lifetime in which to de-
velop spiritual self-consciousness. It is commended to every thinker."
—-Mind, February, IQOO-

*' It IS a work which will appeal to the novice for its simplicity and
definite quality, and to the student for its wealth of knowledge aad
suggestion," — Vedanta Monthly Bulletin, Sept., 1907.

"The book should prove a valuable acquisition." — The Evening
Sun, 19. v., Deceml'er zi, IQ07>

"This is the work of a man of fine education and of fine intellect.
. . . (Reincarnation) as expounded by Swami Abhedananda is very
plausible, quite scientific, and far from uncomforting. 'I he exposition
contained in this little book is well worth reading by all students of
metaphysics. There is not the slighte»t danger of its converting or
perverting any one to a new and strange religion. R' 'ncarnation is
not religion, it is science. Science was never known to aurt anybody
but scientists." — Brooklyn Eagle, December ij, IQOJ.

WORKS BY SWAMI ABHEDANANDA.

Philosophy of Work.

I. Philosophy of Work.
II. Secret of Work.
111. Duty or Motire in Work.

Paper, 35 cents. Cloth, 50 cents. Postage, a and 6 cents.

"In this volume the Vedanta Society presents three lectures by the
leader of the Hindu religious movement that is making; much head*
way among philosophic minds throughout the United States. The
book is an excellent antidote to the gospel of selfism now popular
in many quarters, and a copy should be in the hands especially of
every ambitious seeker after the loaves and fishes of material desire.
It shows the folly of slavery to sense and the means of escape from
the thraldom of egoism, while elucidating the Hindu concept o£
many things that are ' race problems' because of individual igno-
rance of spiritual principles. These discourses merit a wide circa!**
lion aBODg unprejudiced minds." — Mind, February, 1903.

Single Lectures.

Christian Science and Vedanta.

Cosmic Evolution and^^its Purpose.

Divine Communion.

Does the Soul Exist akter Death ?

The Motherhood of God.

The Philosophy of Good and Evil.

The Relation of Soul to God.

Religion of the Hindus.

Scientific Basis of Religion.

Simple Living.

Spiritualism and Vedanta.

The Way to the Blessed Life.

Who is the Saviour of Souls ?

Why a Hindu Accepts Christ and Rejects Churchianitt.

Why a Hindu is a Vegetarian.

Woman's Place in Hindu Religion.

The Word and the Cross in Ancient India.

10 cents each. Postage, i cent each.
Single Lectures Parts I & H. Bound in cloth, each $1.00.
Postage, 8 cents.

The Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna.

COMPILED BY

SWAMI ABHEDANANDA.

234 pages. Flexible cloth, gilt top, 75c. net. Postage, 6c.

R&makrishna was a great Hindu saint of the nineteenth century
who has already had an influence on the religious thought of
America and England through the teachings of his disciples,
Swfimi Vivektnanda, Swfimi Abhedananda, and others. His Say-
ings are full of broad, practical, non-sectarian instructions concern-
ing the spiritual life which cannot but give help and inspiration
to the followers of all creeds. The present volume contains a
larger number of Sayings than has yet appeared in any one English
collection. For the first time also they have been classified into
chapters and arranged in logical sequence under marg^inal head-
ings, such as "All creeds paths to God," "Power of Mind and
Thought," "Meditation," "Perseverance." As an exposition of
the universal truths of Religion and their application to the daily
life this book takes its place among the great scriptures of tb«
■world.

Spiritual Unfoldment.

BY SWAMI ABHEDANANDA

I. Self-contrcJ.
n. Concentration and Meditation.
III. God-consciousness.

Paper, 35 cents. Cloth, 50 cents. Postage, 2 and 6 cents.

"This aitriictive little volume comprises three lectures on the
Vedanta Philosophy. The discourses will be found vitally helpful even
by chose who know liuie and care less about the spiritual and ethical
teacLiings of which the Swami is an able and popular exponent. As
the Vedanta itself is largely a doctrine of universals and ulti mates, <io
also is this bouk of common utility and significance among all races of
believers. Its precepts are susceptible of application by any rational
thinker, regardless of religious predilection and inherited prejudices.
The principles set forth by this teacher are an excellent corrective of
spiritual bias or narrowness, and as such the present work is to t)e coir-
mended. It has already awakened an interest in Oriental literature that
augurs well for the cause of human brotherhood, and it merits a wide
circulation among all who cherish advanced idealb."—i)/i»«f, /j/r<7,
ZQOg.

What is Vedanta .r^

Pamphlet printed for distribution containing a short exposition of
the fundamenUl teachings of the Vedanta Philosophy, izmo, 8 pp.
Price, s cent.

The Gospel of Ramakrishna.

Authorized Edition.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

swAmi abhedananda.

448 pages; with two pictures, maginal notes, and index.

Flexible silk cloth, gilt top, $1.50 net. Postage, 7 cents.

Full leather binding, flexible cover, circuit edge with rea

and gold in the style of "Teachers' Bible."

$3.00 net. Postage, 8 cents.

"The sayings of a mystic who has much influence in India
and who has been made known to the Western world by various
missionary 'Swamis' will be found in 'The Gospel of Rinia-
krishna.' They have been translated into excellent English."

— The Sun, New York.

<' ' The Gospel of Rimakrishna ' contains the religious
teachings of this modern Hindu saint whose life contained so
many good deeds that his followers thought him little short ot
divine." — 77/1? Boston Globe, Boston, Mass.

•' During his lifetime his career and personality attracted
much attention from Entr'ash and German scholars of the nine
teenth century." — The Chicago Inter-Ocean, Chicago, III.

"The book is filled with beautiful thoughts and beauti-
ful teachings, which, if followed, would lead to a perfect life.
One cannot marvel that the sayings of RAmakrishna made a
deep impress on modern Hindu thought. He was at least a
great and wise scholar, and gave goodly advice to his followers."

— The San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, Cat.

" It is a remarkable book and it should be a rare privilege
to read it." — The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon.

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

DS iibhedananda , Swami

A23 India and her people

ii2

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