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DS 423.A14
India
SWAMI AEHEDANANDA
India
AND
Her People
BY
SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
Author of " Self-Knowledge," "
How
etc.
to
Work"
PUBLISHED BY
0)S
jit
ft.
U Ht
t
COPYRIGHT,
1906,
BY SWAMI ABHEDANANDA
TO THE
PEOPLE OF INDIA
WITH DEEP FELLOW-FEELING AND EARNEST PRAYERS FOR THE RESTORATION OF THEIR ANCIENT GLORY AND NATIONAL FREEDOM
INTRODUCTION.
am very
Brooklyn
Institute of Arts
dananda,
is
to
be published.
description
religious
and
conditions
of
India.
They contain
to
precisely
India.
know about
by a native
of India,
I
by
I
foreign prejudices.
am
impressed,
by what
we have
a great deal
Franklin W. Hooper,
Director of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts
and
Sciences.
Brooklyn, N.
PREFACE.
The
of
first six
volume
Institute
and
Sciences.
As
my
limited
at
time
me
to
describe
I
length the
Hindu women,
on "Woman's Place
Hindu Religion"
My
to give an impartial
all
misunder-
among
the Americans
I
have cited
my statements, and
beg to acknowledge
my
I
whom
Dutt, C.I.E.,
for
numerous valuable
facts
5
and
statistics col-
PREFACE.
lected
of tireless research
in England,
"Civilization
Ancient
India,"
"Economic
Age."
The Author.
New York, May
15, 1906.
CONTENTS.
I.
of
To-day
PAGE 9
II.
To-day
their
48
III.
The
System
87
116
170
of
Western
Civilization
on
216
Woman's
Place in
Hindu
7
Religion.
251
INDIA
AND HER
PEOPLE.
TO-DAY.
when
dawn
called
of
the ethical
and
spiritual
teachings of th
INDIA
and nomadic
tribes of Israel
in
by giving
the
name
of
And
while thinkers
among
the Semitic
were
still
the the
human
mythological stories
creation
collected
of India
of
the
man
in-
Many
is
who have
neither
science,
nor
religion,
and
year 1320
Vol.
I,
B.C. as
,
Religion of Israel,
p. 121.
such erroneous
notions.
They have
on the contrary,
home
The
the world.
like
majority
of
Oriental
scholars,
Professor
as also
Max
to
Miiller
advanced students
realize
phases
or
of
philosophic
thought,
whether
ancient
to-day.
modern, can
still
be found there
losopher, whose
knowledge
of
the
history of
writes:
European
' '
philosophy was
unrivalled,
When we
monuments
India,
the East,
above
all,
those
of
in Europe,
we
profound,
many a truth, and truths so and which make such a contrast with
INDIA
human
philosophy." *
'
'
And
in a nutshell."
You
will find
no other country
in the
world
down to
the present
religion
have played so
India
but by kings,
merchants,
military
commanders,
soldiers,
peasants,
of
the ancient
Works, Vol.
12
I,
p. 32.
ages.
ment
insight
of
their
intellectual
powers, and
their
into
They
whole
inquired:
"
When
the
death
swallows
the
world,
death?
who is What
part of
man
when a man
Where
there
What
What
is
is
that governs
separate from
everything?"
discovered
the laws
of
thought
and
and reason
at every step.
The minds
lutely
free
of
those
all
truth-seekers
limitations
were absodoctrines,
from
of
personal God;
INDIA AND
universe, of
its
HER PEOPLE.
and cause, how to know
origin
how
to solve
and death.
At that time
in the atmosin
ment
as actively
and universally
phere of India as
countries.
we
find to-day
Western
Some
questions
those
seems as though
Hume,
which were
rialistic,
mate-
spiritualistic,
such as are
common
was
to search
after the
14
unchangeable Reality
phe-
nomena,
to
know what
relation
many of
ally explained
tion or persecution;
classes of people in
In one of
the Upanishads
plaining
said:
this
we read
the mystery
of Creation
"My
Thus we
see
INDIA
doctrine of evolution
times,
the marvel of
modern
and that
it
was unknown
aware that
it
of
Huxley admits
this
when he
to
says:
of Indian sages,
whom
And
if
Sir
in
his
' '
Brahminism
I
and Hinduism,"
declares:
"Indeed,
may
many
had any
is
evolution
'
existed in
language
of
the
world."
If
This
statement
absolutely correct.
we study the
philosophical
we
most wonder-
p. 150.
Hindu Seers
of
Truth
its
own.
One
combination
atoms
and molecules.
It
is
known
Kanada.
The system
Kanada
divides the
phenomenal
They
Guna,
Karma, or
action;
(4)
Sarnanya,
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,
is
Abhava, or non-existence,
stance.
Each
stances:
(5)
of these, again,
is
ous classes.
There
are,
(1) earth;
(2) water;
ether;
(6)
time
(Kala);
(9)
space (Dish);
(8) self
(Atman); and
mind (Manas).
These
INDIA
of
touch,
or
ity,
number
(that
pleasure,
aversion,
and
will.
The
upward
motion,
(4)
(2)
downward
(5)
motion,
(3)
contraction,
expansion,
movement
first
four substances
made up
minute
invisible
atoms
as
(anus)
which are
eternal.
They
exist
Kanada
mensions.
describes
atoms
(anus)
as
indivisible
di-
particles of
On
this point
modern European
philosophers,
scientists
who gave
first
visible
atoms.
of
The
two
(anus).
is
still
It is called
Dyanu, or molecule,
of three
which
invisible.
The aggregate
18
which has
visible dimension.
These aggregates
of composite
atoms
How
re-
to see
India centuries
And the
India.
European science
way
but
are
co-eternal
Him.
The
power,
who
is
phenomena.
time, space,
are
Atman
eternal
is
substances
of
Mind
or
Manas
atom
Self,
(anus); but
is
distinct
from Atman or
which
vast (Vibhu).
Atman
still
INDIA AND
able.
HER PEOPLE.
is
The
and
Self or
Atman
desire,
distinct
qualities,
from the
such
etc.
senses,
possesses
will,
nine
as
knowledge,
happiness,
The
aim
of
the
Vaisheshika
philosophy
(which
derives its
name from
the
stance)
is
attainment
perfection
and
Next ophy
to the Vaisheshika
is
the
it
Nyaya
is
philos-
of
Gautama.
Although
generally
still it is
is
philosophy.
Its
object
the
same
as
other
of of
ultimate freedom.
of
knowledge;
edge;
(3)
(2)
Prameya, or objects
(4)
knowl-
Sansaya, or doubt;
(5)
Prayojana,
motive or purpose;
instance;
(7)
(6)
Dristanta, example or
Tarka,
Nirnaya, or con(11)
Vada,
or
argumentation;
Hetvabhasa, or
fallacies;
Nigrahasthana, or unfitness
for
is
arguing.
The
the aim
of this school.
sensuous perception;
testimony.
The
ber:
nummind
objective
(Buddhi),
(Manas),
pain,
death, retribution,
and
final
emancipation.
These objects,
as well as the
means
and
of knowledge,
which are
form
the
of
described
singly
elaborately,
of
fundamental principles
the
philosophy
rest of the
Padarthas belong
expounds.
There-
which
it
both
logic
and philosophy.
of
Gautama
the
India.
He was
founder of Hindu
logic,
21
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
Hindu
aim
of
logicians
of
later
date.
The
methods
and to develop
correct
inference
by
the
construction of true
consists
of
syllogisms.
five parts:
(2) reason,
(3) in(5)
and
this,
con-
By
we can
The
make
it
called
in
Hindu
logic
Vy&ftti, or
concomitance.
Speaking of
right
Hindu
of
"The
methods
discussed with as
much
by any
of the
Western
logicians."
Many European
scholars,
ments
of their logic
Hindus.
Mr. Dutt
"Comparing
dates,
we
many
other
logic,
the Greeks
perfected it." *
fact that there
between the
who,
it
is
said,
went
to India to gather
Alexander himself
was
the
so deeply impressed,
Hindu
make
he
to
their
acquaintance.
also
said
that
brought
many Hindu
philosophers
back
many
some parts
of India, especially in
of Kapila.
He
is
His
system
is
more
like the
philosophy of Herbert
the
Spencer.
He
rejected
atomic
theory
by
(Latin,
the
creative
energy).
I,
He mainp.
292.
23
INDIA
is
eternal.
and
repulsion,
literally
of Kapila, in short,
logical,
is
and
Energy.
There
is
no ancient philosophy
in the
system of Kapila.
The idea
of evolution
which
Professor E.
of
W. Hopkins
Before
"Plato
is full
out
ideas
of
India
Schroeder, Pythagoras).
were but
The Gnostic
and
of heavens
spiritual worlds go
back directly
to
Hindu
sources.
when they appear united in Greece by means of the thought which is borrowed
The famous
three qualities of the
'three classes.'"*
from India.
recorded
calls it
the
earliest
mind
Fur-
man and
German philosophy
Hartmann, that
it
of
is
Schopenhauer
and
of
of
"a reproduction
25
the
INDIA
materialistic
In this respect
human
intellect
it
ground that
years ago;
it
nized fully the existence of a soul in man, forming indeed his proper nature,
Fichte,
the
and
absolute of
distinct
see in
from
matter
immortal;
many, can
man
organization." *
It
is
most
startling
of
to
find
that
the
ulti-
mate conclusions
this
modern
science.
of nothis,
ing;
(2)
The
is
the effect
tion
Destructo
its
an
effect
causal state;
The laws
The building
up
of the
cosmos
is
* Preface to
Hindu Philosophy.
26
conclusions
his
philosophy
is
because he admitted the existence of the individual soul, Purusha, as an eternal and immortal
entity.
The
The agnosticism
now
a large number of
lowers in India,
is
also based
main
modern
Next
India.
in order
of
Patanjali.
lution
as
that
the
whole phenomenal
universe
is
the
Energy.
existence
countless Purushas, or
27
individual
INDIA
souls,
each of which
by nature
this
eternal, infinite,
differs
and immortal.
But
system
from
of a cosmic
who
is
formless, infiaffliction,
omniscient, and
untouched by
activity, deserts,
and
desires.
Patanjali takes
up
material,
that
On
this
modern Europe;
or
but
they
is is
admitted
distinct
that
mind-substance,
Chitta,
Self,
which
ligence.
itself to
the higher
human mind.
It divides
Chitta
knowledge,
sleep,
indiscrimination,
verbal
delusion,
memory.*
by
Patanjali.
of
After
Chitta,
explaining
all
the modifications
the
method by which
intellect
mind (Manas),
be attained.
losophy
is
his phi-
with which
to
and
make
it
of breath,
clairaudience,
and
various
other
way by which
in this life.
There
in the
is
no system
of psychological philosophy
Patanjali.
of Europe,
as Schopenhauer says:
is
"The study
no Psyche."
29
of psychology
It
vain,
for there
is
may
be
INDIA AND
HER
PEOPLE.
of Cornell
will
my
friend, Professor
it.
Hiram Corson,
University, calls
Yoga system
still
of
Patanjali.
in
This
philosophy
has
many
of
followers
There
called
is
philosophy,
the
Purva Mimdnsa
of
Jaimini.
The
and
word
"Mimansa" means
investigation,
or prior.
This system
ritualistic
points
man
is
to follow
Supreme Being.
words to
and the
is
their
meaning
also eternal;
Vedas had no
human
the
origin.
plains the
relation
this
how
world
We
If
see
in
the Vedas
the material
cow would be
non-existent.
We may
we go deep
and word, we
statements.
the
is
shall
realize
The sun
in the
exists
because
is,
there
is
word "sun"
Vedas; that
the sun
nature
duty and
and devotional.
which
is
Through
it
we can understand
what way
it
right
work and
in
should
results.
For
shall
will
we wish
to go to heaven
we
unknown
or imperceptible re-
which
will
be rewarded or manifested in
Now, how
is
What
the
law?
And
if
we perform
the
INDIA
result?
All these
those
You may throw them away as speculation, but who believe in the efficacy of prayers, in
sequence, cannot reject them as mere specula-
tion,
because there
it.
is
some truth
in them.
We
cannot deny
or every
movement
some
they
of
What
How
our being?
We
are too
busy to think
who can
"Each
case
ciples,
may
of
be collected.
well-ordered arrangement
them would
this
is,
and
in truth,
in the
Mimansa."
it
losophy,
Uttara Mimdnsa, or
the
Vedanta has
classes
of
down
to the pariahs.
Among
careful
study
of
these
all
different
the highest
known
philosophers
schools.
of
the
Professor E.
W. Hopkins
says:
"Both
by Hindu
sages,
The
doctrines of
Greece." * Frederic
"The
continually inculcated,
him
in the struggle,
and
incite
him
to consider a
* Religions of India.
33
INDIA
Even
set forth
by the
Promethean spark
noonday
sun, faltering
and
feeble
The ultimate
to Vedanta,
is is
which
is
the infinite
Brahman.
the same
as the
Good
Over-Soul of Emerson, the Unknowable of Herbert Spencer, the Divine Essence of the Heavenly
Mahometans.
also
the
It
true
nature
of
Buddha and
* Indian
of
Christ.
is
No
is
one can
divide
it
indivisible.
This
the reality
The system
of
Vedanta
is
more
it
critical
than
nomenal nature
of intuition,
is
of the
Kantian ego, of
and
also
of Kant,
because
of
the
ego.
this oneness
been so
as
is
in
Vedanta.
Max
Miiller says:
by
directly or indirectly." *
many European
*
35
INDIA
of
holds a most
is
absolutely
No
Professor
Max
Miiller
declares:
"None
ing
Heraclitus,
Plato,
Kant,
spire,
or
Hegel,
has
never frightened
by storms or
lightnings.
in regular succession
after once
it
step
after once
whether we
call it
Atman
or
Brahman." *
heaven
united
and
still
has
*
phenomenal
36
modern
same time
it
says
that Truth
be
many
of the
one Truth.
Furthermore,
it is
maintains
not merely
to
exhibits to our
beyond
We
are
now
of the knowable;
phenomena
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
knowable
our souls
perception,
37
and
directs
INDIA
to all questions.
relation
Its
attempt
to trace the
an}-
unscientific
processes of logic
True
philosophy
must
construct
its
theory
which
will
be the simplest in
and which
of
will
harmonize
religion,
with
the
highest
form
the
universal
without
the
destroying
soul.
loftiest
aspirations
of
human
sense
it
results arrived
at
by
special branches of
knowledge which we
call sciences,
it
When
does
this, it is called
phenomenology.
performs
it
Herbert
Spencer's
philosophy
this
TO-DAY.
greatest
unsolvable mysteries.
Herbert
Spencer
does
not
explain
all
these
living.
We
must
the
an explanation, we must
solve
all
souls;
it,
and
if
any system
we
will
study
and
minds.
source.
You know
minds
of
that you
this
where does
The
A
and
is
called Epistomology.
The philosophy
others
of
has performed
of
function.
In his
"Elements
General
says:
it
Philosophy"
"Epistomology
George
is
Croom Robertson
with being;
just
philosophy, because
it
beyond
treats of
them
in relation
Thus an epistomologist
INDIA
being.
He must
is
also
be a metaphysician,
because he
of things
he must be a
philosopher in
way
in
which science
is
not."
The
is
third
that of
it
purpose of evolution.
On
never be found.
limitations of ignorance
and
selfishness.
These
now
suffering
from,
and,
40
by performing
this
No
phi-
so satisfactorily as Vedanta.
Hence we
may
all
is
systems.
harmony.
monism
is
one-sided,
unintelligent.
His with
insentient
substance
Prakriti,
may
which
be
is
compared
eternal
Kapila's
and
unintelligent.
final
is
sub-
Brahman, which
Sat
gence,
Vedanta
must
and
blissfulness.
foundation
of
which
is
monistic or non-dualistic.
of
41
The monistic
religion
INDIA
infinite
by
nature, but on
by
not many.
existence,
many images
Brahman.
the soul
is
the
Absolute
It
Divine.
From
the Absolute
rises,
Brahman
end
of
and
in the religion
the
Brahman.
The
who
is
who
who
loves
all living
creatures
worshipped
of the
is
in return.
Sankhya philosophy
called
Maya, which
mean
illusion, as
some
scholars
and causation,
the phenomenal
Thus we
Vedanta
is
both
is
the
is
fruit,
so they
must go
Religion
and philosophy
ligion.
is
man.
He
practice in every-day
lives,
what he
believes he
is
and therefore
practical philosophy
still
to be found in India.
philosopher
who
follows
the existence of a
his soul, does not
of
merely accept
this theoretically,
but he
tries
to
realize it in his
all
So with a follower
of
or of Vedanta:
they are
live
and
ness.
In India,
he
is
not con-
INDIA.
man
in his library
his
every-day
life
may
whether India
Ralph Waldo
an Emerson
This
is
have already
said, is
live
that
philosophy.
Hindu minds
with
They
you
or
will
harmonize
will
and
an
reason.
irrational
Therefore
doctrine
scarcely
find
dogma
in the religion of
Vedanta.
Freedom
always
of thought, as I
have already
said, has
For
reason
greatest
Christian
missionaries
meet with
to
the
opposition
the Hindus
trines
the unscientific
of
docfor
and dogmas
their
faith.
When,
them the
creation
and
irrational.
dogmas,
like infant
The
embrace
philosophy
all
and
religion
of
Vedanta
of
the
sciences
and philosophies
them according
Consequently the
universality
Vedanta
is
sci-
popular because
it
fulfils
the
highest
aspiration
of
human
of
souls,
the soul
immortal by
if
its birthright.
Vedanta
maintains that,
it
could
This
is
be
made immortal
could
be
unmade.
and
it
of the
Hindus
that,
INDIA
the soul, which
is
by nature a
ever be
made immortal by
Christ.
largest following,
and
is
the
Since the
Buddhism,
of its
it
efforts
who
is
now regarded
root in
the
remotest
corner
of
every Hindu
all
Professor
Max
Miiller, in
the preface
"Six Systems
of Philosophy," writes:
fol-
and he
Vedanta
is
both a philosophy
and a
religion
by saying:
"For
all
practical
would
subjective
It is as real as
it is
ordinary mind;
Buddhists
maintain.
And
46
thus
the
Vedanta
man
a wide sphere
and binding
life;
transitory
it
leaves
him a Deity
room
to wor-
any other
religion.
It has
it
for almost
all."
every religion;
*
nay,
embraces them
II.
people
realize
the
vastness
it is
of
India.
we
include British
Burmah,
as large in
area as
the whole
of
tion of nations
and languages,
far
more diverse
Among
this
we
or
find
and
Hindus.
num-
2,923,241
Mahometans
Jews
Parsees
62,458,077
18,228
94,190
9,476,759
1,334.148
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
are
Presidency; but
Besides
these,
there
about
six
hundred
The majority
as
of the their
population
are
known
Hindus
and
religion is called
Hinduism.
came
across a
which was called " Sindhu " (the Indus of modern in Sanskrit
river in the northwest of India
Consequently, those
who
49
INDIA AND
of the
HER PEOPLE.
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 anything to the natives of India, who call themselves
not Hindus, but Aryas or Aryans.
itants of India to-day are
The inhab-
the descendants of
They came
originally
some
therefore,
refers
to the
who
at present
and
call
themselves Aryas or
is
Aryans;
known among
(the
religion
themselves
"Arya-Dharma "
religion
of the Aryans), or
"Sanatana-Dharma," which
which
to
lasts
means "that
eternity,"
religion
will
is
throughout
for,
according
It
eternal.
Some
people
may
if
think that
it
is
a natural
religion;
but
we
home
of
all
world,
and
that,
when other
and
the eternal
was
fully developed.
of
Hinduism there
still
exists
braces
It
its
all
banyan-tree, spreading
sects,
its
creeds,
innumerable leaves
dualistic,
forms of worship,
the
of
qualified
non-dualistic,
and monistic
worship of
It is
based
receptivity.
everything.
an immense
all
hospitable
wor-
INDIA
shippers,
spiritual
freedom.
The prevailing
religion
of India
inlaid
may
step,
from
to
lowest to
him go
Max
M tiller
says:
"No
stition
the most
sublime enlightenment,
is
universal
religion,
strictly speaking, is
it
by
still
other
names.
call it
Brahminism?
because
no
Brahmin
was
52
its
founder.
This
nameless and
it
had
no founder.
anity,
Zoroastrianism, Judaism,
their
Christi-
Mahometanism, had
built
founders and
of
were
around
the
personality
these
is
founders;
not
limited
by any book,
by the
existence or nonIf
we study
had seen
It is
for
Indo-Aryans
Everything that
harmonized with
Seers
by the ancient
as true.
From
as
free
which we breathe.
As
air
touches
flowers
it
and
it
along with
wherever
to
mankind.
embraces
nations and
It is
INDIA
AND HER
PEOPLE.
tanism in
its
above
of
all,
in its conception of
is
God.
The God
per-
the
Hindus
omnipresent,
omnipotent,
omniscient,
sonal.
all-merciful,
is
and impersonally
He
immanent and
merciful,
resident in nature.
impartial,
He
is
more
more
more
just,
The God
the
find
of the
Aryan
religion
is
more benevolent
in
Ahura Mazda
of the Zoroastrians.
You
of
will
every
religious
do not
go beyond
satisfied
something higher.
The
religion
of
the
Indo-Aryans of
to-day
dualistic,
and monistic.
The
first
two, that
istic
is,
who
sects
are
known
as Vaish-
two
The majority
of
Hindus, both
The Vaishnavas
who worship
all-loving,
the
and
name
of Vishnu.
Vishnu
the
name
Hindu
"all-pervading," "omnipresent."
the
Hindu
is
belief,
universe,
interpenetrates
fills
the
The personal
Lord
this earth in
religion
and
help
mankind.
"Whenever
prevails,
true
religion
declines
and
55
irreligion
INDIA AND
says the Lord,
true religion
I
HER PEOPLE.
and
Some people think that this idea of the incarnation of God was borrowed from the Christians;
but
it
it
was born.
which
In fact, India
is
the
home
of this belief,
was
afterwards
adopted
by
other
religions.
God has
incarnated
again.
many
times,
and
They have
recog-
nized
many
many
in the future.
On
this
who
believe
that there was only one incarnation, and that that was the
first
and the
last.
According to the
in
Hindu
faith,
any place at
we
limit
Him by
make Him
finite;
but as
He
by
is
Infinite in
and
in
His manifestations,
He ought
not to be
limited
His love
Bhagavad
7.
56
His manifestation
descends.
is
necessary, there
He naturally
of
krit Avataras,
the
Supreme Being
good of humanity.
Rama,
Ramayana,
for instance,
and
millions
of
souls
Rama
father,
as
upon him
holy
as the ideal son, the ideal king, the ideal ideal husband;
and the
who
devotion;
at
name with the deepest feelings of love and who chant his praises in the morning, noon, and in the evening; who sing songs
read a portion of the
Ramayana
any other
in Sanskrit or in Hindustanee, or in
and who
Rama,
INDIA
of
truthfulness,
Rama abandoned
and lived there
throne,
forest,
for fourteen
His consort
of
womanhood
now
Hindu woman,
of
yana
Sit a,
will
To show her
Hanu-
is
erroneously called
by the
monkey god,
represents
per of
Rama
Hanuman
worship
Those who
Rama are known as Ramat Vaishnavas. They regard Rama and Vishnu as one.
Then there
vas
all
are
over India
of
Vaishna-
Krishna, the
Hindu
Christ.
all
Krishna
is
regarded
as
the
greatest of
He
lived
about 1400
His
life,
which
is
many
Puranas, resembles
that of Jesus the Christ, not only in His miraculous birth, but in
all
earthly career.
He
Herod,
be
Kamsa by name,
ordered
all
infants to
killed.
and performed
many
other miracles.
Edwin
will
wisdom
Redeemer
Hindus
.as
of the world.
He
is
regarded by
in the
all
the Saviour of
is
mankind
same
way
as Christ
in Christendom.
They worship
a devout
Roman
Both Krishna and Rama are manifestations of the same Vishnu, the Lord of the universe,
59
INDIA
This
is
difficult
Hindus
polytheists.
They
Rama was
they are one and the same, but in their manifestations they are different.
Both have
and Mary
their
statues in
all
we
Cathedrals of Christendom.
sionaries, however, not
form
of
worship,
have
statues
and
called
them
is
Here
let
me
idol-
no such thing as
India, not
I
even
among
classes.
than in India.
the
The
Bambino when
idol.
the
memory, the
spirit,
Rama and
if
but
whom
tell
he wor-
ships, or
Krishna, he will
you that
is
he
the
He
of
made
wood
this idolatry?
It is
If so,
what
kind of idolatry
one to say that
is it?
it is
if
or of an idol; but
how mistaken
such assertions
down
is
Hindu
mind on some
why
to the Christian
when he
altar?
61
and keeps
it
on the
INDIA
and meditation.
worship
This
is
a peculiar
the
mode
of
common among
sit
Hindus.
There
may
will
A man
close
floor,
his eyes,
and remain
as motionless as a statue:
be internal.
He
will withfix
draw
it
his
figures,
is
to go
So there
may
in
be
many symbols
The
cross
was a
religious
symbol
The swastika
cross,
the oldest of
all
forms of the
in India to-day.
Then
the
there
the
triangle,
which
symbolizes
Hindu
infinity;
Trinity;
the
circle,
which
represents
all
of
beginners
and meditation.
Divine Love.
establish Divine
Love on
and show
sanctified
that
it
human
India,
What Krishna
has done in
of
the
We
to
must go
we must go
how
him.
many
over
that
have
in
India.
God
husband, that
closer
what they
closer,
teach.
and
and make
Him
Time
63
will
not permit
me
to
go into the
details of the
method
of worship
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
practise,
which
these
Vaishnavas
but
can
at least tell
thousands
of
own
for
human
child;
they want
sider
God
as
as
their
child,
themselves
is
the
mother of Divinity.
This
a unique thing.
The mother
of
God!
How much
purity
is
required to
make a woman
is
And
I
this
their ideal.
am
not exaggerating;
my
eyes
such wonderful
characters,
and
have
seen
them nowhere
else.
The
qualified non-dualists;
Madhvaschool;
Ballava.-
charya,
the
preacher of the
of
dualistic
and the
followers
Chaitanya,
64
of
Each
and
was an
commentator
which
still
all
They
differ
and modes
of worship;
but they
all
that
Krishna
The worshippers
or
of
Rama
They
cannot
kill
any animal
That
for
food.
They never
men
thing
is
a very
difficult
anywhere
evil,
else.
They
practise
non-
resistance of
by Krishna, but by Buddha and afterwards by Christ. Their religion makes them loving,
not only to
creatures,
human
beings,
but to
all
living
in their morals.
They
INDIA
who
sacrificed
every-
There are no
among
the Vaishnavas.
Mafol-
mode
of the
and those
of Jesus.
as their Ideal.
The
Shiva represents
from worldliness.
as
He
is
revered
by the Hindus
and
the
embodiment
is
of
contemplativeness
Yoga; he
saints,
therefore worshipped
of all sects.
by the Yogis,
and devotion
and sages
name
when they
festations
of
the
One
in
Infinite
Being who
is
called
Brahman
the
Vedas.
Vaishnava
he worships
spirit as
own
Vishnu
is
Shiva represents, as
have already
said, con-
As Vishnu
is
adorned
all
that
is
prosperity,
and success
adorned with
in
all
life;
Shiva,
is
on the
contrary,
is
that
ugly, horrible,
is
and awe-inspiring.
encircled
by venomous snakes
misfortune, and
Him.
Shiva
of death
Him
He
is
dread,
INDIA
He
is
attended
spirits,
good of humanity.
He
takes upon
He
lives
as
His ornaments.
If
He
is
to see
study
forms,
the
worship
of
Shiva.
He
has
many
many
incarnations,
The Shaivas
taint
the
form of
Him who
the
under
all
circumstances.
a follower of Shiva
sit
may
under a
tree;
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
we have
just
Lord
and give
are
Him
masculine attributes;
but there
and
is is
Him
India
worshipped
are
as
the
women
ideal
considered
representatives
of
Divine Motherhood.
attributed
by
him
to the
Lord
is
of the universe.
He knows
manifests on
sexless,
and that
it
man
or a
woman
only to
a certain purpose in
life.
The Bhagavad
they
later
Gita says:
believe in
"All
God
or not, are
to reach perfection."
69
INDIA
known
Shakti,
phenomena.
time to
time in
incarnates as a
woman.
among
of
Foreigners
cannot understand the meaning of these symbolic figures, used as aids to concentration
and
"How
hideous
these
forms
are!"
Of
course some of
eyes,
bols;
them
are hideous to
Western
merely
They are
brave.
world;
things, while,
on the other
and
all
that
is
70
God
you
or
them;
both
in time
Sankhya philosophy *
or
symbolized in
the
Shakti-worship,
the
You
will
remember
is
known
So Shiva
Spirit,
is
The union
is
male and
Here you
of
notice
how
the
ultimate
conclusions
INDIA
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
fact,
Prakriti.
The
religion
of the
Hindus, in
embraces science,
logic,
and philsosophy.
make symbols
them
as the
and worship.
is
It
gives
inventive genius
full
field.
There
is
is
no other
world
which
the
choose their
ideals
in
harmony with
tendencies.
their
thoughts
that
and
one
spiritual
They
believe
human
souls.
As
fit all
all
all
the
Do we
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
not see
is
better
and
spiritual develop-
ment
but
of the individual.
religion of the
Hindus prescribes no
offers various
the
sake
crimination
of concentration of
and
meditation
(Raja Yoga);
work
of
for
work's
(Karma Yoga);
(Bhakti Yoga).
and
devotion
of
and
these,
worship
Each one
Thus we
see that
the Hindus alone have succeeded in giving to the world a religion which
tendencies under
all
fits all
minds and
all
conditions,
a religion which
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
names and
ideals.
Truth
is
many.
made
faiths
own;
many
the
Hindu
mode
but
it
of
is
is
thought
have
called
it
Pantheism;
Spirit,
the worship of
infinite,
One Universal
you
which
call it
Pan-
Pantheism
never
is
means
God,
that.
When
consider
will
or, if I
that
this chair,
then
it
be
Pantheism.
pervades
believe in
and interpenetrates
the
that will be
is
and all-pervading.
religion, according to the
74
True
Hindus, does
It
is
It
is
the subjuga-
and
and kindness to
is
all.
The
object of such
a religion
bondage
of the world.
Hindu
is
not limited
by
he can go
suits
him and
make
have
that his
chosen Ideal.
there
is
As long as he
will
believes in
One God,
no danger, he
salvation
salvation;
and
life.
this
can
be
attained in this
Outside
Shaktas,
of
the
find
Vaishnavas,
Shaivas,
follow
and
other
we
Hindus
who
phases of religion.
is
known
as
Sikhs.
of their master,
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
Guru
temporary of
great soul.
Luther.
is
Nanaka was a
He
and
and he
These are
the
Mahometans
their
to
it
them
upon
it
They put
it,
an
altar,
and worship
as the
word
They
in
their
towards
forms
and images.
they are very
the
They observe no
followers of
caste prejudice;
will accept
any
At one
Sikhs.
Their book
is
called the
and
the Vedas.
They
believe in
76
who
in
is
formless.
Allah,
the
the
same
way.
Perhaps
Sikhism
arose in India
It is
and
Buddhists.
The Jains
have
their
own
own
many
others, who-
These
who
fol-
came down
from
in
this
to teach mankind;
world of imperfection.
Jainism arose
He was
the founder
the great
religion
which has
civilized
the
in
larger portion
of Asia,
which predominates
nation,
and which
prevails
to-day in
But the
INDIA AND
HER
PEOPLE.
word
of the
Vedas.
For
this reason
orthodox Hindus as
himself
is
atheists,
of Vishnu.
came
Rama,
There are
known
as
may
be
in
this
country.
They
reject all
Thus
existing
But
another which
religion.
It
is
the
same
is
reality,
whole universe.
we
This
One Suband
stance
is
called
by various names.
mention of
In the Vedas
we
this universal
In the Rig
Veda, which
is
we
it
read:
"That which
under
One;
men
it
call
by various names."
forms,
Men worship
different
in
different
names.
The
the Preserver,
Heaven and
Christ
by the
Christians,
Jains,
Buddha
Ahura
Mazda by the
by the Hindus.
the names
Zoroastrians,
Ti-Tien
by the
Brahman,
The substance
vary.
is
one, although
may
water
is
by
different
INDIA
so the
One
Infinite
Absolute
Being
is
different countries.
fies all
sects
place where
religion,
belongs,
is
it
builds
up the universal
the Scrip-
which
the world.
Its
principal
teaching
is
and
iniquity, nor
by an
it tells
On
the contrary,
irrespective
us that
all
immortal by
its
and conif
For
it
the
by nature,
could not
be
made
soul
so
is
by any
being,
however powerful.
Each
and possesses
It
by the
will of
but
it
is
is
eternal,
beginningless
and
That
the teaching;
and
it
declares
that
sins,
we
the resultant
state will
Parents
of their children;
they
on
the
physical
plane.
This
is
known
according to
its
desires
existence.
of
God
creates
and another to
that
suffer,
He
virtuous.
reactions of our
own
actions.
Each
individual
own
or in
some other
existence.
religion
81
This universal
may
be called
the
INDIA
upon
and experience
phenomena
of the
spiritual nature
of
man
It describes the
its
gradual evolution
life
up
to the highest
man, as Christ or
Buddha
or
Ramabecome
indi-
krishna;
Each
vidual soul,
present,
is
however imperfect
in the
it
may
be at
bound
and become
divine.
It teaches
human
step
by
monotheism to
qualified
non-dualism,
monism.
So long as a
soiil
it
is
on the plane of
duality, or of monotheism,
82
believes in a
God
who
dwells
outside
of
nature,
who
is
extra-
cosmic,
and who
is
away from
us.
We
cannot reach
He
is
Him He
is
we
worship
Him
in
that relation.
He
is
that
He
is
immanent and
He
to
is
near us;
why
should
we
consider
Him
as
Then we come
qualified
called
nonone
each
dualistic.
God
is
transcends
of the
relativity
Absolute.
it
There, forgetting
then
declares: "I
and
my
through
it,
and
it
is
j
transfigured
into
83
INDIA
Divine
it
Glory.
Then
becomes
is
Christ-like;
represented
by
the
word "Christ."
means a
Whosoever reaches
And
this universal
teaches
that
is
each
individual
soul
is
a potential Christ,
potentiality will
divine glory.
all
When, transcending
all
bondage,
it
laws
of
comes face
it
it will
be Christ, then
will
One"
or
He became
that
state,
Christ;
when Buddha
held
attained to
He was
religion
by the
great
assures
brings
it
we
or eternal
damnation.
takes,
men commit
mis-
and
eternity.
Although
this
universal
of the
religion
is is
founded
as old as
Vedas and
who have
Krishna preached
Buddhism
it
was
was preached
and who
of
by Bhagavan
regarded
Sri
He
INDIA AND
in
HER PEOPLE.
wave
of
this
India.
The
tidal
universal
its centre,
religion, rising
from Ramakrishna as
field of
India
and
is
rapidly spreading
in
all
creating a revolution
come.
86
III.
we saw how
the Indo-
freedom
India.
Even
atheists
been allowed to
live unmolested.
in
peace
India
indeed the
home
of universal tolerance
life,
and
religious freedom.
In their social
on
the contrary,
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
Their so-
different
They
will
not
however because of
their
religious beliefs,
ideals.
con-
and
of continuous inroads
and
in-
vasions
forget
by
that
foreign nations.
We
ought not to
India
was
first
invaded
by the
lastly
Greeks, then
by Mongolians,
Mahometans, and
Chris-
fell
upon India
land
of
its
like
devastating
the
monuments
of
the
Indo-Aryans.
They
came not
their country
of their valuable
possessions.
What
power
The Egyptians,
Persians,
and
It
alive,
and has
which
by
the
barriers
destructive
forces
of
successive
invaders
No
foreign
social
because
foundation was
laid
not
The
Hindu
89
INDIA
of mediaeval Europe;
Seers
of
Truth,
who
their
personal
interest, their
position
upon the
humanity.
The Hindus
of
modern times
saints,
and Rishis
of pre-
names
of their forefathers,
and
an uncon-
and God-consciousness
of their
holy ancestors.
the
members
communities
from
they
tremendous
all
people by
whom
not find in India to-day the full-blooded descendants of the pure Aryan family.
Hindu
society
is
divided
into
hundreds of
its
own
peculiar customs
and
rules.
made up
of
numerous
The
members
of
the
family
are
governed by the
families
;lan families
rules of
he community.
'njoy
>
The members
of
the family
is
pproved
Ian.
f
f
by the other
families of the
same
If
the
common
to
the
privileges
in the
which he
community.
deprived of social
and
community.
There
is
can translate
meaning
91
of
"Gotra" being
"lineage", that
is,
the descendants of
common
INDIA
ancestors.
four Rishis
clans.
or
makers
of
They were
sages
and Seers
of Truth,
who
and were
inspired.
The hymns
tures in
We
is
all
many
clans
called
Sanskrit
"J Mi",
Greek
"Genus", Roman
in the largest
Each community
live together,
consists
many
clans,
which
obeying the
The
rules of propriety
rituals
the
details
of
social
life
must be
in
perfect
communities.
These
social
laws
are
or community.
Each
clan
family,
from
is
the
guided
No
position,
by any
member
to
fulfil
of a
community
of
it.
if
the community as a
body disapproves
If
a desire, he must
first
it is
in perfect
after establishing
harmony with
all these,
he can
do what he
opinion,
pleases.
In case of difference of
for
must imare
The
leaders of the
community
The individual
sake
is
sacrifices
the
of
the
family, the
of the
community.
This
it
is
many
centuries.
of his birth
up
to his last
moment
lives
life
which
93
may
be
called a life
of self-sacrifice.
INDIA
his or her ideal
self,
is
own
comfort, not to
enjoy
first,
but to
community.
Such
is
Of
find
by community we
so strict
some
extent, but
nowhere
is it
The communities,
or grade
among
themselves.
communities
and
is
all
Each community
in itself.
like
The
rules
and customs
com-
munity do not
and
in
this
respect
They must
and
if
they
certain penances
will
is
Otherwise they
Hindu.
He
will
mem-
will
his
invitation be accepted
of birth, death, or
At the time
be
left
wedding he
in
alone
and
absolutely
friendless
the
world.
No
Nor can he
of the
him.
Such
is
the
rigidity
and power
communal form
Hindus.
of social
of
it.
You
will
not find
them
Strangers
why
the
who memname
one another.
all
There
Brahmins
will
of
Bombay
Madras,
or
the
Punjab.
95
Why?
Because
INDIA
the
Bengal do not
The
The tendency
of each
community
is
to preserve
it
as pure as possible,
live
and
also to
make
its
members
plane.
on the highest
moral
and
spiritual
The
community
and
is
truly ethical
and
rejects
that
and
customs
the
community,
individual
com-
and amusements,
and members
of
If there
be a millionaire,
96
duty
is
own
can
family, then
all
own
clan, then
He
philanthropic
Each community
this
is
like
one family
its
exists
among
memany
For
reason,
there
never was
in
the comits
of its
own
You put
That
our
brothers.
No
grander
system
was ever
Hindu
methods,
discovered
that
this
form of
for the
all
social
Hindu
if
the existing
INDIA
lation
is
laws
among
members
then
the whole
nation would
be moral
will
and
spiritual;
if
just as the
whole street
be clean
at
are
not
fixed entities;
lost their flex-
have
that
they
cannot
be
changed,
for
they
are
considered to
ideals.
represent
the highest
living
and best
the
But the
individual
within
limits of the
his ideas
immediate
him
one
at variance with
the
clan
communal
family.
of
life
and
alienate
him from
of
his
Herein
lies
the
serious
defects
This
governeffective
more
government such
we
country.
Why?
Because
questions
religion;
And
in
toleration
India.
Religion
is
affairs.
As
explained in
my
Hindus are
they
like,
social status.
however imperfect
advantage,
confers
may
that
all
it
and
upon
the
members
of
these
com-
al-
its
aristocracy, middle
and lower
classes.
favor, help,
classes.
A man may
Neither will he
(Jati).
INDIA
No
other
community
will give
him better
status of
privileges
or protection.
The
social
Hindu
munity.
of fishermen.
in-
women
and
this
hold
property,
manage
their
own
estates,
in such
freedom.
ability
Now
lady
performed
other
charitable
and philanthropic
by her example
and clans
of
the
members
of the families
the
and customs
of her
own community.
in English as
The word "caste" has become most mischievous and misleading, and the less we use
"castes."
it
the better
we
shall
and
modern
cized
India.
is
the angli-
was
first
by
sixteenth century to
Hindu
there
society.
It
was
sense of pure,
is
down to the Laws of Manu and we do not find any word which
meaning
as is
in India to ask a
the Puranas,
and
Hindu what
is
meant by
caste
means
in
America.
"Varna"
the
(color),
nological distinction
complexion as separatinferior
classes,
ing
dominant
from the
101
INDIA
of ancient India.
"The
and
in the
Aryan
community."
ever, gradually
in the
gave
rise
to separate divisions
itself;
Aryan community
as in the
Bha-
human
their
color,
and
works." f
The four
produced
world.
in color
riyas;
all
Among
the
Vaishyas;
Sudras.
"The
duties
of
I,
p. 65.
Peace, self-restraint,
and uprightness,
Of the
and
nature-born
qualities.
Agriculture,
protection
of cows, merchandise,
A man
by performing those
duties which he
able to do." *
behind
all
caste distinctions
among
the Hindus.
It is quite different
by
foreigners
and
missionaries.
qualified
to
certain duties,
faithfully
and
perfectly.
by a nature-
Bhagavad
Gita, Chapter
103
INDIA
losophy,
as
well
and ceremonies of
priestly duties.
classes
warriors,
commanders, and
The
trades, industries,
who were
qualified to
To every man
his as-
rank,
signed.
Vedic period, or
When
the Aryans
first in-
They knew
and
agriculture,
derful
social
political
organizations.
And
in
when a
divided
division of labor
themselves
into
classes
But
inter-
and
changeable.
The
social
104
distinctions
were not
professions hereditary.
We
Hindus that
and Sudras.
if
They could
also
become warriors
Brahmins;
most
of
the
philosophical
and
first
which we have to-day were by the Kshatriyas, and not by the Brahmins. The members of these classes mixed
spiritual ideals
given
freely,
qualifica-
tions of a
called
Brahmin
riyas
or Kshatriya.
many
Kshat-
who were
You
and very
we
read:
"A
"If color
INDIA
is
among
all
castes;
how
then
unmoving beings;
"Bhrigu
'
whence
'There
is
no distinction of Brahmins
castes.
The whole
only.
By
actions
it
of) caste.
who
fierce,
their
own
duties,
men
'
of
these
attained the
rank of Kshatriyas.
'Those twice-born
men
or Brahmins,
were yellow
in color, lived
by
agriculture,
abode not by
their
own
duties,
these
or
Brahmins, who
and
all
who
lived
by
(kinds of)
occupations,
all
dark in
ness,
color,
cleanli-
these
have undergone
Varna
their
and occupations
gradually
lost
before
Christ,
when Buddha
the
separation
and
distinction
of
castes.
He
people by breaking
of this artificial
this
system
if
must be a
riya
priest also;
(soldier)
must be a
first
This was of
course started at
the
different lines
of
the
ancient
thinkers
and
social
understood
the
INDIA
transmission.
simple
at the
it
as flexible as
was
a
He- would
not
recognize
Brahmin
and
qualifications.
possessed the
self-
humana
called
by him a
of nearly
Brahmin;
people
of
different
classes
forgot
their
and
political freedom.
a.d.,
About 600
corruptions crept
in,
Then
later the
for
six
hundred years
XXVI.
many of Those who its most brilliant men and women. intermarried or associated freely with the Mahomthe Hindus.
etans were deprived of
all social rights in their
Aryan Rishis
and sages
social
of ancient India.
of
leaders
them under
their control.
which resulted
in absolute disunion
among
the
members
there
INDIA AND
divisions.
HER PEOPLE.
been said by Sir Monier
certainly the antagonism
Well has
it
Monier Williams:
"And
helped us to
political
govern
the
combinations impracticable." *
India
fifty
different
years ago.
The cry
reform
is
The educated
classes are
now convinced
that
if
the present conditions are allowed to continue the absolute disintegration and complete annihilation of the national
result.
life will
be the inevitable
satisfied
They wish
that he
to unify
all
homogeneous whole,
is
to
family, clan, or
*
is
limited
of
by
The solidarity
is
and
all
communities
the aim of
will
make
this reform
effective
and
universal.
of the social organization
weakened;
social
prevailed.
are very
shelter
poor.
and a
over
heads.
to
support
status
their
families.
present
social
depends
upon
high-class
custom of
now perform
the most
working as a servant.
is
how
to live.
Brahmin again
bow down
INDIA
pens to be
rich.
now
The
rigors
of
the
social
organization,
which
every one
now
feels
that
at liberty to go his
own way.
at present checked
The Hindus
period.
Social progress
by
the
Hindu
nation.
and
in-
dustrial leagues
power
in
the
of
community.
British
merchants,
protected
by the
millions of people.
will find
If
you
thousands and
who
No
industry
is
encouraged.
The
in
doing
so.
The laboring
cents
classes in consequence
from two to
progress can
tive
five
a day.
What
social
we expect
monarch
European
civilization?
Christian
missionaries, blinded
by
Christianize
India,
and
despotic
government which
is
ruining
the
all social
to
Directly
or
indirectly
are
to
destroy the
Hindu
system to give
present
this
social
is
return?
We
in
It is
see
that the
in
government
not perfect.
Europe and
country
as
in
not even as
perfect
exists
the
India!
do not
INDIA
Hindu
society.
Have
the
Christians
root
out
from
color.
and
in doing that?
How
India
then
the
Hindu people?
will
needs
that
reconstruction, but
they find
through Christianity?
especially in India.
enough from
it.
priestcraft;
The
Mahom-
Hindu
reform.
of radical
social sea
by the
anglicized
of the present
Now
come
for
the
Hindu
their
good and
it
noble
their
to
They
will
have to make
than
it
more
flexible
Hindu
nation, tempered
by
the need
of occidental aggressiveness
and commercialism.
in the
humanand
creed,
or
color,
teaching that
all
bring
of different
IV.
the
The
be
Hindu
civilization are to
From
these sources
we
learn,
as
was
shown
Indo-Aryans
of those prehistoric times organized their society into four general classes: Brahmins, Kshatriyas,
and
professions.
The Brahmins
who devoted
and
In-
were under-
taken by those
as the Vaishyas
in
the
field,
knew
as
well
Various
as
kinds
also
of
industry,
trade,
and
commerce,
the
existence of current
money
and
are mentioned in
The
Aryan aboriginal
inhabitants
are
still
tribes
who were
the original
of
of
India,
and remnants
whom
of the
to be found in
as
you
find to-day
original inhabitants of
America
117
in certain parts
of this country.
INDIA
tribes
"the
(Aryan)
used
not
only
probably
shields.
They used
weapons
javelins
besides
All the
of
in ancient times
were known
India
thousand
years
ago.
Drums
them on
assembled
in
men
war horses
elephants
Tame
allusions
iron, gold,
and
of
known
to
the Hindus.
Armors worn
140, 10;
in
war
are mentioned in
Book
I,
in II, 39, 4;
other
Rishti,
places;
while
the
javelin,
in
in
Sanskrit
Sanskrit,
and
of in the
27, 6;
and sharp-edged
That the
of
iron
is
shown
I,
in
p.
58.
Book VI,
book
75, 15:
"We
is
is
and
in the
is
next
nigh
we
read:
"When
in
the battle
his
armour,
he
was by
and
built
villages.
This
the
interminable warring
fighting
forced
politi-
and military
institutions.
Thus the
political
institutions of the
civilization.
Hindus are
divided
as old as their
They
the
country
into
At the head
chief
or governor,
who was
a Rajah, which
They
and sometimes
INDIA
although
there
to
were
powerful
other
monarchs
chiefs,
and and
emperors
whom
kings,
and paid
was never
tribute.
Their
autonomy, however,
sacrificed.
were the
of the
feeblest kind,
opportunity.
many
Rama was
the
his
power extended
over
as
down
From
who
lived as early
we
became
His
successors,
120
Parikshit,
Janmejaya,
and many
others,
But
their
at
any time
for
very
insignificant causes.
When
Gupta,
whose
capital
was
river Ganges.
in
260
B.C.
of
He was
Great
the
among
the Buddhists.
He made Buddhism
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 contemporaries, namely, Antiochus of Syria, Ptolemaos
of
Egypt,
Antigonus
of
Macedon,
Magus
of
Buddha.
121
INDIA
some
wards,
when he heard
and
returned to Greece.
who
lived
em-
peror.
From
the
accounts
of
Megasthenes,
historical records
outsider,
we
learn
many
the
by a
foreigner during
left
century
B.C.
Megasthenes
by him. He
says:
"Those who
six
The members
of the first
tainment of foreigners.
lodgings,
of
life
To
modes
they
by means them
whom
escort
give to
for assistants.
122
They
them
or, in
They take
if
care of
them when
they are
third
sick,
and,
they
die,
bury them.
inquire
The
body
consists of those
who
when
and how
births
may
The fourth
merce.
Its
weights
No
one
is
tax.
The
fifth
supervises
sell
manufactured
notice.
articles,
is
which
is
they
by public
What
new
is
sold
is old,
and there
a fine
The
sixth
and
who
The military
sions,
is
officers
with
five
members
123
One
division
INDIA
the
fleet;
requisites.
The
third
division
of
the the
footfifth
soldiers,
the
fourth
the
horses,
of the
war-chariots,
of the ele-
phants."
In addition to the military and municipal
officers,
and
the general
tricts.
work
"Some
is
the land, as
sluices
done
in
by which water
into
their
canals
may have an
equal supply of
them according
to
their
deserts.
They
wood-
the
carpenters,
the
blacksmiths,
and
the miners.
They construct
124
roads,
and
at every
up a
pillar to
and
distances." *
of
The laws
get
from Megasthenes
in
Manu,
of an-
laws of
says:
"The Aryans 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." (II, 5, 10, n.) "Let him not fight with those who are in fear, intoxicated,
insane or out of their minds, nor with those
who have
infants,
I,
lost their
(Bodhayana,
slain
10,
ii.)
"The wives
of
soldiers
Megasthenes says:
INDIA AND
nations
it is
HER PEOPLE.
of war, to
it
ravage the
soil,
to
an
uncultivated waste,
contrary,
among
by whom husbandmen
is
as a class that
when
battle
is
raging in the
Besides,
they
(the
warriors)
never
fire
trees.
the
conquered as
slaves." *
The
giver
his
subjects, to
doer."
(VII,
12,
16.)
principal duties.
tiousness,
cious
faults
life
the
is
king."
(VII,
50.)
The
thus:
private
of kings
described
by Manu
rise in
and devotional
exercises,
he should enter
There he
should gratify
and,
all
subjects
who come
to see him,
having
dismissed them, he
should
take
"When
But
the consultation
is
over,
then he
is
duty
is
to give
demands.
al-
ways
assisted
by
ministers,"
(VII,
as
54-63),
Manu
versed in
sciences,
noble and
well-tried
Such ministers
The king
also
employed
for car-
rying
on negotiations with
For the
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
were appointed.
and
thousand
villages;
and
They were
like superintendents.
its
Simiall
larly,
affairs,
all
superintendent of
who
work
of
officials
and got
secret
information
about
their behavior
the
Hindu law
"The servants
seize the
of the king,
who
ally
property of
others;
him
men.'
From
this
you
offi-
government
now
in
a highly civilized
of the time
Think
when
this
centuries
fixes
before Christ!
The income
of the state
was supplemented by
Manu
an
128
cattle
and
gold.
to
the crops,*
and
less
under British
king
rule.
rule, the
strictly
from
allowed
exacting
to
excessive
taxation.
He was
take
made on
butter,
earthen vessels
by the king
buildings,
use,
is
at that time;
and with
palaces,
and monuments
public
so great.
All these
tion
tem
government prevailed
Megasthenes,
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
who
who
400
a.d.,
Tsang,
resided
who came
there
for
nearly
fifteen
years,
in the highest
Hindu Rajahs.
records
cite
which
speak
differently.
They do not
being ground
down by
by the
by
famines,
On
the contrary,
they say:
Houen
by Samuel
administration of India:
is
"As
the
conducted on
is
simple.
of the
the
carry-
offerings;
the
second
is
for
providing
and
chief officers of
the third
is
for
rewarding
men
is
of dis-
tinguished ability;
to religious bodies,
is
for charity
whereby the
field of
merit
cultivated.
In this
way
of
them
is
moderate.
own
the ground
royal estates
tribute.
pay a
com-
open on payment
of a small toll.
it,
When
pro-
labour
is
is
exacted,
but paid
for.
The payment
in
strict
"The
to
punish
the
refractory.
131
They
also
mount
INDIA.
magistrates,
and
have each a
for their per-
them
Houen Tsang
Buddhist
tributary kings
who
reigned
in
a.d.,
Kashmir
and he
set
(Northwestern
treated
India)
about 78
them with
special favor,
and
apart
country
The
is
called Chinani
called Chinarajaputra
(son of
Such
from
down
to
Houen Tsang;
B.C.
institutions.
This village
community was
mittee of
five.
called
"Panchayat," or com-
was increased to
itself into
twelve.
an
its
independent
republic,
which managed
own
affairs
and governed
itself,
bound
to the central
payment
Each
or
district, again,
was divided
into territories
village
community,
Under
this
self-government
Each had
and
has
This
government by Panchayat
described in
Manu
and
it
The
people
who was
who was
paid by a
He was
the chairman
call
town
council,
and used to
regular
of the
meetings.
officer
or local at-
INDIA AND
torney,
HER PEOPLE.
who
and
assessments.
Then
there
was
Brahmin
priest,
These
made up
These
memaffairs
From
form of muni-
by
foreign invasions
and
political
convulsions,
internal
Sir
wars,
famine, plague,
or
earthquake.
"And
here
may
the
of India
more worthy
of investigation of
than
antiquity
and permanence
her village
of
The importance
autonomous
soil
The Indian
village or
township, meaning thereby not merely a collection of houses forming a village or town, but
more
in extent,
with
its
careful dis-
common
interests,
good, with
its
of individual, family,
and communal
with
its
autonomy,
first
germ,
and
civic society in
It
has existed
of
its
description
before
all
the
Christian
era.
It
has
sur-
vived
time immemorial.
and sword,
but
preserved
its
constitution intact,
its
customs,
all
other changes." *
p. 455.
INDIA
hundred
Hindus
remained unaltered.
or disturbed.
The Hindu
know
by the Mahometans.
the native Rajahs and
whom
queens paid tribute, but beyond that they had they were
his
quite
independent.
own
laws, his
own
court,
own
separate
administration.
The
in
Even
states
at
native
governed
by Hindu
kind of
gained
Before
will still
find this
The
Mahometans
never
the advent of the British rule, the administration of justice, the repression of crime,
and other
all
carried out
by the govern-
ment
of the village
community.
136
To-day in British
of judicial administration,
They
is
Of course there
it
is
very
among
Indians, but
if
The poorer
classes, furthermore,
it
too
expensive.
of
first
came
when
the
Mahometan
power was
in its decline,
Mahometans
At
137
time of anarchy
INDIA
name
of the
side of
He had
As a return
for
pany and
of the
as a favor to
Lord
Clive,
this last
Mogul emperors,
in 1765,
gave a charter
of
British
Dewan, or administrators,
real
of Bengal.
power to
titular
as long as he
was the
India
Company
The
their
officers of
the
Company
Lord Clive
"The
assistance which
made him
the superintencollection of
all
dency of
all
the lands
and the
138
into
"Your
revenues,
by
means
judge, not
amount
Your
civil
the
forty-
two
lacks,
(the Great
Moghal) at twenty-six;
Company
of 122
"An
half
Company)
*
in Engliand." t
a.
rupees.
t
House
of
Commons Third
PP- 39 J -398.
I
Economic History
139
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
in-
"The scheme
of administration intro-
The
collection of revenues
was
still
made
for the
justice
officers;
was
and
all
by the mask
of the
Nawab's authority.
the profits;
practised
unbounded tyranny
own
gain,
tribunals
of
justice
into
instruments
for
own
purposes.*
It is
long story;
me
to describe
name
their
Company,
to secure for
for her trade
motherland a market-place
Economic History
140
poorest
nation
in
Europe.
Those who
have
of their hereditary
were
let to
by
first
time with
famine
in
the
Purneah, in
land-tax was
was
previous years.
On
the 9th of
May, 1770, the Calcutta Council wrote to the 'The famine which has ensued, Court of Directors
'
:
all
description.
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
have perished
Above one-third
of the inhabitants
and
the
is
equal."
On
"Notwith-
in the settlements
provinces
the
present
year." *
Mr.
Dutt
annual
rainfall;
and
the
they could
make up
tracts,
there
* Extracts
ter's
"Annals
51-
tP.
The
Famine Commissions
of 1880
1900, that
much
off
larger;
people;
the
and
is
-permanently settled;
loss of life
from
this famine.
The land-tax
heavy and
the
is
Madras, on the
contrary,
is
people
are
when,
^ ve
millions perished.
of 1889 in
Madras and
no
was very
143
severe, but
figures
are
available.
In 1892, again,
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
Burma,
loss of life in
in
Bengal.
In 1897 famine
The number
of people
on
worst months.
sixty-nine
of
per mille
during the
The famine
1900
in
the
Punjab,
Bombay
in India.
The number
of
persons
relieved
rose
to
six
In Bombay, in
P.
the
Macdonnell,
reported,
results
President of the
the people
Famine Commission,
flies."
"died like
"The
of
people, are
1901.
shown
March,
The population
of
There
is
less
by some
if
it
would
have been
per
years." *
Clive as
Governor-
law in 1784.
the East
directors
It
India
Company from
it
the hands
and placed
crown,
thus
compelling
some reforms.
Lord
Hastings.
The
policy of
all
of
the governorto
Company was
by
declaring
war on the
slightest pretence,
"The people
have no
in
votes,
the
Famines, by R. C. Dutt, p.
145
^.
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
They have no
of adjusting the
all
in the
work
Taxation exceeds
reasonof the
able
limits
in India,
all
large
sum,
estimated
between
twenty
is
and
thirty
millions in
English money,
this
annually drained
(England).
from India to
country
The
described
istrators
by many English
Sir
writers
and admin-
closed." *
Thomas Munro,
for
some time
have no share
little in
making laws
for themselves;
ordinate
they can
rise to
no high
station,
civil or military;
as an inferior race,
as vassals or
the country.
All
offices of
*
any importance are now held by EuroIndian Famines, by R. C. Dutt, p. 10. 146
own country."
of
proportion
of
once possessed,
of
the few."
from India:
"Its
transfer
to
England
is
an
given;
it
is
paid by no
is
furnished
John
Mem-
Board
of
of his reports:
"As
to
make
of the present
it
system,
is
the
INDIA
of. I
think
that
Under
was
own
rule,
revenue
is
been
now
and
Our
drawing up
They
(the
in
people
of
India)
have
no voice whatever
bound
to obey,
no
real
own country;
in
rights
The
they could to
p. 402.
at
the sacrifice of
shaped, not
by
states-
men and
Britain.
philosophers, but
by merchants,
traders,
by
prohibitive
tariffs,
show.
"Petitions were vainly presented to the House
of
Common
duties
into England.
One
spirits
on sugar and
and
in
it
British
Government
England.
The policy
of
Economic History of
149
India, p. 294.
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
o o o o o o o H W CN W)fO
a, a,
CO
List,
"Had
England
they
sanctioned
free
importation
into
manuThus,
factories
to a stand." *
within
fifty
country.
Cotton and
silk
fabrics,
and
salt,
all
these,
and grains
of
all
and European;
trade,
No
And no
less
than
Company.
of 1896 runs
INDIA AND
thus;
HER PEOPLE.
"There
shall
cotton goods
produced
in
such
mill,
And
"As an
of 1896
in
unexampled
times.
in
any
civilized
country
modern
Most
civilized
governments
prohibitive
of
protect
their
home
industries
by
home
for
the
purposes of
In India, where
protection,
of
an infant industry
according
to
required
even
the
maxims
1879
and
1882.
Home-manufactured
cotton
imported goods,
were
excised
in
1894.
And
man-
Such
is
the
rough idea of how India has prospered in her economic condition during British rule.
special
law
still
exists
Government
"A
dark stain
is
cast
on
by what
of India.
Ignorant
in
and restored
to their masters
they attempt to
such
as govern
no other form
of
labor in India.
and kidnapping,
men
Assam.
Responsible
the
tea-gardens
*
should
workers
from
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
ordinary laws of
demand and
is
supply.
But the
influence of capitalists
strong;
semi-slavery which
Now
let
us see what
of
is
condition
the
Indian
"The East
but their
off
in 1858,
by
The
which interest
Company
to the
money."
million pounds,
hundred
India, while
they were
exceeding
150
millions,
not
counting
Economic History
154
of India, p. xii.
and
India, therefore,
in reality
owed nothing
Com-
pany's
rule.
On
money
Debt
that had
of
her.
The administration
Crown doubled
it
this Public
in nineteen
years, bringing
up
1877,
when
cost of the
Over 40 millions sterling of this represented the Mutiny wars, which was thrown on
India was also
made
to
pay a
sinian
to
war
of 1867.
224 millions
sterling.
The construction
or
of
railways
State,
by Guaranteed Companies
by the
and
of India
also largely
due to the
Afghan wars
of 1878
and 1897.
pays
the
for
all
INDIA
officers, civil
and
army, pensions of
of
revenue was 71,394,282, 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
1.
Interest on
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Cost of Mail Service, Telegraph Lines, etc., charged to India Railways, State, and Guaranteed (Interest and Annuities) Public Works (Absentee Allowances, etc.). Marine Charges (including H. M. Ships in Indian Seas) Military Charges (including pensions) Civil Charges (including Secretary of State's Establishment, Cooper's Hill College, Pensions, etc.) Stores (including those for Defence Works)
51,214
173,502
2,945,614
i, 435, 370
2,057,934
Total
17,368,655
The
following, again,
is
a comparative table of
156
HER PEOPLE.
for
London);
recruiting
(in
(to
in England,
service);
(to
who were
for
men on
visits to
in
in
England),
there
from
United
at
if
this drain
had continued
year, but
it
began with
Of
this Mr.
Brooks Adams
"Very soon
and the
taneous.
effect
.
. .
from the
wealth
Indian
plunder." *
The stream
of
ruthlessly
at
from
500,000,000 to
The
24,
"Westminster Gazette"
during
London, April
the
closing
twenty-five
years
of
the
would
be
if
impossible
to
Can we wonder
Could
India
to-day
is
so impoverished?
resources?
belief
is,
The popular
her
India;
enormous capital
but the truth
in
the
development
of
is,
spent a cent
this
governing India.
(Compare
The
In-
Law
of Civilization
INDIA
the
Executive
the
Council,
Commander-in-Chief,
ber, the
ber, the
ber.
MemHome Member, the Public Works MemFinance Member, and the Legal MemMilitary
are not
The people
and
represented in this
Council;
their trades
there
is
not,
in
member
The
members
are
high English
officials,
who draw
large salaries
Then
is
under the
of the
Act
of
1892.
The
principal
is
function
Legislative
it
Council
legislation.
In
theory
exercises control
tice the
budget
is
being
passed.
The Council
four
of
consists of twenty-five
members,
whom
are
Indians,
160
recommended by
constituencies
but
appointed
by the
Viceroy.
he
He has the power to appoint any one pleases. He calls them elected, for the purThe four Indians
sit
pose of argument.
at one
end
of
other end.
out
will
say,
they
have
said.
There
turn
is
no
real
discussion.
The
The
Viceroy
may
its
course as he pleases.
indeed
no representation
sense of the term.
The Viceroy
of
India
is
who
is
memof
The Secretary
away
by
The
He
is
assisted
officials,
who
own
nation.
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
Hunter
calls
it,
whole system
is,
as Sir William
The government
is
of India
is
as despotic as
it
in Russia,
people
who
The
interest
of
the
first
aim
of the present
system of government.
of all kinds,
and that
The government
and
of
India,
cost
of
of these
dollars.*
expeditions,
amounting to millions
tax,
The land-
any other
civilized part of
in-
the world.
the
the
soil,
tillers,
intercepts
the incomes
and gains
of
its
land-revenue
demand
In England, in
p. 604.
the
people,
extends
their
markets,
opens
with
In
out
new
itself
India the State has fostered no new industries and revived no old industries for the people; on the other hand, it intervenes at each recurring land settlement to take
its
what
it
considers
levied
by the
in
British
is
Gov-
worse,
fluctuating
and uncertain
many
prov-
inces.
one
i.e.,
shilling
and four
shillings
in
the pound,
In
Bengal
the
land-tax was
fixed
at
Economic History
t Ibid. p. ix.
163
INDIA
on from
twenty years
by
calling
Although
such agitations,
still
Viceroy
of
State.
Not one
single
word
of
who
are deter-
methods
of
administration.
Indeed,
Sir
Henry Cotton
ernment,
says:
"Even
are
which
we
accustomed to
is
look
upon
not such a
of India."
Government
and
self-interest,
and return
home
will give
you
an
illustration
of
Lord Curzon's
administra-
tion.
and
distrust.
He
is
no believer
in
He
and importance, by
The
policy of
was to keep
of
all civil as
well
as
all
military
movements
the government
secret.
He
He
and plague.
He
condemned the
policy of
patriotic
and national
spirit of
Roman
by
partitioning the
lions of inhabitants.
and many
acts
and high-
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
and manufactures.
all
boycott
all
English goods
The
fire
of
over the
The people
the higher
officials
of
be hoped
and despots to
their senses.
The people
and peace-loving,
burden
of
with
the
expectation
that
of the late
effect.
On
the
morrow
desire
of
the
dark
mutiny Queen
Victoria proclaimed:
"We
no extension
torial possessions;
and, while
we
will
permit no
rights
aggression
we
shall sanc-
no encroachment on those
dignity,
of others.
We
of
and honor
and we
desire that
own
subjects,
should enjoy
"We
of
all
those obligations,
by the
blessing of Almighty
God,
fulfil.
we
shall
faithfully
and conscientiously
we
disclaim
alike
the
and the
We
declare
it
to be
by reason
faith
that
tial
those
167
who may
be in
INDIA
and wor-
ship of any
of our subjects,
on pain
of our high-
est displeasure.
it
is
our subjects, of
may
and
be
in-
by
their
education,
ability,
tegrity,
duly to perform."
race.)
This
proclamation
was
repeated
by
King But
Edward VII on
desire
by the late Empress and the present Emperor, King Edward? No.
People have
sent
now
to
delegates
said:
"The government
168
of
a people by
a.
its
own
use, a place to
make
money in, a human cattle farm for the profit of its own inhabitants." The natives of India are now determined to stand on their own feet, but it is a hard problem
for
an enslaved nation to
raise their
heads
government
is
held
close
to
their
necks.
If
of the
them look
Well has
it
sionaries,
offered
the people of
of
gold in
another world,
169
Vj
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
Education
periods:
in India can be divided into four
first,
The
the
sixth
century
the
B.C.
second, the
Bud-
dhistic period,
from 500
tury a.d.;
we must
of
first
be familiar with
because
parallel
the
civilization
that
people,
the
go
with
and
civilization of
a nation.
As
we have
of the
Hindus began
us
His-
tory
tells
that during
that
Aryans
Vedic
170
literature,
which
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
Veda, and Atharva Veda, with their Brahmanas,
All
these are in
The Hindus
of to-day
Long
Vedas
known
to
these
were
studied,
committed
memory,
In those
mouth.
and Vaishyas.
The
into
life of
four periods.
The
first
was that
of
the
student.
initiated as stu-
the
teacher's
house,
re-
As
in
their teachers.
Some
lived with
them
for
INDIA
others
for
thirty-six
forty-eight
years,
in
When
and
professors,
to their
should ever
salary
in
his for
return
instruction,
but the
make
presents to their
Having
did
householders.
Some,
however,
life
to the
The main
the
object of education at
that time
of
God-consciousness
various
sacrifices
and the
that
are
knowledge
the
The
first
was Shikshd
EDUCATION IN
that
is,
INDIA.
metre.
them
in
scholars
and professors
find
of Sanskrit in in
great
difficulty
pronouncing
words.
The Hindus,
however,
used
to
and grammar.
as early
grammar.
the most
grammar
Then
Dharma-sutras,
or
173
laws
regarding
the
INDIA
And
had
In order to
to
study astronomy.
Without
knowing
of
the sacrifices.
reason
we
find
many
astronomical
which
every
Hindu belonging
to
the
upper
three classes
Brahmins,
said,]
yas
was
entitled.
as I
have already
public
places
for
The courts
of
was
bestowed
free of V
charge;
Europe.
of transiof
Brahmanic stage
B.C.
the courts
EDUCATION IN
INDIA.
At a
might
These
Brah-
manic settlements,
call collegiate
called Parishads,
which we
institutions of learning." *
public
institutions
were
started
and
established
by Brahmin
in
professors
to
and
scholars.
The students
them used
and
Professor
Max
of 21
Miiller, in his
Brahmins well-versed
in philosophy, theol-
Brahmin
scholars
in a village."
Hindu
university
system.
For instance,
2,
in
the Brihadaranyaka
that Svetaketu went
Upanishad, VI,
we read
were
In
these
colleges
taught
the
Vedas,
Hindu
of
law, civil
and
of
law
of
agriculture,
property,
partition.
These
HER PEOPLE.
society
govern
Hindu
even
under
British
rule.
just or
more
is
the Hindus.
This
not an exaggeration.
studied
Students of law,
who have
Roman and
European law
for years,
Hindu
law.
first
lecture that
there
schools
of
philosophy
among
B.C.
philosophy included
of
logic,
the science of
and philosophy
of
Vedanta.
The students
f
re-
Arithmetic, Al-
also
taught during
sur-
You may be
know
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
Hindus; but
it is
owed
Geom-
etry was developed from the rules for the construction of Vedic
altars
it
as
is
described in the
told
Vedas.
scribe
For instance,
a circle,
there
to
de-
make
a triangle, or inscribe a
on.
triangle in a circle,
fell
and so
When
geometry
sacrifices
its
algebra
took
place.
"The
investigations
is
and
to
geometrical demon-
strations
and
the
their
manner
has received
admiration
of
maticians." *
Ramayana
Hindu
sciences
and philosophies,
came
177
INDIA
period.
classes
of
people,
They
were
written
those
classes
who were
among
ing was
known
in the world.
handed down
What
a marvellous
memory
time had!
tains one
The Mahabharata,
was
and when
lady
in
India
knew a Brahmin
who
beginning
scholars
the
end;
recite a
who can
without
comAll
mentary
sciences
in
looking
the
book.
originally written
Sanskrit,
there are
at
fifty in India.
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
their
moral and
spiritual training.
Public lec-
tures
in
almost every
Hindu
classes.
ties,
Even
to-day, in
all
Hindu communi-
this old
in
very common.
for the
study
The word
"Ayus" means
fore, is
life,
Ayurveda, thereIt
contains the
older than
Hindu materia
the
sixth
much
century
It
was
taught
the
long
before
the
time
of
Hippocrates,
"father
of medicine,"
who
Even
made
considerable
progress,
and
ex-
INDIA
cine.
Among
these, the
known
that translations of
them were
among Hindu
They contain
ex-
and on
Their
words
tific
may
"Nor
is
this
surprising,
the materials
for
preparing
in India.
and
alum was
familiar
made
in Cutch;
and
sal
ammonia was
to the Hindus;
The
alkalies
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
Hindus, and were borrowed from them by the
Arabians.
largely
of metals of
was
also
known.
We
have notices
antimony
and
silver,
and nine
other
metals.
The
of
and
lead;
with the
and and
arsenic;
iron;
zinc,
Romans used
it
metallic
is
generfirst
to
prescribe
of
them
internally.
But
in the
works
as has been
we
find
to be given internally." f
us that
camp
for
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
and
in the
Haroun-al-Raschid,
his
court two
B.C.
Hindu
physicians.
As
early
as
260
the
many
women, and
Gupta
testified that
There
were
Brahmin
schools,
whose
war-
training;
class;
industrial
the
merchant
and schools
where
Mahometan
branch
invasion,
Hindu
culture
in
every
of science
dous progress.
astronomer,
is
who
called the
Newton
on algebra and
astronomy.
182
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
first
its
own
its
As a Jewish writer
is
says:
"The
a sphere revolving on
own
axis,
by Aryabhatta
era." *
common
He
and
was he who,
and correctly
valuable
covered
history
almost
every
department of natural
in
its
and was
encyclopedic
nature.
and
solar eclipses,
and wrote a
treatise
on
spherics.
There are
183
INDIA AND
still
HER PEOPLE.
observatories in Benares
some
ruins of
cities.
Hindu
and other
A.D., this
its
golden age of
and
letters
reached
climax in the
Romans,
to the English,
what Charleto
magne was
to the French,
He was
the
To the
learned,
to
to
illiterate,
to to to
story-tellers,
dramatists
and and
novelists,
astronomers, lexicographers,
the old and to the young, the
historians,
name
of
Vikramaof
ditya
great
is
name
any
and
nine
patron
of
drama,
poetry,
education
modern Europe.
and the
He had
gems
was
he
in his court,
finest
among them
He
indeed,
is
His best-
known drama,
into
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
has been considered by such great scholars as
life's
fruits
And
all
by which the
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
" Vikramorvasi,"
by
side
not higher.
One
critic says:
"Like Words-
Hindu poet."
Dandin, Bana-
Kalidasa's successors,
Bharavi,
all
lived in
still
INDIA AND
studied in
all
HER PEOPLE.
they were
Sanskrit colleges, as
The
fables
of Panchatantra
and
of Hitopa-
and to the
in
still
studied
They came
all
the civilized
the
world.
Panchatantra
"was
wan
tion
(5.51-572 a.d.).
The Persian
transla-
translation
Spanish translation of
The
in
first
German
fifteenth
translations
were
published
these,
the
century." f
Besides
the
vast
literature
known
as the "
Puranas "
is still
studied
by
all
classes of people,
From
*
this
you
will gel
an idea of the
civiliza-
The
fables of
"The Book
of
II, p. 297.
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
tion
of
the
pre-
The Hindus,
it
must be
and con-
made
They
very
little
had
to
invaders,
and turn
ical condition;
study of science.
sword and
of
fire
Hindu
culture
and
civilization.
The Mahome-
It
is
in the
now
difficult to get
any
187
INDIA AND
historical
HER PEOPLE.
support this statement.
evidence
to
A Mahometan
literature
and
summed up
in the
is is
to
in
that
is
is
worth knowing
no use
of studying
all
any
other books.
tures,
So they destroyed
the Scrip-
and
all
But the
of the Sacred
Books
of the
of fanatical
Mahometan elementary
for
schools were
started
lan-
the
study of
guages.
used
to
study
these languages
Mahometan
schools.
They
had no
was concerned.
schools, there
logic,
law, ritual,
and theology;
188
all
these and
Mussulman
EDUCATION IN
INDIA.
Euclid and
Ptolemy's
astronomy, and
other
branches
of
Mahometans
at the time
when
British
of the
eighteenth century.
The pioneers
of
Western education
in India
Some Danish
and
at once in
vernacular
Bible.
languages
order
teach
the
Their
In 1727 the
first
did not
make much
society
of
progress until
when
missionary
the
English
Baptists was
established in Bengal.
Their repre-
men
of
ability
and
distinction.
They studied
INDIA
to the natives of
When,
rectors
of
the
Company
strongly objected to
the
proposal.
"On
that
occasion
one of the
we had
colleges,
just lost
America
from our
folly in
ment
of schools
and
and that
it
would
way
of
of education they
must come
exists at
England
for it." *
This policy
still
the bottom
lished
India.
by the
Government
policy,
in
modern
fear,
Although
or
rather
colstill
and
universities
the government of India does not feel safe in giving the natives substantial higher education of
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
Europe, or America.
It
was on account
of this
which
The main
train
of
to
law
both Mahometan
first
sum
of 10,000
In the mean-
Hindu
reformer, whose
known
all
Roy, became anxious to learn the English lan* Vide Sir Charles Trevelyan's Evidence, Lords' Second Report, 1853. 191
INDIA AND
guage.
HER PEOPLE.
first
He was
the
English thoroughly by
there
was no school
at that time;
the
first
native of India
died.
who went
still
where he
His grave
exists in Bristol.
in Calcutta an illiterate
He was
sense.
man
of great
Rajah
He
first
succeeded in interesting
some
tive
at Calcutta
which
is
known to-day
first
as the
Hare
School.
It
was the
respectable
English
method
of
* Vide Rev. Alexander Duff's Evidence, Lords' Second Report, 1853. 192
EDUCATION IN
education
of
INDIA.
among the Hindus in the Presidencies Madras, Bombay, and Bengal; but for two
In 1822 Sir Thomas
of
Hindu
schools
in
and
colleges
system,
the
to
Presidency
Madras
alone,
of
amounted
12,498
among
population
In his report
"I
am
portion
of
the whole
population
who
receive
The
was
state of education
country,
is
higher than
in
most European
BomPresi-
Bombay
colleges;
and
in
1835
*
Lord Bentinck
193
discovered
3355
10, 1826.
INDIA
AND
ITER
l'KOI'I.K.
Hindu
schools
among
population
of
seven
how
the Hindus
culture,
knowledge,
and education.
arithmetic,
and
These elementary
or school-houses.
which
grammar, mathematics,
of science
and philosophy,
at that time.
as they were
known
of
to the
Hindus
The proportion
is,
the latter to
the
lormer,
that
of
collegiate
A
ment
Committee
of
Public
India
/
Instruction
was ap-
pointed by the
in 182
;,
Past
and the
10,000,
granted by Parliament
ten
expended
the
in
name
of
Hindu
College,
a
in
Calcutta,
of
six
Oriental colleges,
and
number
elementary
schools
in
The Com-
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
mittee also gave
of
its
Oriental
books,
and
started
press
in
1824.
special thing
was
line other
than to add
In
Committee
of Public Instruc-
Two
Sir
Hindu gentlemen
Rajah Radha Kanta Deb Bahadur and Rossomoy Dutt of Calcutta, and Takawar Jung, the
Mahometan Nawab
members
of Bengal,
were enrolled as
of the Committee.
With Macaulay's
by which
as
famous resolutions
the
of
March
7,
1835,
established
the
The
That the
chief
aim
of
the
educational
to
policy of the
Government should be
literature
promote a
science.
knowledge of European
(2)
and
be
conferred,
existing
stipends
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
of Oriental
books should
set free
at once cease,
should
studies
be
employed
the
promoting
of
European
English
through
medium
the
language.
named
Pachiapa
left
and out
of this
now known
as Pachiapa's College,
in
was estabstill
lished
by the Hindus
1839.
It
con-
tinues to be the
most nourishing
in
study of English
college
Madras, and
there.
was the
first
established
In
1830
Alexander
a great
to Christianity,
of the students
and would
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
not allow their children to enter them as students.
During
his
stay,
who were
the city of
"Age
of
Reason."
native stu-
like wildfire
among
in the
path of converting
made
among
themselves.
Being thus
aroused,
the
native
Hindus
of
Vidyasagar,
the
most distinguished
eduof
cationalist
his time.
He
established
by
his
own
individual
it is
one
colleges
INDIA
in
India.
It
teachers
and
English.
He
famous resolution
the
institutions
established.
This gave a
to start
efforts
and seminaries
in Calcutta
and
other places.
classes of people
and no caste
from
all
distinction
was observed.
Students
castes
and
all classes
wanted to study
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
In 1843 there were fifty-one schools and
containing 8,200 students, of
colleges,
whom
5,132 were
studying
English,
426
Sanskrit,
572
Arabic,
In 1839 Lord
Government
and
in
1845
Mr.
the Northwestern
lishment
of:
(1)
An
circles
and no
village to
middle school at
(3)
headquarters
of
each
subdivision;
district.
This plan
Directors,
who made an
were eight
Operations began
District
High Schools
were
Province.
(which
monthly
which
INDIA
of all students.
Only three
or four of
them
of
imparted
secondary
free
education,
and
some
them were
classes.
of
Up
Government had
girls.
Female
ment;
best to
educate native
girls
in
the tenets of
Christianity,
forefathers
origin or
Hindu
in
and
religion, in the
is
outside
their ideals.
in
good
any but
own
Hindu Saviours
Saviours;
all
200
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
tion
their in
heathen
referring
An American
missionary,
to
India, writes:
"These
community.
They
represent the
They
furnish
and
his
young
.
.
And
I fearlessly
made through
who
and
boys and
girls
come
to study
filled
and
unscientific doctrines
and dogmas,
and
community
of
their parents
and
relatives
to Christianity.
INDIA
for a
their
moment why the Hindus should give up own prophets and Saviours and worship
may
Saviours,
The
before
preaching
convert
Christ
among
first
the Jews.
to
make
Among
After
other things, the Committee discussed the subject of education of the people of India.
collecting evidence
from
all sides,
the Committee
202
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
issued a Despatch in 1854, constituting the great
and on
this
De-
to-day
is
based.
It
chief
towns
The
Despatch
of 1854
field of
education
of
the
universities
at
Presidency towns.
classes of schools.
Fourth,
and high
schools,
of their
number when
ment
of
necessary.
the establishincreased
new middle
schools.
Sixth,
And
as
seventh,
"Aid
funds
parting
is
to
be
given
it
(so
far
available
may
a
render
good
secular
203
education,
provided
INDIA
they
are
under
management
in
them."
In
the
of
these
five
grants,
than
systems
They were
applied
to
as follows:
in use in
Madras
only,
secondary
education.
Under
The
was
in
Madras
Bomthis
To obtain
pass
was necessary
to
Government
examinations.
(3) (4)
The combined
greater
Salary-Results System.
in operation
in
the
of
India.
Under
The
Captitative System
was applied to a
few
girls'
schools in Bengal.
articles
The seven
of the
204
Despatch of 1854
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
helped in a systematic manner the promotion
of education
in
India.
The system
principle of
absolute neutrality.
Three
universities
established
in
1857 by Lord Canning after the model of the London University. Thus the inspiring influence of
circle
ties
larger
of
Two more
universi-
one in
the Punjab
in
a vice-
and not
less
than thirty
fellows,
who
the
constitute a Senate.
The Senate
controls
management
and frames
subject
to
of
rules
Government
205
and under
INDIA
by examior
among themselves
The Senate
is
nomi-
divided into
Arts,
the
university
in the
and eight
of the
Fellows.
ulates
examinations,
recommends
for
degrees,
various
departments
the
appointed from
syndicate.
among
Fellows
by
the
The
The
office of
Fellow
is
an honorary
office,
usually
man
or
upon
of
active
in
the cause
education.
or Europeans.
The Indian
teachers.
grant
degrees,
have no courses
of
lectures.
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
like the universities of this like
give you an
the universities:
The
(
2)
and Chemistry;
tory;
(5)
Geography;
This
is
Geometry.
into college.
many
by the
schools
natives.
Then
Arts.
two
years' study in a
amination
English;
in
(2)
The
subjects
are:
classical
language (Oriental or
(3) Logic; (4)
European) or a vernacular;
matics;
(5)
Mathe-
and
(6)
Physical Science.
Two
the
B.A. Examination.
This
The
subjects in the
(2)
Language Division
are:
(1)
English;
(3)
Mathematics;
and
207
(5)
any two
of the
following:
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
The Science Division con(2)
vanced Mathematics.
sists
of
(i)
English;
Mathematics;
(3)
Chemistry;
(5) either
is
an
Natural
Science,
or
History and
examinations,
Mathematics.
Medical
Then there
are
Law
Civil
examinations, and
Engineering
The
total
number
all
of
stu-
over British
cities,
India
is
4,405,042.
To-day,
excluding
of eight are
growing up
According to the
147,086 educational
census
1901
of
there
all
are
institutions
Of
is,
these
104,743
are public
all
institutions
open to
but not
free),
as
follows:
44 Professional
5461
141
Art
Colleges,
Secondary
170 Training
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
Schools,
Schools.
In addition
"Dur-
sum
of 4,000,000
rupees
has
(native)
year 1905.
stitutions
of
public in-
kinds
private
those
clined.
attending
have de-
several
stitution
The past year witnessed the erection of schools and boarding-houses, the inof
development of
and
of
electrical
work
at
an institution
for
manual
training at
Lucknow."
*
free educaall
kinds of taxes
*
INDIA
and support
of
administration,
free
The Rev.
Sunder-
"Much
Government
which
it
let it
have
full praise.
But how
little
has
compared with
its
its
ability,
if it
would only
good!
use
resources
primarily
for
India's
Why
has so
little of
the people's
money been
4,418-,
000 scholars
(if
But what
is
this
we include number in
How much
annually
of
does
for
the
Indian
Government
spend
education?
one penny
and a
fifth
Think
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
of
it!
Is it
any wonder
of British
and a half
of persons in India
who can
and one
in
With
down,
technical,
But
of
a dark
stain
college for
The
first
girls'
school
was
Calcutta
Bethune
(a
legal
General's Council),
own
to
pocket.
This school
and teaches up
the
highest
grades
of
university examina-
tions.
The Indian
universities
bestow degrees on
their degrees
Calcutta,
There are
* Paper on "The Causes of Famines in India," before the Canadian Institute, p. 22. 211
INDIA
many
girls'
the Hindus.
little
boys and
girls
The
is
total
number
of girls
who
receive education
about
girls
half a million;
The
illiterate
women
instruction, as well
instruction
religious
and
in
their national
and
literature, to a
much
larger extent
than in Europe.
agriculture.
the
Bombay.
Education in India
is
who have
income
have
Gov-
no prospect
ernment
offices.
All
the
212
higher
positions are
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
occupied by English
salaries, while
officials,
who draw
large
per
month.
Until
recently,
these
by
universities
trol. Now none but those who are appointed by the Government can hold any Government position. The Official Secrets Bill passed by
also
press.
of daily
But they
political
the Government.
darkness.
absolute
de-
colleges for
the masses.
INDIA
the education of
girls,
of Christian missionaries,
agement
of the Hindus.
university
where boys
and
girls
will
receive
all
and where
technical
freely.
and poor.
is
The whole
grinding the
Fur-
thermore, India
rule;
is
and sending
to receive better
The Hindus
and
introducing
Western education
in
India.
it is
England has
by the introduction
the greatest bless-
This
is
EDUCATION IN INDIA.
The seed
soil
of
Western education
is
sown
in the
of
India;
fruit.
is
training
see
it
and
to
make
as perfect as
it is
May
their
VI.
THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA ON WESTERN CIVILIZATION, AND THE INFLUENCE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION ON INDIA.
The dawn
first
of
Aryan
civilization
may
astronomy, science,
art,
music,
and medicine,
Although students
and
are
colleges of
modern
Europe
and
America
generally
Romans were
the
European
civilization
first
of
Europe
and by
all
impartial
students
of
many
THE INFLUENCE OF
science
INDIA.
and
many
of her ethical
If
left
and
spiritual ideals.
we read the writings and historical accounts by Pliny, Strabo, Megasthenes, Herodotus,
of other
ancient authors
we
shall see
how
highly
by them.
B.C.,
In
fact,
art,
music, and
in
any
of these
branches of knowledge.
of the nations
On
the contrary,
many
which came
Hindu
Hindu
ideas
and moulded
their
own
said,
after the
of
pattern.
as
I
geometry,
have already
was
first
from these
etry,
and
lesson in
The
INDIA
is
equal to the
sides
to Pythagoras,
least
It
but
in India at
was contained
"(i)
The
twice as
of the
and
is
(2)
The square
diagonal of an oblong
both
its
sides."
There
is
we
find such
common among
unknown
to
the Hindus,
nations.
his first
but
which were
other
and transmigration
of souls,
and
of final beatitude, ascetic observances, prohibition of eating flesh, vegetarianism, the conception of
unknown
in Greece
and
Egypt
THE INFLUENCE OF
INDIA.
by the
of Pythagoras.
W. Hopkins
you
says:
of India," as
will recall
from the
first lecture,
when he
B.C. all
Geometry gradually
fell
out of use
among
the
by algebra and
arithmetic.
to India.
learned
it
it
then introduced
to the Greeks
into Europe.
was unknown
as a
practical science
without
also
decimal notation.
in
introduced
it
into
Europe
219
century.
fhst lesson in
The
great
Indian
cMrya, who
exhaustive treatises
his
on
all
In
and
The Chinese
Those treating of algebra and arithmetic have been by Colebrooke, and the portion on spherical trigonometry has been translated by Wilkinson. | "A striking history has been told of the problem Freto find x so that ax t + b shall be a square number. mat made some progress towards solving this ancient
translated
problem, and sent it as a defiance to the English algeEuler finally solved braists in the seventeenth century. it, and arrived exactly at the point attained by Bhaskara A particular solution of another problem given in 1 1 50. by Bhaskara 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 The favorite process of the Hindus known in 1767 a.d. as the Kuttaka was not known in Europe till published
by Bachet de Mezeriac
Ancient India, Vol.
in
1624 a.d."
246.
Civilization
in
II, p.
220
THE INFLUENCE OF
INDIA.
these
from
India.
The
music
developed
the
science of
The
especially
meant
for music.
And
had
it.
from the
to
Hindus.
that
be interesting to
to the
you
know
Hindu
science
"leading
reason
and
this
is
perhaps
the
why
is
so difficult for
people to understand
came
translations,
ject
and
his conversation
is
with
Schopenhauer
probably
already
familiar to you.
again, owes
its first
lesson
medicine to India.
his
camp Hindu
Megasthenes,
Nearchus, and Arrian spoke highly of the wonderful healing powers of the
221
Hindu
physicians-
INDIA
of medicine,
who
century
India.
B.C.,
borrowed
from
first
system
of medicine to the
Hindus."
lived in the fifth century B.C.,
Herodotus,
who
of that
age.
He
Hindus
we gather
and
Syria.
From another
authentic source
we
Max
told,
book on "Psychologi-
cal Religion."
we
are
philosopher.
He
of Socrates consisted,
of
human without
first
THE INFLUENCE OF
INDIA.
And
that
is
the knowl-
edge of anything
human
and
"Plato was a
and a decidedly
a sunrise color."
In
fact, in
teaching asceti-
cism, Plato
was more
all
of a
because, of
ascetic.
nations, the
My
in
friend,
Professor
Edward Howard
of
Griggs,
his
lecture
on the "Philosophy
New
York,
admitted
this
in saying:
"Plato's belief
means
was preeminently
if
Moreover,
we study
find
that
well-known
is
figure
of
the
man
merely an allegorical
that
is
like
a dream;
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
theme
who
lived cen-
for instance,
we
read:
"This body
may
be com-
mind
whose path
Jones, the
Sir
William
first
the English,
"it
is
confirming
that
many
compositions
in
illustration
of
it,
Pythagoras
and Plato
Max
Miiller
and
other
Oriental
logic
scholars maintain, as
of Aristotle
of
the
Hindu
You
will
also
remember
anticipated
by the
sages
India,
while
the
Upanishads.
*
He even
suggests that
the doc-
Works
224
THE INFLUENCE OF
trines
clitus
INDIA.
in Greece.
after the
We
mind that
invasion of India by Alexander the Great the connection between India and Greece became closer
many Hindu
philosophers
and
as Gymnosophists, or
Hindu
Hindus
Porphyry
men from
Plotinus
was
in
perfect
agreement
Hindu philosophers, and that his disciple Porphyry knew of the Yoga doctrine of union with the
Deity.
It
was unknown
and
to
any
of the
Western
Through
Plato
his
followers,
the
Neo-
Platonists, Stoics,
and Philo
225
of Alexandria were
INDIA
also influenced
and
later of the
Fourth Gospel,
first
arose in India.
to
it;
In the Vedas
we
find reference
and
it
This
may
startle
some
of our friends,
it is
true.
we read
we
had
find
many
evidences
which
are
undeniable.
in 260 B.C.,
edicts inscribed
on
pillars
of stone during
his lifetime,
and
we read
for
and Alexandria.
The same
ethical
and emphasized
Mahaffi,
by
Christ.
The
Christian
historian
THE INFLUENCE OF
clared
it
INDIA.
runners of Christ.
the Jewish sect
known
and the
Roman
and 79
having
Essenes,
historian
Pliny,
a.d., described
that
who
and Egypt.
Phi-
Mill-
the
influence
the
Buddhist
Moreover,
misit is
India.
Baptist, says:
"He
led there a
life like
that of a
wild honey.
We
special
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
Again he says:
"The
teachers
of
the young
re-
(spiritual
dering Buddhist
as the
first
world,
ing
by
their actions
their
knew not
language,
Babylon had
become
for
Boudasp
(Bodhisattva)
was
reputed
wise
Sabeism
etymology
indicates,
baptism." f
at
all
And he
continues:
"We may
believe,
events, that
many
of this
time,
in-
East.
The fundamental
228
THE INFLUENCE OF
the sect of John
its
INDIA.
character,
center
lower
is
Chaldea,
and constitutes a
religion
which
tice
This pracAblutions
was baptism or
The Essenes
*
in-
by water was
Bap-
The
life
of Jesus
the Christ
the immaclife,
ulate conception of a virgin mother, the miraculous birth, the story of the slaughter of infants
all
what happened
in
Buddha
God
is
among
the
*
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
the Hindus
accepted
many
human
Hindus.
Many
of the
famous parables
the Hindus
among
and Buddhists
In the
his disre-
ciples
centuries
B.C.,
and they
semble in every
Jesus the Christ.
way
the similar
parables of
taken a great
many
their form of
Buddha
monks
and nun-
from the
Buddhists of India.
was the
first
Under cover
Barlaam
and has
THE INFLUENCE OF
INDIA.
The Buddhist
missionaries and
preachers also
among them.
like
Many
of the
early church
Fathers,
Origen,
admitted that
the
soul
first
we
to this world.
and reincarnation
of the Christians
was suppressed
in
who
soul
of
him be Anathema."
influence
of
It
was
for-
the
Hindu
mystics
was adopted by
Jewish
The Jewish Encyclopedia says: " Only with the spread of the Cabala did it begin
sects.
to
it
gained
* Professor
Platonisrxi
declares that "NeoE. W. Hopkins and Christian Gnosticism owe much to India"
See p. 25.
231
INDIA AND
believers even
HER PEOPLE.
clined
among men who were little intoward mysticism." And again: "Like
God!"*
of Panini,
who, accord-
Max
Miiller,
Many
For
Sanis
Mother,
in
Latin mater,
in
in
Mdtar;
Pitar;
father,
Latin
in
pater,
in
Sanskrit
sister,
brother,
Sanskrit
Bhrdtar;
path,
in
Swasar;
daughter,
Duhitar;
Sanskrit Patha;
etc.
serpent, Sarpa;
bond, Bandha;
interesting
in
The word
It
"punch" has an
meant "five"
history.
krit;
originally
Sans-
so the expression,
literally
means
"Give him
fingers."
We
name "punch"
it is
which
implies that
made up
of five ingredients.
how
the fables
232
THE INFLUENCE OF
of iEsop
INDIA.
in India.
In-
influenced the
for
young
centu-
minds
ries.
many
think no child
brought up without
uninfluenced
by the more
law.
Hindu
Now,
I will
influ-
Those
who have
studied
philosophy
full
of
He
by
his
no study more
beneficial
and elevating to
sen, p. 36.
233
INDIA
(Vedanta).
It
my
life,
and
it
will
be the solace of
my
death."
is
And
to
Max
philosophy
meant
know
of
no better preparation
for it
than
losophy
of
the Upanishads":
"God, the
sole
author of
all
good
in us,
is
from
us,
but rather
our divine
self.
This
we
if
we
are willing
and to make
it
on
all sides
consist-
since
of
Krishna
through
Gita,*
English
version
of
the
Bhagavad
translated
by Charles
you as
the
1867.
now
well
1 7
known
S5
to
London in
and
in
New York in
234
THE INFLUENCE OF
INDIA.
"Song
also
Celestial."
Many
Frederick Schlegel,
Deussen,
Max
Miiller,
Emerson
in
Hindu thought
America.
of the
He
him.
his
poem on
it
Brahman, which he
"Brahm";
begins
This
is
almost a
literal translation of
a passage
in the
Bhagavad
Gita,
and he
of these
know
ii,
is
killed" (chap,
verse 19).
Vedanta.
imbued with the sublime teachings of "The Hindus," he writes, "are more
235
INDIA
brews.
purer,
more
inde-
Their
inquisitive
and
the
Hebrew
Bible,
Repentance
is
highway to God.
It is
wise
man
with repentance.
God
It is
prefers that
not penitent, though you are the chief of sinners. only by forgetting yourself that you draw
near to Him.
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,
universal.
It
free
rises
on
me
like
the full
moon
some
far
summer stratum
236
"The Vedant
teaches how,
by forsaking
re-
THE INFLUENCE OF
ligious rites,' the
INDIA.
votary
may
is
'obtain purification
of mind.'
"One
wise
sentence
Massachusetts
many
times over.
sensible account of God. of the
tribe,
"The
the
religion
and philosophy
Hebrew
wanting
and ruder
and
intellectual
refinement
and
and
one
partial
puerile
distinctions
between
man's
and
another's,
as Christian
and heathen.
tiality,
To
are
the philosoalike.
I
pher,
sects,
all
nations,
like
is
permeated
The educated
and
of
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
and death,
and
greatest comfort
religion of
and happiness
is
in the universal
Vedanta, which
logic,
in perfect
harmony
modern
Budfelt
and philosophy
of
of
You see how many vegetarians are springing up, how many people now prefer a vegetarian diet
to animal flesh.
I
in
New
have
York a
260
cats, but, as I
Then,
breathing exercises,
New
Thought,
etc.,
which
is
Europe and
Mrs.
America,
is
and
influenced
by the teachings
same
source.
from the
indeed,
THE INFLUENCE OF
all
INDIA.
Even
in
Mexico
discovered
spreading
From very
ancient times
the Hindus as
and
"Love thy
In
why?
the Vedas
we
"Thou
shalt love
Thou
art
"Tat twam
of returning
good
for evil,
and
As
Europe
INDIA
Mammon,
They send
Kingdom
of
Heaven.
neers
for
territorial
possession.
They do not
spread peace
but
fire
and guns,
we have
We
cannot forget
Tibetans were
We
cannot
Hindu temples
We
cannot forget
how
under the
name
monuwere
1614
ments
of
Buddhism
in
Japan
until they
in
driven out
A.D.
missionaries,
on
of
the contrary,
fire
instead
of peace
and goodwill,
and have
China and
civ-
The whole
THE INFLUENCE OF
ilization of
its art,
INDIA.
Japan
is
as for
most other
Buddhism was
lived there in
Confucianism.
China in 65
A.D.,
has existed
among
the
religious ideals
civilizing
of the nation,
them.
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.
When
India,
living un-
Under the
and
INDIA
practise
it.
mere
they
know how
to preach
and how to
live
religion.
By
European conquest.*
Practical morality
and
spirituality
have always
mere
intellectual
culture.
In
India,
religion
art,
From
religion the
Hin-
is
is
call it unhappy Asia? 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 Unhappy Asia, do you call it? It of ordinary men. is the unhappiness of Europe over which I mourn." Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield).
"Unhappy
Do you
242
THE INFLUENCE OF
ture
is
INDIA.
secondary.
The Hindus
cultivate
the
for
external
reforms.
is
It
for
this
reason
that
their civilization
and
spiritual
standards.
Hindu
civilization
is
It
is
not
like
the
European
civiliza-
to
protect
its
self-interest
at
the expense of
by depriving
others of their
are
who
is
versed in the
knowledge;
who who
is
truthful, unselfish,
who
INDIA
man.
civilized
man must
always cultivate
these virtues,
born.
By
man
or
is
distinguished
civilized
man
we
see in
moral
and
background, and
made
The
in
old
its
is
right"
is
still
The
* "Asia revivified would act upon Europe. The European comfort, which they call civilization, is, after the Island of Great all, confined to a very small space, 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 Beacons-
field).
244
THE INFLUENCE OF
nence
is
INDIA.
latter,
its
watchword.
With the
is
the
the highest
of
aim
of civilization,
is
moral
In
virtues
necessary step
auxiliary.
and freedom
of
thought by
by continuous persecution
and
clergy.
on the part of
priests
Think
of the of
and a host
Middle
other
eminent
thinkers
of
the
Ages!
daily
life.
But freedom
of
thought
of true civiliza-
Social
and
political
outcome
tion.
of the
Freedom
Through the
influence
of
the
dominant or
and
political freedom.
She has
she
become a
methods
slave.
INDIA
her.
The
is
ideal of simplicity
and
of
humanitarianism
altar
upon the
of
material possession.
live in
India a Christ-like
are robbed
life
and righteousness
and dispossessed
of their property
by
England.
Under the
influence
of
British
rule,
the
heart
among
an
impossibility.
The
moral
and
spiritual
The
and
slaughter-houses
and
saloons,
trade
the
opium
trade
Government
all
The
influence of
Western
246
civilization
is
de-
THE INFLUENCE OF
stroying
INDIA.
of
the
social
structure
the
Hindus,
and
life
is
But
It
rigidity
caste
rules
and caste
but to-day
evil effects
have been
re-
moved by English
tion,
education.
English educa-
of the people;
religion;
has
made
its
students
advocates of
The great
of the uni-
mass
of
versities
God
or the
human
first
soul,
and
glory.
Their
object in
life is
and butter
by some honest
profession.
The
heartless
and
rules in India,
ment
The
247
gladiatorial policy of
INDIA
European
civilization
now
in full force.
The
They run
as a child
for help
would run
distress,
in time of
filled
task-masters
under
the
garb
of
Western
English-
culture
and
civilization.
civilized
man
and
by the Govern-
ment.
tion in
is
civilized
Assam
will carry
Such are
Western
civilization
made them
is
government
no better
for
its
own gain
is
THE INFLUENCE OF
But and
I
INDIA.
certain
benefits
fifty
has
made
own
feet,
and
for nearly
a century.
away many
of
minds
the
Hindus.
The Hindus
are
now
civil-
their
their
worthy
disciples.
Japan
Western
less
have become in
it
Now
will
be the
turn
poor
it,
and
downtrodden
India.
will
We
enjoy
may
not see
the goal of
all
nations.
influis
the
field,
249
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
it.
India
Mahometan
rule of six
now
and the
from
blessings of
her
contact
England.
India
will
and
will
He
to
learn
from the
method by which
upon the
will establish
civilization
principles
of
higher
uni-
ethics
and true
spirituality taught
by the
is
which
the crest
WOMAN'S PLACE
IN
HINDU RELIGION.
VII.
WOMAN'S PLACE
Well
that:
for
IN
HINDU RELIGION.
has
it
women amounting
little
a fact which
we seem
dignity of
to suspect in Europe
when we
woman, and
of
He
also said:
"What!
Here
is
woman on
in the family
and
in society."
civil
by Jusclosely
the
Hindu laws
253
of
Manu were
INDIA
Hindu
society in general.
Many
of the Ori-
ental scholars,
Manu was
related to
to his child.
in the Vedas.
by saying:
nomenal universe,
own
two halves,
equality of
same
attributes,
in equal
proportion, so
halves
of
the
and
ethics
among
for so
many
the
defying
critics of
onslaughts
of
the
short-sighted
the world.
ever
is
man may
or
also be claimed
for the
woman;
for either
shown
man
woman, according
to
Hindus.
of equality
was most
5,
forcibly
61,
hymn
this pas-
sage thus:
"The
equal parts in
No
to the
woman
man
as
woman
mitted by man.
ing the creation of
woman and
255
the
fall of
man, has
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
woman was
created for
makes her an
for the
instru-
ment
and
in the
fall
hands of Satan
temptation
she was
first
of the holy
man
with
whom
Adam's
shift the
burden
St.
woman.
New Testament, shows that, through Adam's fall, woman was the means of bringing
Paul, in the
sin, suffering,
Popu-
away
the preachers,
still
of
womanhood
sible, for
in Christian lands.
How
is it
pos-
one
who
woman was
of
temptation and
fall
and
suffering
For
is
no
days.
The Hindu
legislators
realized
world that
women had
men
acquirement of knowledge,
It is for this reason
we
find in the
of so
many
inspired
women who
are recognized
the
These
as
inspired
women
by
all classes
men
of Vedic
hymns.
women from
studying
by opening
of the
book
of the
hymn
of
the
inspired
INDIA
Hindu woman.
of
women
names
inspired
women
revealers
of
of
the
spiritual
life
wisdom.
Every one
them
of spirituality, being
the world.
They
of the religious
singers of holy
their opponents.
Yajnavalka,
There are
many
instances of
women
When
umpire.
If,
in
Hindu
religion prevents
women from
by thinking
exist outside
a place in religion,
we can only
console ourselves
boundary-line
religion.
of
their
own
particular creed
and
It is
the especial
man
his
rite,
ceremony, or
in
will
it
sacrifice
joined
by
wife;
should he do
so, his
work
be incom-
plete
full
and
half finished,
and he
will
is
results,
considered to
life
called, in Sanskrit,
Sahais
dharmini,
"spiritual
helpmate."
This
idea
Hindu
259
nation.
It is true
INDIA
some
women
who were
development, just
as a certain class of
men were
studies of
some portions
of the Vedas, or
from
to the
we
same idea
kept
of equality
alive,
between
ayana
the
the
remember
of
Sita,
how
the
exemplary
was
character
heroine.
chastity,
She was
embodiment
of purity,
and kindShe
still
womanhood
of all castes
Hindu women
and
creeds.
not be found.
Her
was unique.
She
worshipped as an Inis
worshipped among
India
is
God
woman
as well as in that of a
man.
In the Mahabharata
we read
the account of
woman
Yogi,
who came
to
women were
who
of
even
many
Many
of
these
Sri
men.
the
nineteenth
was taught
spiritual
truths
by a Yogini*
in religion the
As
Hindu woman
of ancient
men, so
From
the Vedic
women
in India
P.
Max
Muller, published
York.
INDIA
own
cases,
and ask
know
her
own
of
case
the
court
Similar
instances
hymn
to
of the tenth
of the
Rig Veda.
As
go
to
the
battle-fields
against
enemies.
ful
Sarama,
of
one
of
the
most
power-
women
in
her
of
by her husdestroyed
band
their
search
She discovered
hiding-place
and
afterwards
them.
In the
fifth
book
of the
them.
have been
many
instances
of
women
states,
making
laws,
and administering
justice
to
all.
of India are to
governed their
WOMAN S PLACE
IN
HINDU RELIGION.
The
who
held a portion of
the British
army
famous
troops
officer,
mutiny
of
1857-58.
and
after a
hard
and
died,
in June,
1858.
Sir
Hugh Rose
declared that
the best
man on
of Jhansi, not
lady,
Aus Kour by
She has
state.
In
less
Malwa, governed
The heroic queen Chand Bibi, who defended the fort of Ahmednagar against the attacks of the Mogul
emperor Akbar,
may
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
was so great and popular that both the Mahometans and the Hindus united in prayers for her
long
life;
name and
in her honor,
to be
destroyed,
and took no
America boasts
freedom
of her
of
women.
The cause
deeply rooted
It is
womanhood.
women;
it
us that
way
and
political
freedom of women.
Think
of the
women's
suffrage societies,
juris-
* The following extract from a letter sent by Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Bishop Potter, of New York, 264
woman
to
The
the
honor
women from
pagans.
The Teutonic
Even
this
fail
to
see
an idea of the
situa-
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 Occaat once, with renewed energy, in many others.
church officials make their protests, but no one seems to understand the hidden cause of all these
sionally,
outrages.
"The
to teach
now aroused
authorities of the Episcopal Church are just The first step to be taken is to action.
woman
rising generation a
"The Church and the Bible make woman the footand 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.
ball for the jibes
less until
"All our efforts to suppress the social evil are hopewoman 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,
in business or trade, a
husband
in India
cannot
take
members
It is often said
that
Hindu women
but
are treated
it
like slaves
fact.
by
their husbands,
is
not a
get
On
Hindu women
Pope himself.
of
"The sentiments
on
men in high places are responsible 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 they 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 themselves enjoy.
"The
lesson of inferiority
is
<>f
we have woman."
266
Monier
The
number
in
of
wife-beaters
is
considerably
smaller
He He
is
who
woman's body
is
"A woman's
it
body," says
Manu
women.
The treatment
religion, will
of
woman, according
to
Hindu
other
Manu and
is
Manu
says:
of a
"The mouth
woman
always pure."
V, 130.
2.
"Women must
who
and brothers-
in-law,
3.
'
own welfare." Ill, 55. women are honored, there the Devas 'Where
desire their
267
INDIA AND
(gods) are pleased;
HER PEOPLE.
"Where female
57-
"In
like
who have no
extinct,
of
sons, of
whose family
faithful to
is
wives
of
and
widows
afflicted
6.
their lords,
and
women
with diseases."
righteous king
VIII, 28.
"A
must punish
like thieves
those relatives
who
he who
sin."
8.
in the cause
of right
commits no
VIII, 349.
"One's daughter
hence,
it
if
is
tenderness;
one
offended
by
her, one
must bear
(Compare
without resentment."
IV,
185.
this
Hindu
of girls.)
9.
"A
a mother-in-law,
must be honored
teacher;
spiritual teacher."
"Towards the
and
of
one's
sister,
one
must behave
mother
11.
is
but the
II,
133.
II, 145.
"A
chaste wife,
who
husband
constantly
remains
chaste,
reaches
V, 160.
(Compare
this
with the
Hindu widows
by
their religion.)
is
pleased with his wife and the wife with her hus-
Ill,
INDIA AND
14.
HER PEOPLE.
due performance of
service,
re-
"Offspring,
rites,
the
ligious
faithful
highest conjugal
and one's
28.
15.
self,
IX,
"Let mutual
fidelity
continue
till
death;
this
may
From
other
Hindu
laws:
"Woman
"Women
1.
possesses
an unequalled means of
become
all
(entirely) foul."
are pure in
is
limbs."
is
"Man
strength,
woman
beauty;
is
he
is
the wisdom
"He who
despises
woman
despises
his
mother."
3.
"He who
"The
is
cursed
by a woman
is
cursed
by God."
woman call down the fire of heaven on those who make them flow." 5. "Evil to him who laughs at a woman's
4.
tears of a
sufferings;
6.
God
"The songs
of
women
270
men
is
should not,
if
they wish to
"There
persecute
women, and
The labors
"When
relatives,
by some
subterfuge, take
woman, her
car-
"The
virtuous
woman
man
should
Here
is
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
is
bliss;
A sweetly-speaking wife
a companion
INDIA AND
HER PEOPLE.
most
horrible!
Yet to-day
in
some parts
of
roughest labor!
son, inherits
This
is
the
Hindu
law.
The
as
wife in
of her
husband or
The mother
in
India
A.
novels on Indian
Indian women:
"In regard
in
to
women
India,
think
is
own.
Women
in India
band's estate."
Some American
ladies
who
lived
in
India,
It is
gen-
Hindu widows.
of direct
male
in
heirs,
widows
life-interest
real
and abso-
The daugh-
inherit
absolutely.
Where
during their
lives,
their
own heirs, with a preference to females." * Much has been said against the marriage
customs of the Hindus.
I
It
is
by courtship
method generally
mere
grati-
fication of passion.
Hindu
ideas,
spiritual
union of the
must be
first
a sacred bond.
Mill's
to
p. 248.
INDIA
between two
it;
souls.
dissolve
and
Hindu
wives,
who do not
many
life.
a virgin
is
widow who
are nobler
Marriage
There
The whole
is
in favor
between one
little
man and
a
one
allow a
It is said that
man
may marry
The aim
of
Hindu
and
spiritual evolution
from legal
society
inter-
ference.
classes,
Therefore
they
divided
into
and
each
class;
the
in
among
different classes.
Hindu law-givers
for all
class
in
society,
the
more
same law-giver, who allows the marriage of widows amongst the lower classes, sets forth arguments
against
class.
its
practice
all
Nearly
classes
husbands; but
of the
divorced
women
in
the same
way
as
for
the
Acher
may abandon
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 The very fact of the Sansof proofs and arguments. 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,' paunarbhava, 'a son of a woman by her second husband,' are enough to establish it." " Indo-Arians," by Rajendra
II, p. 155.
275
INDIA
no other causes
of
divorce
Similarly, a
children,
and
can remarry.
marry another.
It is
is
the child-
marriage
religion;
and that
not true.
it
is
sanctioned by
but this
it,
is
Religion distinctly
forbids
and
in
is
many
child-marriage
betrothal before the
The
years
ceremony
real
some
marriage ceremony;
sufficient
cause
may
it
is
be-
father's
house until
In
Southern
abuses
many
and child-wives are often given to their husbands at too tender an age. The Hindu law does not prevent the remarriage of
in,
have crept
the betrothed wife after the death of her betrothed husband, but it says that under such
commit a
it is
better for a
life
from a family
of the
same
one who
is
legislators,*
among
of the parents
tract, is considered to
times,
when
kings, the
Svayambara system
It
*
was
very common.
of free choice
Manu,
33.
277
INDIA AND
of a
HER PEOPLE.
Those who have
Sir
read
will
"The Light
of Asia,"
by
Edwin Arnold,
married.
But
freedom they
inter-
of marriage
and
youth.
all
The
betrothal, however,
is
not practised in
Christian
missionaries
have
brought
false
of our
names
Hindu women.
of the
reject ninety-
women
you
will
have to
from the missionaries, or from Christian converts who come from women in India, as
India.
country, but
it is
make such
is
no morality
my
girls in
any
Indian home.
is
The immorality
in that country
horrible!" *
by
Some say
so
that,
brutally
that
the
women
it.
preferred
death,
"Christian
government"
is,
has
suppressed
Suttee;
this direction
Rajah
Ram Mohan
ment
was
a subject nation.
The educated
classes
among
who supported
this
inhuman custom
and
efforts
by
force;
p. 482.
INDIA
official
help, appeal
Thus
the
evil
practically
sup-
pressed
Ram
widows
was
princi-
pally his
vehement denunciation
it
of this practice,
set
on foot by him,
The exclusion
of
women from
the society of
is
Although
*
this
aristo-
priests perverted the meaning which describes the funeral ceremony of the ancient Hindus. The true meaning of that verse "Rise up, woman, thou art lying by one whose life is: come, come to the world of the living, away is gone; from thy husband, and become the wife of him who grasps thy hand and is willing to marry thee." Rig
of the
Some
Veda, Bk.
10,
Hymn
18, verse 8.
280
Hindu community,
still
it
came
Mahometan
is,
women
of
to appear
origin,
was not
Hindu
There are
many
where
men
mix
freely
in the
same
vehicle,
and appear
Sir
women
unveiled.
Monier
it
"Moreand
over,
seclusion
same degree
in provinces
by those conquerors."
old missionary tale
their babies to
the
crocodiles
the
Ganges.
Touching
pic-
tures of a black
in
books.
Perhaps
INDIA
ones
by the
river-
cremating them.
The
tianizing India
car of Jaggannath.
says:
"It
is
horror of
place
take
if
But,
self-
and
As regards female
bai herself wrote:
infanticide, Pandita
Rama-
"Female
religion
by conin
scientious
has
nevertheless,
those
are picked
*
up every year
in
t High-caste
can
cities.
able to charge these evils to the Christian religion as to lay all the sins of India at the door
of the
Hindu
religion?
High-caste Hindu
women
generally learn to
Hindu
religion
says that
it is
the
sisters,
and wives.
So,
it is
there be ignorance
uttered
by one
of
them (Avyar)
life.
The writings
still
woman
in
mathematician,
schools
of
native
the
by the
283
Christian missionaries
INDIA AND
that
HER PEOPLE.
Hindu
religion
teaches that
women have
no
souls,
entitled to sal-
vation.
of
On
the contrary,
all
such outrageous
falsities.
know
is
that, according to
Hindu
sexless,
and that
all
reach the
was
in India that
Those who
that
his
of
Buddha know
of
who
by the Hindus.
the great
The wife
of Sri
Ramakrishna,
Hindu Saint
to
woman
ligion
life.
women
in
Hindu
re-
nowhere
in India.
and recognized as
2S4
The mother
ity in the
is
They say
to call the
that
one mother
greater
than a thousand
Hindus prefer
of
the
Universe.
is
She
Lord
of all creatures.
There
is
no other country
is
in the world
where
venerated as an incarna-
who
protects
all
as her
own
children.
Listen to the prayer that rises every day to the Almighty Mother of the universe from the
Hindu worshippers: "O Mother Divine, Thou art beyond reach of our praises; Thou pervadest every
hearts of
ticle
the
par-
of the
universe;
all
knowledge proceeds
from Thee,
Infinite Source of
wisdom!
all
Thou
women
are
Thy
upon earth."
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"One of the great thought challengers of the day is this work by the Sw&mi Vivekftnanda. The book goes deep and treats of startling things, but when analyzed and viewed from the author's standpoint, they are found to be links in the great chain of truth. He alone will deny who is out of sympathy or limited in vision." Transcript Boston, Sept. 24, 1902. " Students of religion will find much of interest in it those who care for India in any -way will be glad to receive an indication of high Hindu thought in one of the most striking religious movements of the day while the orthodox Christian will derive some information from the work regarding the attitude of cultured Hindus toward Christianity and its Founder. After reading the book one is inexcusable if his ideas concerning Vedanta are hazy." New York Saturday Review of Books, July 12, 1902. *' The lectures show a wonderful insight into great truths which
', ;
underlie all religious aspiration." Courier-Journal, Louisville, July 5, 1902. "The altruism with which his preaching is permeated attracts and inspires, The love of humanity which he inculcates harmonizes with the spirit of the age. His English is good, his style easy to Merely as an intelligent preread, his sincerity unquestionable. sentation of what is best in the ancient Hindu Scriptures, the Swami VivekSnanda's book is deserving of attention at the bands of religious students." Record-Herald, Chicago, Aug. 19, 1902. " The lectures are all extremely interesting, the style brilliant, the reasoning often subtle. Whether the philosophy advanced is satisfactory or not to those whose theories are the outgrowth of a different system of thought, his method of presenting it affords an intellectual pleasure."-Journ al, Indianapolis, Oct. 13, 1902. '* It is a book which appeals to the intellectual, and no one could be the worse for reading it, since it contains much of truth even as Christians measure truth." Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug. 15, 1902. "The Vedanta Philosophy as explained by Vivek&nanda is interesting. ... As given by him and his followers, no more lofty teachings can be found. The work is a valuable addition to the Toledo Blade, Oct. n, 1902. literature of religions."
Raja Yoga.
376 pages.
Cloth, $1.50.
Postage, 11 cents.
frontispiece.
Portrait of author,
Besides lectures on RSja Yoga the book contains Patanjali's Yoga Aphorisms with Commentary, a copious Sanskrit Glossary, a lecture on Immortality, and the Swiimi's lectures on Bhakti Yoga.
"The whole spirit of the book is candid in the extreme. It It makes no foolish appeals to what is best and noblest in man. mysteries and demands no blind belief. It puts forth its system in manner. It is able to present its own method a plain and simple without in any way attacking the method of others. It manifests a charity that it is usual to call Christian, but ?.hich Vivekananda proves is equally the property of the Hindu. If this little book had nothing to teach but the beautiful toleration it advocates, it would be well worth reading; but many will find in it valuable suggestions to aid in reaching the higher life. " Arena, March, 1897.
" large part of the book is occupied with that method of attaining perfection known as Raja Yoga, and there are also trans lations of a number of aphorisms and an excellent glossary."
5th, 1899.
" A valuable portion of the volume to students is the glossary of Sanskrit technical terms. This includes not only such terms as are employed in the book, but also those frequently employed in works on the Vedanta philosophy in general." New York Times, July 22nd, 1899.
**
new
by students of comparative
1899.
edition witrfenlarged glossary, which will be welcomed religion, who are already familiar with Review of Reviews, Oct.,
41 The methods of practical realization of the divine within the human are applicable to all religions, and all peoples, and only
vary in their details to suit the idiosyncrasy of race and individuals." Post, Washington, D. C, June 12th, 1899.
New
York.
W. C,