Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/625

* INDIA. 547 INDIA. Puranaa and Tanlras, which are the text-books of this creed. In short, the unhridled imagina- tion which |)ervades these works is neither pleas- ing from a poetical nor elevating from a phil- osophical point of view. Some Puranas, it is true — for instance, the lihaijavaln — make in sonic sense an exception to this aherration of original Hinduism; but they arc a compromise between the popular and the Vcdantic creed, which henceforward remains the creed of the edu- cated and intelligent. They do not affect the ■worship of the masses as practiced by the various sects; and this worship itself, whellier harmless, as with the worshipers of V'ishiui, or olfensive, as with the adorers of Siva and his wife Durgii, is but an empty ceremonial, which, here and there, may remind one of the symbolical worship of the Vcdic Hindu, but, as a whole, has no con- nection whatever with the Vedic Scriptures, on ■which it pretends to rest. It is this creed which, vitli further deteriorations, caused by the lapse of centuries, is still the main religion of the mas.ses in India. The philosophical creed of this period, and the creed which is still preserved by the educated classes, is that derived from the tenets of the Vedanta philosophy. It is based on the belief in one sujircme being, which imagination and sjK'Culation endeavor to invest with all the per- fections conceivable by the human mind, but the true nature of which is. nevertheless, declared to be beyond the reach of thought, and which, on this ground, is defined as not possessing any of the qualities by which the human mind is able to comprehend intellectual or material entity. See Vedanta. Hindu Skct.s and Modern Popular Faith. Under this designation may be comprised the sects which arose during the last period of Hinduism and the beliefs which are common to the Hindus to-day. These believers suppose that their religion is countenanced l)y the Vedas; but its source in reality is to be found in the Puranas and Tatitras. They have in common a general sort of rctognition of the Hindu trinity or triad — ISrahma the creator. Vishnu the ])re- server, and Siva the destroyer — but in practice they are either Vishnuites or Sivites : fur Brah- ma is little more than an abstraction, and plays a very subordinate part to-day contrasted with his rivals. Sivaism may loosely be said to be more popular in the northeast and south of In- dia; Vishnuism rather in the northwest, but also in the south. The wives or female energies of these two gods also receive adoration. (See Vaisiinava.s: Saivas: Saktas.) Common to them all are certain acts of worship; the ofTcr- ing of votive gifts, adoration in the temples, and the porfurniance of special ceremonies, such as the fulfillment of vows by going on religious pilgrimages for the purpose of acquiring merit. The caste system also has a strongly religious bearing, although it tends to break down through association with Occidentals. (See C.STE.1 Be- side the great sects there are likewise some of limited extent and total insignificance, such as the worshipers of Agni. the god of fire; of Surya. the sun god ; of Ganesa. the god of wisdom and remover of obstacles. .Some of these latter sects were looked upon as partly unorthodox, partly heterodox, as early as the ninth and fourteenth centuries of our era. Regarding the sect of the Sikhs, which arose in the fifteenth century, ref- erence may be made to the special article on that topic. Reform movements in India have been familiar since the early days of Buddhism and Jainism, down through Sikhisni to the modem times. In the nineteenth century a special re- ligious agitation was .set on foot by Kammohun Koy (1774- 1833) (q.v.), which resulted in the establishment of the Brahmo-Somaj (q.v.), a sort of national church of the Hindus. The movement has extended widely throughout India, and, like the Arya-Somaj, it is eclectic in its ten- dencies, .seeking to combine the teachings of the Veda with the tenets of the Bible and the sacred books of other faiths. There are also in India some 17,000 believers in the Jewish religion, and allusion has been made above to the pres- ence of some 90.000 Parsis. who made their home in India more than a thousand years ago. These topics are treated under separate headings, and need only be referred to here. Chrlstiaxity in India. With reference to the spread of Christianity in Hindustan, as men- tioned above, it may be stated that India was one of the earliest fields of Christian missions. Tra- dition assigns it as the scene of the Apostle Thomas's labors and martyrdom. Whether this was the case or not. we find a Syrian church planted in Malabar in Southern India, which un- doubtedly had a verv early origin. The -Jesuit missionaries, from the middle of the sixteenth century onward, had a large success in India. (See Francis X.wier.) The earliest Protestant missionaries in India came from Holland and Denmark. With the latter mission the eminent Schwartz was connected. England's first mis- sionary effort was made by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Christian Knowledge Society, which commenced in the beginning of the eighteenth century, by aiding the Danish mission alread}" established in South- ern India. Subsequently, the East India Com- pany adopted the policy of excluding missionaries altogether from their territories ; but since the beginning of the last century, when these restric- tions were withdrawn, great activity has been manifested, in which all denominations are rep- resented. In the proclamation to the princes, chiefs, and people of India, read in the principal cities, on November 1, 18.58. it was declared "that none shall be in any wise favored, none molested or disquieted, by reason of their re- ligious faith and observanrps. but that all shall alike enjoy the ecpial and imjiartial protection of the law." The fullest toleration in matters of faith is the rule throughout British India. Fanaticism only, as when it sought to enforce the burning of widows or suttee (q.v.). or to offer himmn beings in sacrifice, is curbed by the ruling power. There is no exchisivelj' endowed State Church, but the Government continues to pay the State grants made to Hindu temples and to Mohammedan mosques. Clergymen of the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, and the Roman Catholic Church, are retained on the Government establishment as civil or military chaplains. There are Church of England bishops at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The number of Christians in India in 1901 was given in the census as 2.923,241. of whom the majority (1,202,109) were Roman Catholics. The mem- bers of the Church of England numbered 453,402, and the Syrian and kindred sects 722.403. The rest belonged to Protestant denominations.