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TWO OLD FAITHS
ESSAYS ON THE RELIGIONS OF THE HINDUS AND THE MOHAMMEDANS
BY
J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A., LL.D.
AND
SIR WILLIAM MUIR, LL.D., D.C.L.
NEW YORK CHAUTAUQUA PRESS C.L.S.C. Department, 150 Fifth Avenue 1891
The required books of the C.L.S.C. are recommended by a Council of
Six. It must, however, be understood that recommendation does not
involve an approval by the Council, or by any member of it, of
every principle or doctrine contained in the book recommended.
* * * * *
These essays have been selected from the admirable series of
_Present Day Tracts_, published by the Religious Tract Society,
London, and are reprinted with permission.
CONTENTS.
THE HINDU RELIGION. PAGE
Outline of the Essay 7
Introduction 9
The Vedas 12
Philosophy, and Ritualism 31
Reconstruction--Modern Hinduism 43
Contrast with Christianity 58
Hinduism in Contact with Christianity 68
THE RISE AND DECLINE OF ISLAM.
Outline of the Essay 83
Introduction 85
The Rapid Spread of Islam 87
Why the Spread of Islam was Stayed 125
Low Position of Islam in the Scale of Civilization 129
THE HINDU RELIGION.
OUTLINE OF THE ESSAY.
The place of Hinduism--which is professed by about a hundred and ninety
millions in India--among the religions of the world, and its great
antiquity, are pointed out.
The comparative simplicity of the system contained in the Vedas, the
oldest sacred books of the Hindus, its almost entire freedom from the
use of images, its gradual deterioration in the later hymns, its gradual
multiplication of gods, the advance of sacerdotalism, and the increasing
complexity of its religious rites are set forth.
The philosophical speculation that was carried on, the different
philosophical schools, the Buddhist reaction, its conflict with
Brahmanism, its final defeat, and its influence on the victorious system
are discussed.
The religious reconstruction represented by the Puranas, their
theological character, the modern ritual, the introduction and rise of
caste, and the treatment of women are then considered.
A contrast is drawn between the leading characteristics of Hinduism and
those of Christianity, and the effect of Christian ideas on modern
Hinduism is exhibited. The history of the Brahmo Somaj under Keshub
Chunder Sen is given at some length.
THE HINDU RELIGION.
INTRODUCTION.
[Sidenote: Hinduism deserving of study.
Its antiquity.]
The system of religious belief which is generally called Hinduism is, on
many accounts, eminently deserving of study. If we desire to trace the
history of the ancient religions of the widely extended Aryan or
Indo-European race, to which we ourselves belong, we shall find in the
earlier writings of the Hindus an exhibition of it decidedly more
archaic even than that which is presented in the Homeric poems. Then,
the growth--the historical development--of Hinduism is not less worthy
of attention than its earlier phases. It has endured for upward of three
thousand years, no doubt undergoing very important changes, yet in many
things retaining its original spirit. The progress of the system has not
been lawless; and it is exceedingly instructive to note the development,
and, if possible, explain it.
We are, then, to endeavor to study Hinduism chronologically. Unless he
does so almost every man who tries to comprehend it is, at first,
overwhelmed with a feeling of utter confusion and bewilderment. Hinduism
spreads out before him as a vast river, or even what seems at first
"a dark
Illimitable ocean, without bound,
Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height,
And time, and place are lost."
[Sidenote: The discussion chronological.]
But matters begin to clear up when he begins at the beginning, and notes
how one thing succeeded another. It may not be possible as yet to trace
all the windings of the stream or to show at what precise points in its
long course it was joined by such and such a tributary; yet much is
known regarding the mighty river which every intelligent man will find
it profitable to note and understand.
[Sidenote: The Christian's duty in relation to the subject.]
The Christian ought not to rest satisfied with the vague general idea
that Hinduism is a form of heathenism with which he has nothing to do,
save to help in destroying it. Let him try to realize the ideas of the
Hindu regarding God, and the soul, and sin, and salvation, and heaven,
and hell, and the many sore trials of this mortal life. He will then
certainly have a much more vivid perception of the divine origin and
transcendent importance of his own religion. Farther, he will then
extend a helping hand to his Eastern brother with far more of
sensibility and tenderness; and in proportion to the measure of his
loving sympathy will doubtless be the measure of his success. A yearning
heart will accomplish more than the most cogent argument.
[Sidenote: The purpose of the Tract.]
In this Tract we confine ourselves to the laying down of great leading
facts and principles; but these will be dwelt upon at sufficient length
to give the reader, we trust, an accurate conception of the general
character and history of Hinduism. We shall also briefly contrast the
system with Christianity.
The history of Hinduism may be divided into three great periods, each
embracing, in round numbers, about a thousand years.
I.
THE VEDAS.
[Sidenote: The most ancient writings of India.]
Regarding the earliest form of Hinduism we must draw our conceptions
from the Veda, or, to speak more accurately, the four Vedas. The most
important of these is the Rig Veda; and internal evidence proves it to
be the most ancient. It contains above a thousand hymns; the earliest of
which may date from about the year 1500 B.C. The Hindus, or, as they
call themselves, the Aryas, had by that time entered India, and were
dwelling in the north-western portion, the Panjab. The hymns, we may
say, are racy of the soil. There is no reference to the life led by the
people before they crossed the Himalaya Mountains or entered by some of
the passes of Afghanistan.
It would be very interesting if we could discover the pre-Vedic form of
the religion. Inferentially this may, to some extent, be done by
comparing the teachings of the Vedas with those contained in the books
of other branches of the great Aryan family--such as the Greeks, the
Romans, and, above all, the Iranians (ancient Persians).
The ancient Hindus were a highly gifted, energetic race; civilized to a
considerable extent; not nomadic; chiefly shepherds and herdsmen, but
also acquainted with agriculture. Commerce was not unknown; the river
Indus formed a highway to the Indian Ocean, and at least the Phenicians
availed themselves of it from perhaps the seventeenth century B.C., or
even earlier.
[Sidenote: The hymns are strongly religious.
They are a selection.
Pre-eminently sacerdotal.
Present the religious thought of the ancient Hindus.]
As soon as we begin to study the hymns of the Veda we are struck by
their strongly religious character. Tacitly assuming that the book
contains the whole of the early literature of India, many writers have
expressed themselves in strong terms regarding the primitive Hindus as
religious above all other races. But as we read on we become convinced
that these poems are a selection, rather than a collection, of the
literature; and the conviction grows that the selection has been made by
priestly hands for priestly purposes. An acute critic has affirmed that
the Vedic poems are "pre-eminently sacerdotal, and in no sense
popular."[1] We can thus explain a pervading characteristic of the book
which has taken most readers by surprise. There is a want of simplicity
in the Veda. It is often most elaborate, artificial, overrefined--one
might even say, affected. How could these be the thoughts, or those the
expressions, of the imperfectly civilized shepherds of the Panjab? But
if it be only a hymn-book, with its materials arranged for liturgical
purposes, the difficulty vanishes.[2] We shall accordingly take it for
granted that the Veda presents only the religious thought of the ancient
Hindus--and not the whole of the religious thought, but only that of a
very influential portion of the race. With all the qualifications now
stated, the Veda must retain a position of high importance for all who
study Indian thought and life. The religious stamp which the compilers
of the Veda impressed so widely and so deeply has not been obliterated
in the course of thirty centuries.
[Sidenote: Their religion is Nature-worship.]
The prevailing aspect of the religion presented in the Vedic hymns may
be broadly designated as Nature-worship.
[Sidenote: Physical phenomena in India.
Their effect on the religion.]
All physical phenomena in India are invested with a grandeur which they
do not possess in northern or even southern Europe. Sunlight, moonlight,
starlight, the clouds purpled with the beam of morning or flaming in the
west like fiery chariots of heaven; to behold these things in their full
magnificence one ought to see them in the East. Even so the sterner
phenomena of nature--whirlwind and tempest, lightning and thunder, flood
and storm-wave, plague, pestilence, and famine; all of these oftentimes
assume in the East a character of awful majesty before which man cowers
in helplessness and despair. The conceptions and feelings hence arising
have from the beginning powerfully affected the religion of the Hindus.
Every-where we can trace the impress of the grander manifestations of
nature--the impress of their beneficence, their beauty, their might,
their mystery, or their terribleness.
[Sidenote: The deities are "the bright ones," according to the language
of the sacred books of India.]
The Sanskrit word for god is _deva_, which means _bright, shining_. Of
physical phenomena it was especially those connected with light that
enkindled feelings of reverence. The black thunder-cloud that enshrouded
nature, in which the demon had bound the life-giving waters, passed
away; for the glittering thunder-bolt was launched, and the streams
rushed down, exulting in their freedom; and then the heaven shone out
again, pure and peaceful as before. But such a wonder as the dawn--with
far-streaming radiance, returning from the land of mystery, fresh in
eternal youth, and scattering the terrors of the night before her--who
could sufficiently admire? And let it be remembered that in the Hindu
mind the interval between admiration and adoration is exceedingly small.
Yet, while it is the dawn which has evoked the truest poetry, she has
not retained the highest place in worship.
[Sidenote: Fire much worshiped.]
No divinity has fuller worship paid him than Agni, the Fire (_Ignis_).
More hymns are dedicated to him than to any other being. Astonishment at
the properties of fire; a sense of his condescension in that he, a
mighty god, resides in their dwellings; his importance as the messenger
between heaven and earth, bearing the offerings aloft; his kindness at
night in repelling the darkness and the demons which it hides--all these
things raised Agni to an exalted place. He is fed with pure clarified
butter, and so rises heavenward in his brightness. The physical
conception of fire, however, adheres to him, and he never quite ceases
to be the earthly flame; yet mystical conceptions thickly gather round
this root-idea; he is fire pervading all nature; and he often becomes
supreme, a god of gods.
[Sidenote: Soma highly exalted.
Soma becomes a very mighty god.]
All this seems natural enough; but one is hardly prepared for the high
exaltation to which Soma is raised. Soma is properly the juice of a
milky plant (_asclepias acida_, or _sarcostemma viminale_), which, when
fermented, is intoxicating. The simple-minded Aryas were both astonished
and delighted at its effects; they liked it themselves; and they knew
nothing more precious to present to their gods. Accordingly, all of
these rejoice in it. Indra in particular quaffs it "like a thirsty
stag;" and under its exhilarating effects he strides victoriously to
battle. Soma itself becomes a god, and a very mighty one; he is even the
creator and father of the gods;[3] the king of gods and men;[4] all
creatures are in his hand. It is surely extraordinary that the Aryas
could apply such hyperbolical laudations to the liquor which they had
made to trickle into the vat, and which they knew to be the juice of a
plant they had cut down on the mountains and pounded in a mortar; and
that intoxication should be confounded with inspiration. Yet of such
aberrations we know the human mind is perfectly capable.
[Sidenote: Connection with Persian, Greek, and Roman systems.
Varuna, the god of heaven.
The sublimity of the Vedic description of him.]
We have first referred to Agni and Soma, as being the only divinities of
highest rank which still retain their physical character. The worship
paid to them was of great antiquity; for it is also prescribed in the
Persian Avesta, and must have been common to the Indo-Iranian branch of
the Aryan race before the Hindus entered India. But we can inferentially
go still further back and speak of a deity common to the Greeks, Romans,
Persians, and Hindus. This deity is Varuna, the most remarkable
personality in the Veda. The name, which is etymologically connected
with [Greek: Ouranos], signifies "the encompasser," and is applied to
heaven--especially the all-encompassing, extreme vault of heaven--not
the nearer sky, which is the region of cloud and storm. It is in
describing Varuna that the Veda rises to the greatest sublimity which it
ever reaches. A mysterious presence, a mysterious power, a mysterious
knowledge amounting almost to omniscience, are ascribed to Varuna. The
winkings of men's eyes are numbered by him. He upholds order, both
physical and moral, throughout the universe.
[Sidenote: Contrast with the laudations of Agni and Soma.
The loftier conceptions of divinity the earlier.]
The winds are his breath, the sun his eye, the sky his garment. He
rewards the good and punishes the wicked. Yet to the truly penitent he
is merciful. It is absolutely confounding to pass from a hymn that
celebrates the serene majesty and awful purity of Varuna to one filled
with measureless laudations of Soma or Agni. Could conceptions of
divinity so incongruous co-exist? That they could not spring up in the
same mind, or even in the same age, is abundantly manifest. And, as we
have mentioned, the loftier conceptions of divinity are unquestionably
the earlier. It is vain to speak, as certain writers do, of religion
gradually refining itself, as a muddy stream can run itself pure;
Hinduism resembles the Ganges, which, when it breaks forth from its
mountain cradle at Hardwar, is comparatively pellucid, but, as it rolls
on, becomes more and more muddy, discolored, and unclean.[5]
[Sidenote: Indra.
His achievements.]
Various scholars affirm that Varuna, in more ancient pre-Vedic times,
held a position still higher than the very high one which he still
retains. This is probable; indeed, it is certain that, before later
divinities had intruded, he held a place of unrivaled majesty. But, in
the Vedas, Indra is a more conspicuous figure. He corresponds to the
Jupiter Pluvius of the Romans. In north-western India, after the burning
heat, the annual return of the rains was hailed with unspeakable joy; it
was like life succeeding death. The clouds that floated up from the
ocean were at first thin and light; ah! a hostile demon was in them,
carrying off the healing waters and not permitting them to fall; but the
thunder-bolt of Indra flashed; the demon was driven away howling, and
the emancipated streams refreshed the thirsty earth. Varuna was not
indeed dethroned, but he was obscured, by the achievements of the
warlike Indra; and the supersensuous, moral conceptions that were
connected with the former gradually faded from the minds of the people,
and Varuna erelong became quite a subordinate figure in the Pantheon.
[Sidenote: Number and relations of deities uncertain.]
The deities are generally said in the Veda to be "thrice eleven" in
number. We also hear of three thousand three hundred and thirty-nine.
There is no _system_, no fixed order in the hierarchy; a deity who in
one hymn is quite subordinate becomes in another supreme; almost every
god becomes supreme in turn; in one hymn he is the son of some deity and
in another that deity's father, and so (if logic ruled) his own
grandfather. Every poet exalts his favorite god, till the mind becomes
utterly bewildered in tracing the relationships.
We have already spoken of Agni, Varuna, and Indra, as well as Soma. Next
to these in importance may come the deities of light, namely, the sun,
the dawn, and the two Asvina or beams that accompany the dawn. The winds
come next. The earth is a goddess. The waters are goddesses. It is
remarkable that the stars are very little mentioned; and the moon holds
no distinguished place.
[Sidenote: Hardly any fetichism in the Rig Veda.]
In the religion of the Rig Veda we hardly see fetichism--if by fetichism
we mean the worship of small physical objects, such as stones, shells,
plants, etc., which are believed to be charged (so to speak) with
divinity, though this appears in the fourth Veda--the Atharva. But even
in the Rig Veda almost any object that is grand, beneficent, or terrible
may be adored; and implements associated with worship are themselves
worshiped. Thus, the war-chariot, the plow, the furrow, etc., are
prayed to.
[Sidenote: Early tendency toward pantheism.]
A pantheistic conception of nature was also present in the Indian mind
from very early times, although its development was later. Even in the
earliest hymns any portion of nature with which man is brought into
close relation may be adored.[6]
[Sidenote: Reverence of the dead.]
We must on no account overlook the reverence paid to the dead. The
_pitris_ (_patres_) or fathers are frequently referred to in the Veda.
They are clearly distinguished from the _devas_ or gods. In later
writings they are also distinguished from men, as having been created
separately from them; but this idea does not appear in the Veda. Yama,
the first mortal, traveled the road by which none returns, and now
drinks the Soma in the innermost of heaven, surrounded by the other
fathers. These come also, along with the gods, to the banquets prepared
for them on earth, and, sitting on the sacred grass, rejoice in the
exhilarating draught.
[Sidenote: The subjects of the hymns of the Rig Veda.]
The hymns of the Rig Veda celebrate the power, exploits, or generosity
of the deity invoked, and sometimes his personal beauty. The praises
lavished on the god not only secured his favor but increased his power
to help the worshiper.
[Sidenote: The holiest prayer.]
There is one prayer (so called) which is esteemed pre-eminently holy;
generally called--from the meter in which it is composed--the
Gayatri.[7] It may be rendered thus:
"Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the Divine Son (or
Vivifier); may he enlighten our understandings!"
It has always been frequently repeated in important rites.
[Sidenote: Atharva Veda.
Inferior morally and spiritually to the Rig Veda.
Explanation of deterioration.]
So far we have referred almost exclusively to the Rig Veda. The next in
importance is the Atharva, sometimes termed the Brahma Veda; which we
may render the Veda of incantations. It contains six hundred and seventy
hymns. Of these a few are equal to those in the Rig Veda; but, as a
whole, the Atharva is far inferior to the other in a moral and spiritual
point of view. It abounds in imprecations, charms for the destruction of
enemies, and so forth. Talismans, plants, or gems are invoked, as
possessed of irresistible might to kill or heal. The deities are often
different from those of the Rig Veda. The Atharva manifests a great
dread of malignant beings, whose wrath it deprecates. We have thus
simple demon-worship. How is this great falling-off to be explained? In
one of two ways. Either a considerable time intervened between the
composition of the two books, during which the original faith had
rapidly degenerated, probably through contact with aboriginal races who
worshiped dark and sanguinary deities; or else there had existed from
the beginning two forms of the religion--the higher of which is embodied
in the hymns of the Rig Veda, and the lower in the Atharva. We believe
the latter explanation to be correct, although doubtless the
superstitions of the aborigines must all along have exerted an influence
on the faith of the invaders.
[Sidenote: The offerings.]
The offerings presented to the gods consisted chiefly of clarified
butter, curdled milk, rice-cakes, and fermented Soma juice, which was
generally mixed with water or milk. All was thrown into the fire, which
bore them or their essences to the gods. The Soma was also sprinkled on
the sacred grass, which was strewn on the floor, and on which the gods
and fathers were invited to come and seat themselves that they might
enjoy the cheering beverage. The remainder was drunk by the officiating
priests. The offerings were understood to nourish and gratify the gods
as corporeal beings.
[Sidenote: Animal victims.]
Animal victims are also offered up. We hear of sheep, goats, bulls,
cows, and buffaloes being sacrificed, and sometimes in large numbers.
But the great offering was the Asvamedha, or sacrifice of the horse. The
body of the horse was hacked to pieces; the fragments were dressed--part
was boiled, part roasted; some of the flesh was then eaten by the
persons present, and the rest was offered to the gods. Tremendous was
the potency--at least as stated in later times--of a hundred such
sacrifices; it rendered the offerer equal or superior to the gods; even
the mighty Indra trembled for his sovereignty and strove to hinder the
consummation of the awful rite.
[Sidenote: Human sacrifice.]
Human sacrifice was not unknown, though there are very few allusions to
it in the earlier hymns.
[Sidenote: Sacrifice deemed of very high importance.]
Even from the first, however, the rite of sacrifice occupies a very high
place, and allusions to it are exceedingly frequent. The observances
connected with it are said to be the "first religious rites." Sacrifice
was early believed to be expiatory; it removed sin. It was
substitutionary; the victim stood in place of the offerer. All order in
the universe depends upon it; it is "the nave of the world-wheel."
Sometimes Vishnu is said to be the sacrifice; sometimes even the Supreme
Being himself is so. Elaborated ideas and a complex ritual, which we
could have expected to grow up only in the course of ages, appear from
very early times. We seem compelled to draw the inference that sacrifice
formed an essential and very important part of the pre-Vedic faith.[8]
In the Veda worship is a kind of barter. In exchange for praises and
offerings the deity is asked to bestow favors. Temporal blessings are
implored, such as food, wealth, life, children, cows, horses, success in
battle, the destruction of enemies, and so forth. Not much is said
regarding sin and the need of forgiveness. A distinguished scholar[9]
has said that "the religious notion of sin is wanting altogether;" but
this affirmation is decidedly too sweeping.
[Sidenote: No image-worship.
No public worship.]
The worship exemplified in the Veda is not image-worship. Images of the
fire, or the winds, or the waters could hardly be required, and while
the original nature-worship lasted, idols must have been nearly unknown.
Yet the description of various deities is so precise and full that it
seems to be probably drawn from visible representations of them. Worship
was personal and domestic, not in any way public. Indeed, two men
praying at the same time had to pray quite apart, so that neither might
disturb the other. Each dealt with heaven, so to speak, solely on his
own behalf.
[Sidenote: No temples.]
We hear of no places set apart as temples in Vedic times.
[Sidenote: The treatises on ritual.]
A Veda consists of two parts called _Mantra_ or _Sanhita_, and
_Brahmana_. The first is composed of hymns. The second is a statement of
ritual, and is generally in prose. The existing Brahmanas are several
centuries later than the great body of the hymns, and were probably
composed when the Hindus had crossed the Indus, and were advancing along
the Gangetic valley. The oldest may be about the date of 800 or 700 B.C.
[Sidenote: Growth of priestly power.
Schools for the study of sacred books, rites, and
traditions.]
The Brahmanas are very poor, both in thought and expression. They have
hardly their match in any literature for "pedantry and downright
absurdity."[10] Poetical feeling and even religious feeling seem gone;
all is dead and dry as dust. By this time the Sanskrit language had
ceased to be generally understood. The original texts could hardly
receive accessions; the most learned man could do little more than
interpret, or perhaps misinterpret, them. The worshiper looked on; he
worshiped now by proxy. Thus the priest had risen greatly in importance.
He alone knew the sacred verses and the sacred rites. An error in the
pronunciation of the mystic text might bring destruction on the
worshiper; what could he do but lean upon the priest? The latter could
say the prayers if he could not pray. All this worked powerfully for the
elevation of the Brahmans, the "men of prayer;" they steadily grew into
a class, a caste; and into this no one could enter who was not of
priestly descent. Schools were now found necessary for the study of the
sacred books, rites, and traditions. The importance which these attach
to theology--doctrine--is very small; the externals of religion are all
in all. The rites, in fact, now threw the very gods into the shade;
every thing depended on their due performance. And thus the Hindu ritual
gradually grew up into a stupendous system, the most elaborate, complex,
and burdensome which the earth has seen.
[Sidenote: Moral character of the Veda.]
It is time, however, to give a brief estimate of the moral character of
the Veda. The first thing that strikes us is its inconsistency. Some
hymns--especially those addressed to Varuna--rise as high as Gentile
conceptions regarding deity ever rose; others--even in the Rig
Veda--sink miserably low; and in the Atharva we find, "even in the
lowest depth, a lower still."
[Sidenote: Indra supersedes Varuna.]
The character of Indra--who has displaced or overshadowed
Varuna[11]--has no high attributes. He is "voracious;" his "inebriety is
most intense;" he "dances with delight in battle." His worshipers supply
him abundantly with the drink he loves; and he supports them against
their foes, ninety and more of whose cities he has destroyed. We do not
know that these foes, the Dasyus, were morally worse than the intrusive
Aryas, but the feelings of the latter toward the former were of
unexampled ferocity. Here is one passage out of multitudes similar:
"Hurl thy hottest thunder-bolt upon them! Uproot them! Cleave them
asunder! O, Indra, overpower, subdue, slay the demon! Pluck him up!
Cut him through the middle! Crush his head!"
[Sidenote: Deterioration begins early.]
Indra, if provided with Soma, is always indulgent to his votaries; he
supports them _per fas et nefas_. Varuna, on the other hand, is grave,
just, and to wicked men severe.[12] The supersession of Varuna by Indra,
then, is easily understood. We see the principle on which it rests
stated in the Old Testament. "Ye cannot serve the Lord," said Joshua to
the elders of Israel; "for he is a holy God." Even so Jeremiah points
sorrowfully to the fact that the pagan nations clung to their false
gods, while Israel was faithless to the true. As St. Paul expresses it,
"they did not like to retain God in their knowledge." Unless this
principle is fully taken into account we cannot understand the
historical development of Hinduism.
[Sidenote: Varuna the only divinity possessed of pure and elevated
attributes.]
The Veda frequently ascribes to the gods, to use the language of Max
Müller, "sentiments and passions unworthy of deity." In truth, except in
the case of Varuna, there is not one divinity that is possessed of pure
and elevated attributes.
II.
PHILOSOPHY, AND RITUALISM.
[Sidenote: Speculation begins.
Rise of asceticism.
Upanishads.
They are pantheistic.]
During the Vedic period--certainly toward its conclusion--a tendency to
speculation had begun to appear. Probably it had all along existed in
the Hindu mind, but had remained latent during the stirring period when
the people were engaged in incessant wars. Climate, also, must have
affected the temperament of the race; and, as the Hindus steadily
pressed down the valley of the Ganges into warmer regions, their love of
repose and contemplative quietism would continually deepen. And when the
Brahmans became a fully developed hierarchy, lavishly endowed, with no
employment except the performance of religious ceremonies, their minds
could avoid stagnation only by having recourse to speculative thought.
Again, asceticism has a deep root in human nature; earnest souls,
conscious of their own weakness, will fly from the temptations of the
world. Various causes thus led numbers of men to seek a life of
seclusion; they dwelt chiefly in forests, and there they revolved the
everlasting problems of existence, creation, the soul, and God. The
lively Greeks, for whom, with all their high intellectual endowments, a
happy sensuous existence was nearly all in all, were amazed at the
numbers in northern India who appeared weary of the world and
indifferent to life itself. By and for these recluses were gradually
composed the Aranyakas, or forest treatises; and out of these grew a
series of more regular works, called Upanishads.[13] At least two
hundred and fifty of these are known to exist. They have been called
"guesses at truth;" they are more so than formal solutions of great
questions. Many of them are unintelligible rhapsodies; others rise
almost to sublimity. They frequently contradict each other; the same
writer sometimes contradicts himself. One prevailing characteristic is
all-important; their doctrine is pantheism. The pantheism is sometimes
not so much a coldly reasoned system as an aspiration, a yearning, a
deep-felt need of something better than the mob of gods who came in the
train of Indra, and the darker deities who were still crowding in. Even
in spite of the counteracting power of the Gospel mysticism has run
easily into pantheism in Europe, and orthodox Christians sometimes slide
unconsciously into it, or at least into its language.[14] But, as has
been already noted, a strain of pantheism existed in the Hindu mind from
early times.
Accordingly, these hermit sages, these mystic dreamers, soon came to
identify the human soul with God. And the chief end of man was to seek
that the stream derived from God should return to its source, and,
ceasing to wander through the wilderness of this world, should find
repose in the bosom of the illimitable deep, the One, the All. The
Brahmans attached the Upanishads to the Veda proper, and they soon came
to be regarded as its most sacred part. In this way the influence these
treatises have exercised has been immense; more than any other portion
of the earlier Hindu writings they have molded the thoughts of
succeeding generations. Philosophy had thus begun.
[Sidenote: Six philosophic schools.]
The speculations of which we see the commencement and progress in the
Upanishads were finally developed and classified in a series of writings
called the six Sastras or _darsanas_. These constitute the regular
official philosophy of India. They are without much difficulty reducible
to three leading schools of thought--the Nyaya, the Sankhya, and the
Vedanta.
Roundly, and speaking generally, we may characterize these systems as
theistic, atheistic, and pantheistic respectively.
[Sidenote: The Nyaya.]
It is doubtful, however, whether the earlier form of the Nyaya was
theistic or not. The later form is so, but it says nothing of the moral
attributes of God, nor of his government. The chief end of man,
according to the Nyaya, is deliverance from pain; and this is to be
attained by cessation from all action, whether good or bad.
[Sidenote: The Sankhya.]
The Sankhya declares matter to be self-existent and eternal. Soul is
distinct from matter, and also eternal. When it attains true knowledge
it is liberated from matter and from pain. The Sankhya holds the
existence of God to be without proof.
[Sidenote: The Vedanta.]
But the leading philosophy of India is unquestionably the Vedanta. The
name means "the end or scope of the Veda;" and if the Upanishads were
the Veda, instead of treatises tacked on to it, the name would be
correct; for the Vedanta, like the Upanishads, inculcates pantheism.
The form which this philosophy ultimately assumed is well represented in
the treatise called the Vedanta Sara, or essence of the Vedanta. A few
extracts will suffice to exhibit its character. "The unity of the soul
and God--this is the scope of all Vedanta treatises." We have frequent
references made to the "great saying," _Tat twam_--that is, That art
thou, or Thou art God; and _Aham Brahma_, that is, I am God. Again it is
said, "The whole universe is God." God is "existence (or more exactly an
existent thing[15]), knowledge, and joy." Knowledge, not a knower; joy,
not one who rejoices.
[Sidenote: It teaches absolute idealism.]
Every thing else has only a seeming existence, which is in consequence
of ignorance (or illusion). Ignorance makes the soul think itself
different from God; and it also "projects" the appearance of an external
world.
"He who knows God becomes God." "When He, the first and last, is
discerned, one's own acts are annihilated."
Meditation, without distinction of subject and object, is the highest
form of thought. It is a high attainment to say, "I am God;" but the
consummation is when thought exists without an object.
There are four states of the soul--waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep,
and the "fourth state," or pure intelligence. The working-man is in
dense ignorance; in sleep he is freed from part of this ignorance; in
dreamless sleep he is freed from still more; but the consummation is
when he attains something beyond this, which it seems cannot be
explained, and is therefore called the fourth state.
[Sidenote: Doctrine of "the Self."
Inconsistent statements.]
The name, which in later writings is most frequently given to the "one
without a second,"[16] is Atman, which properly means self. Much is said
of the way in which the self in each man is to recover, or discover, its
unity with the supreme or real self. For as the one sun shining in the
heavens is reflected, often in distorted images, in multitudes of
vessels filled with water, so the one self is present in all human
minds.[17] There is not--perhaps there could not be--consistency in the
statements of the relation of the seeming to the real. In most of the
older books a practical or conventional existence is admitted of the
self in each man, but not a real existence. But when the conception is
fully formulated the finite world is not admitted to exist save as a
mere illusion. All phenomena are a play--a play without plot or purpose,
which the absolute plays with itself.[18] This is surely transcendent
transcendentalism. One regrets that speculation did not take one step
more, and declare that the illusion was itself illusory. Then we should
have gone round the circle, and returned to _sensus communis_. We must
be pardoned if we seem to speak disrespectfully of such fantastic
speculations; we desire rather to speak regretfully of the many
generations of men which successively occupied themselves with such
unprofitable dreams; for this kind of thought is traceable even from
Vedic days. It is more fully developed in the Upanishads. In them occurs
the classical sentence so frequently quoted in later literature, which
declares that the absolute being is the "one [thing] without a
second."[19]
[Sidenote: The Gita.]
The book which perhaps above all others has molded the mind of India in
more recent days is the Bhagavad Gita, or Song of the Holy One. It is
written in stately and harmonious verse, and has achieved the same task
for Indian philosophy as Lucretius did for ancient Epicureanism.[20] It
is eclectic, and succeeds, in a sort of way, in forcing the leading
systems of Indian thought into seeming harmony.
[Sidenote: Intellectual pride.]
Some have thought they could discern in these daring speculations
indications of souls groping after God, and saddened because of the
difficulty of finding him. Were it so, all our sympathies would at once
be called forth. But no; we see in these writings far more of
intellectual pride than of spiritual sadness. Those ancient dreamers
never learned their own ignorance. They scarcely recognized the
limitations of the human mind. And when reason could take them no
farther they supplemented it by dreams and ecstasy until, in the Yoga
philosophy, they rushed into systematized mysticisms and magic far more
extravagant than the wildest _theurgy_ of the degraded Neoplatonism of
the Roman Empire.
A learned writer thus expresses himself:
"The only one of the six schools that seem to recognize the
doctrine of divine providence is the Yoga. It thus seems that the
consistent followers of these systems can have, in their perfected
state, no religion, no action, and no moral character."[21]
[Sidenote: Indian philosophy a sad failure.]
And now to take a brief review of the whole subject. The Hindu sages
were men of acute and patient thought; but their attempt to solve the
problem of the divine and human natures, of human destiny and duty, has
ended in total failure. Each system baseless, and all mutually
conflicting; systems cold and cheerless, that frown on love and virtuous
exertion, and speak of annihilation or its equivalent, absorption, as
our highest hope: such is the poor result of infinite speculation. "The
world by wisdom knew not God." O, that India would learn the much-needed
lesson of humility which the experience of ages ought to teach her!
[Sidenote: Sacerdotalism.
The tyranny of sacerdotalism.]
While speculation was thus busy Sacerdotalism was also continually
extending its influence. The Brahman, the man of prayer, had made
himself indispensable in all sacred rites. He alone--as we have
seen--knew the holy text; he alone could rightly pronounce the words of
awful mystery and power on which depended all weal or woe. On all
religions occasions the priest must be called in, and, on all occasions,
implicitly obeyed. For a considerable time the princes straggled against
the encroachments of the priests; but in the end they were completely
vanquished. Never was sacerdotal tyranny more absolute; the proudest
pope in mediæval times never lorded it over Western Christendom with
such unrelenting rigor as the Brahmans exercised over both princes and
people. The feeling of the priests is expressed in a well-known stanza:
"All the world is subject to the gods; the gods are subject to the
holy texts; the holy texts are subject to the Brahman; therefore
the Brahman is my god."
Yes, the sacred man could breathe the spell which made earth and hell
and heaven itself to tremble. He therefore logically called himself an
earthly god. Indeed, the Brahman is always logical. He draws conclusions
from premises with iron rigor of reasoning; and with side-issues he has
nothing to do. He stands upon his rights. Woe to the being--god or
man--who comes in conflict with him!
[Sidenote: Ritual becomes extravagant.]
The priests naturally multiplied religious ceremonies, and made ritual
the soul of worship. Sacrifice especially assumed still more and more
exaggerated forms--becoming more protracted, more expensive, more
bloody. A hecatomb of victims was but a small offering. More and more
awful powers were ascribed to the rite.
[Sidenote: Reaction.]
But the tension was too great, and the bow snapped. Buddhism arose. We
may call this remarkable system the product of the age--an inevitable
rebellion against intolerable sacerdotalism; and yet we must not
overlook the importance of the very distinct and lofty personality of
Buddha (Sakya Muni) as a power molding it into shape.
[Sidenote: Buddhism.
Moral elements of this system.
Conflict with Brahmanism.
Victory of Brahmanism.]
Wherever it extended it effected a vast revolution in Indian thought.
Thus in regard to the institution of caste, Buddha did not attack it; he
did not, it would appear, even formally renounce it; as a mere social
institution he seems to have acknowledged it; but then he held that all
the _religious_ were freed from its restrictions. "My law," said he, "is
a law of mercy for all;" and forthwith he proceeded to admit men of
every caste into the closest fellowship with himself and his followers.
Then, he preached--he, though not a Brahman--in the vernacular
languages--an immense innovation, which made his teachings popular. He
put in the forefront of his system certain great fundamental principles
of morality. He made religion consist in duty, not rites. He reduced
duty mainly to mercy or kindness toward all living beings--a marvelous
generalization. This set aside all slaughter of animals. The mind of the
princes and people was weary of priestcraft and ritualism; and the
teaching of the great reformer was most timely. Accordingly his doctrine
spread with great rapidity, and for a long time it seemed likely to
prevail over Brahmanism. But various causes gradually combined against
it. Partly, it was overwhelmed by its own luxuriance of growth; partly,
Brahmanism, which had all along maintained an intellectual superiority,
adopted, either from conviction or policy, most of the principles of
Buddhism, and skillfully supplied some of its main deficiencies. Thus
the Brahmans retained their position; and, at least nominally, their
religion won the day.
III.
RECONSTRUCTION--MODERN HINDUISM.
[Sidenote: Revival, in an altered form, of Hinduism.
Only the position of the Brahman and the restrictions of
caste retained.]
But the Hinduism that grew up, as Buddhism faded from Indian soil, was
widely different from the system with which early Buddhism had
contended. Hinduism, as it has been developed during the last thousand
or twelve hundred years, resembles a stupendous far-extended building,
or series of buildings, which is still receiving additions, while
portions have crumbled and are crumbling into ruin. Every conceivable
style of architecture, from that of the stately palace to the meanest
hut, is comprehended in it. On a portion of the structure here or there
the eye may rest with pleasure; but as a whole it is an unsightly,
almost monstrous, pile. Or, dismissing figures, we must describe it as
the most extraordinary creation which the world has seen. A jumble of
all things; polytheistic pantheism; much of Buddhism; something
apparently of Christianity, but terribly disfigured; a science wholly
outrageous; shreds of history twisted into wild mythology; the bold
poetry of the older books understood as literal prose; any local deity,
any demon of the aborigines, however hideous, identified with some
accredited Hindu divinity; any custom, however repugnant to common sense
or common decency, accepted and explained--in a word, later Hinduism has
been omnivorous; it has partially absorbed and assimilated every system
of belief, every form of worship, with which it has come in contact.
Only to one or two things has it remained inflexibly true. It has
steadily upheld the proudest pretensions of the Brahman; and it has
never relaxed the sternest restrictions of caste. We cannot wonder at
the severe judgment pronounced on Hinduism by nearly every Western
author. According to Macaulay, "all is hideous and grotesque and
ignoble;" and the calmer De Tocqueville maintains that "Hinduism is
perhaps the only system of belief that is worse than having no religion
at all."[22]
When a modern Hindu is asked what are the sacred books of his religion
he generally answers: "The Vedas, the Sastras (that is, philosophical
systems), and the Puranas." Some authorities add the Tantras.
The modern form of Hinduism is exhibited chiefly in the eighteen
Puranas, and an equal number of Upapuranas (minor Puranas).[23]
[Sidenote: The Puranas.]
When we compare the religion embodied in the Puranas with that of Vedic
times we are startled at the magnitude of the change. The Pantheon is
largely new; old deities have been superseded; other deities have taken
their place. There has been both accretion from without and evolution
from within. The thirty-three gods of the Vedas have been fantastically
raised to three hundred and thirty millions. Siva, Durga, Rama, Krishna,
Kali--unknown in ancient days--are now mighty divinities; Indra is
almost entirely overlooked, and Varuna has been degraded from his lofty
throne and turned into a regent of the waters.
[Sidenote: New deities, rites, and customs.]
The worship of the Linga (phallus) has been introduced. So has the great
dogma of Transmigration, which has stamped a deeper impress on later
Hindu mind than almost any other doctrine. Caste is fully established,
though in Vedic days scarcely, if at all, recognized. The dreadful
practice of widow-burning has been brought in, and this by a most
daring perversion of the Vedic texts. Woman, in fact, has fallen far
below the position assigned her in early days.
[Sidenote: The Trimurtti, a triad of gods.]
One of the notable things in connection with the reconstruction of
Hinduism is the position it gives to the Trimurtti, or triad of
gods--Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Something like an anticipation of this
has been presented in the later Vedic times: fire, air, and the sun
(Agni, Vayu, and Surya) being regarded by the commentator[24] as summing
up the divine energies. But in the Vedas the deities often go in pairs;
and little stress should be laid on the idea of a Vedic triad. That
idea, however, came prominently forward in later days. The worship both
of Vishnu and Siva may have existed, from ancient times, as popular
rites not acknowledged by the Brahmans; but both of these deities were
now fully recognized. The god Brahma was an invention of the Brahmans;
he was no real divinity of the people, and had hardly ever been actually
worshiped. It is visual to designate Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva as
Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer respectively; but the generalization
is by no means well maintained in the Hindu books.
[Sidenote: The Avatara.]
The Puranas are in general violently sectarian; some being Vishnuite,
others Sivite. It is in connection with Vishnu, especially, that the
idea of incarnation becomes prominent. The Hindu term is _Avatara_,
literally, _descent_; the deity is represented as descending from heaven
to earth, for vindication of the truth and righteousness, or, to use the
words ascribed to Krishna,
For the preservation of the good, and the destruction of the wicked,
For the establishment of religion, I am born from age to age.