The religious systems of India, like its flora, display luxuriant
variety and confusion. Hinduism is only another banyan-tree whose
branches have become trunks, and whose trunks have produced new
branches, until the whole has become an intellectual and moral jungle of
vast extent. The original stock was a monotheistic nature worship, which
the Hindu ancestors held in common with other branches of the Aryan
family when dwelling together on the high table-lands of Central Asia,
or, as some are now claiming, in Eastern Russia. Wherever may have been
that historic "cradle" in which the infancy of our race was passed, it
seems certain from similarities of language, that this Aryan family once
dwelt together, and had a common worship, and called the supreme deity
by a common name. It was a worship of the sky, and at length of various
powers of nature, _Surya_, the sun: _Agni_, fire: _Indra_, rain, etc. It
is maintained by many authors, in India as well as in Europe, that these
designations were only applied as names of one and the same potential
deity. This is the ground held by the various branches of the modern
Somaj of India. Yet we must not suppose that the monotheism of the
early Aryans was all that we understand by that term; it is enough that
the power addressed was _one_ and personal. Even henotheism, the last
name which Professor Max Müller applies to the early Aryan faith,
denotes oneness in this sense. The process of differentiation and
corruption advanced more rapidly among the Indo-Aryans than in the
Iranian branch of the same race, and in all lands changes were wrought
to some extent by differences of climate and by environment.[34] The
Norsemen, for example, struggling with the wilder and sterner forces of
storm and wintry tempest, would naturally differ in custom, and finally
in faith, from the gentle Hindu under his Indian sky; yet there were
common elements traceable in the earliest traditions of these races, and
the fact that religions are not wholly dependent upon local conditions
is shown by both Christianity and Buddhism, which have flourished most
conspicuously and permanently in lands where they were not indigenous.
"In the Vedas," says Sir Monier Williams, "unity in the conception of
deity soon diverged into various ramifications. Only a few of the hymns
appear to contain the simple conception of one divine, self-existent,
omnipresent Being, and even in these, the idea of one God, present in
all nature, is somewhat nebulous and undefined." One of the earliest
deifications that we can trace was that of _Varuna_, who represented the
overhanging sky. The hymns addressed to Varuna are not only the
earliest, but they are the loftiest and most spiritual in their
aspirations. They find in him an element of holiness before which sin is
an offence; and in some vague sense he is the father of all things, like
the Zeus whom Paul recognized in the poetry of Greece.
But, as already stated, this vague conception of God as one, was already
in a transition toward separate impressions of the different powers of
nature. If the idea of God was without any very clear personality and
more or less obscure, it is not strange that it should come to be thus
specialized as men thought of objects having a manifestly benign
influence--as the life-quickening sun or the reviving rain. It is not
strange that, without a knowledge of the true God, they should have been
filled with awe when gazing upon the dark vault of night, and should
have rendered adoration to the moon and her countless retinue of stars.
If there must be idolatry, let it be that sublime nature worship of the
early Aryans, though even that was sure to degenerate into baser forms.
One might suppose that the worship of the heavenly bodies would remain
the purest and noblest; and yet the sun-worship of the Assyrians and the
Phoenicians became unspeakably vile in its sensuousness, and finally the
most wicked and abominable of all heathen systems. India in her darkest
days never sank so low, and when her degradation came it was through
other conceptions than those of nature worship.
In the early Vedic hymns are to be found many sublime passages which
seem to suggest traces of those common traditions concerning the
creation--the Fall of man and the Deluge, which we believe to have been
the earliest religious heritage of mankind. They contrast strongly with
the later and degrading cosmogonies of degenerate heathen systems, and
especially with the grotesque fancies of the subsequent Hindu mythology.
In the Xth Mandala of the Rig Veda we find the following account of
primeval chaos, which reminds one of the Mosaic Genesis:
"In the beginning there was neither aught nor naught,
There was neither sky nor atmosphere above.
What then enshrouded all the teeming universe?
In the receptacle of what was it contained?
Was it enveloped in the gulph profound of water?
There was then neither death nor immortality.
There was then neither day nor night, nor light nor darkness.
Only the _Existing One_ breathed calmly self-contained,
Naught else but him there was, naught else above, beyond;
Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom,
Next all was water, chaos indiscreet
In which the _One_ lay void, shrouded in nothingness,
Then turning inward by self-developed force
Of inner fervor and intense abstraction grew."
In the early Vedic period many of the corruptions of later times were
unknown. There was no distinct doctrine of caste, no transmigration, no
mist of pantheism, no idol-worship, no widow-burning, and no authorized
infanticide. The abominable tyranny which was subsequently imposed upon
woman was unknown; the low superstitions of the aboriginal tribes had
not been adopted; nor, on the other hand, had philosophy and
speculation taken possession of the Hindu mind. The doctrine of the
Trimurti and the incarnations had not appeared.[35]
The faith of the Hindus in that early period may be called _Aryanism_,
or _Vedism_. It bore sway from the Aryan migration, somewhere about one
thousand five hundred, or two thousand, years before Christ, to about
eight hundred years before Christ.[36] By that time the priestly class
had gained great power over all other ranks. They had begun to work over
the Vedas to suit their own purposes, selecting from them such portions
as could be framed into an elaborate ritual--known as the Brahmanas. The
period during which they continued this ritualistic development is known
as the Brahmana period. This extended from about eight hundred to five
hundred B.C.[37] These, however, are only the approximate estimates of
modern scholarship: such a thing as ancient history is unknown to the
Hindu race. This Brahmana period was marked by the intense and
overbearing sacerdotalism of the Brahmans, and by an extreme development
of the doctrine of caste. Never was priestly tyranny carried to greater
length than by these lordly Brahmans of India. One of the chief abuses
of their system was their depravation of sacrifice.
The earliest conception of sacrifice represented in the Vedas is that of
a vicarious offering of Parusha, a Divine being. Very obscure
references to this are found in the oldest of the four Vedas, dating
probably not later than 1200 B.C. It is brought out still more clearly
in a Brahmana which was probably composed in the seventh century B.C. It
is there said that the "Lord of creatures offered himself a sacrifice
for the Gods." Principal Fairbairn finds Vedic authority for the idea
that the creation of the world was accomplished by the self-sacrifice of
deity; and Manu ascribes the creation of mankind to the austerities of
the gods. Sir Monier Williams, the late Professor Banergea, and many
others, have regarded these references to a Divine sacrifice for the
benefit of gods and men as dim traces of a revelation once made to
mankind of a promised atonement for the sins of the world.[38]
But so far as the actual observances of the early Hindus were concerned,
they seem to have made their offerings rather in the spirit of Cain than
in the faith of Abel. They simply fed the gods with their gifts, and
regaled them with soma juice, poured forth in libations; the savor of
melted butter also was supposed to be specially grateful. Still there is
reason to believe that the piacular idea of sacrifice was never wholly
lost, but that the Hindus, in common with all other races, found
occasion--especially when great calamities befell them--to appease the
gods with the blood of sacrifice. In the early days human sacrifices
were offered, and occasionally at least down to a late period.[39] It
was a convenient policy of the priesthood, however, to hypothecate the
claim for a human victim by accepting the substitution of a goodly
number of horses or cows. A famous tradition is given, in the Aitareya
Brahmana, of a prince[40] who had been doomed to sacrifice by a vow of
his father, but who bought as a substitute the son of a holy
Brahman--paying the price of a hundred cows. When none could be found to
bind the lad on the altar, the pious father offered to perform the task
for another hundred cows. Then there was no one found to slay the
victim, and the father offered for still another hundred to do even
that. As the victim was of high caste the gods interposed, and the
Brahman was still the possessor of a son plus the cattle. The incident
will illustrate the greed of the priesthood and the depravation of
sacrifice. It had become a system of bargaining and extortion. The
sacrifices fed the priesthood more substantially than the gods. There
was great advantage in starting with the human victim as the unit of
value, and it is easy to see how substitution of animals became
immensely profitable. The people were taught that it was possible, if
one were rich enough in victims, even to bankrupt heaven. Even demons by
the value of their offerings might demand the sceptre of Indra.[41]
Hand in hand with this growth of the sacrificial system was the
development of caste; the former was done away by the subsequent
protest of Buddhism and the philosophic schools; but the latter has
remained through all the stages of Hindu history.[42] Such was
_Brahmanism_. Its thraldom has never been equalled. The land was deluged
with the blood of slain beasts. All industries were paralyzed with
discouragement. Social aspiration was blighted, patriotism and national
spirit were weakened, and India was prepared for those disastrous
invasions which made her the prey of all northern races.
It was in protest against these evils that Gautama and many able
philosophers arose about 500 B.C. Already the intellectual classes had
matched the Brahmans by drawing upon Vedic authority for their
philosophy. As the Brahmans had produced a ritual from the Vedas, so
the philosophers framed a sort of philosophic Veda in the _Upanishads_.
Men had begun to ask themselves the great questions of human life and
destiny, "Whence am I? What is this mysterious being of which I am
conscious?" They had begun to reason about nature, the origin of matter,
the relation of mortals to the Infinite. The school of the Upanishads
regarded themselves as an aristocracy of intellect, and held philosophy
as their esoteric and peculiar prerogative. It was maintained that two
distinct kinds of revelation had been made to men. First, that simple
kind which was designed for priests and the common masses, for all those
who regarded only effects and were satisfied with sacerdotal assumption
and merit-making. But, secondly, there was a higher knowledge which
concerned itself with the origin of the world and the hidden causes of
things. Even to this day the Upanishads are the Vedas of the thinking
classes of India.[43]
As the Brahmanas gave first expression to the doctrine of caste, so in
the Upanishads we find the first development of pantheism and the
doctrine of transmigration. The conclusion had already been reached that
"There is only one Being who exists: He is within this universe and yet
outside this universe: whoe'er beholds all living creatures as in Him,
and Him the universal spirit, as in all, thenceforth regards no creature
with contempt."
The language of Hindu speculation exhausts its resources in similes by
which to represent personal annihilation. Man's origin and relations
are accounted for very tersely by such illustrations as these: "As the
web issues from the spider, as little sparks proceed from fire, so from
the One Soul proceed all breathing animals, all worlds, all the gods,
all beings." Then as to destiny: "These rivers proceed from the east
toward the west, thence from the ocean they rise in the form of vapor,
and dropping again, they flow toward the south and merge into the ocean.
And as the flowing rivers are merged into the sea, losing their names
and forms, so the wise, freed from name and form, pass into the Divine
spirit, which is greater than the great."[44] Another favorite
illustration is that of the moon's reflection in the water-jar, which
disappears the moment the moon itself is hidden. "If the image in the
water has no existence separate from that of the moon," says the Hindu,
"how can it be shown that the human soul exists apart from God?"
The Mundaka Upanishad, based upon the Atharva Veda (one of the
latest,--the Upanishad being later still), contains this account of the
universe: "As the spider spins and gathers back (its thread); as plants
sprout on the earth; as hairs grow on a living person; so is this
universe here produced from the imperishable nature. By contemplation
the vast one germinates; from him food (or body) is produced; and thence
successively, breath, mind, real (elements) worlds, and immortality
resulting from (good) deeds.
"The Omniscient is profound contemplation consisting in the knowledge
of him who knows all; and from that, the (manifested) vast one, as well
as names, forms, and food proceed; and this is truth."[45]
It is a great blemish upon the Upanishads, that while there are subtle,
and in some respects sublime, utterances to be found here and there, the
great mass is fanciful and often puerile, and in many instances too low
and prurient to bear translation into the English language. This is
clearly alleged by Mr. Bose, and frankly admitted by Max Müller.[46]
In the common protest which finally broke down the system of Brahmanical
sacrifice, and for a time relaxed the rigors of caste tyranny, Buddhism
then just appearing (say 500 B.C.), joined hand in hand with the
philosophies. Men were tired of priestcraft, and by a natural reaction
they went to an opposite extreme; they were tired of religion itself.
Buddha became an undoubted atheist or agnostic, and six distinct schools
of philosophy arose on the basis of the Upanishads--some of which were
purely rationalistic, some were conservative, others radical. Some
resembled the Greek "Atomists" in their theory,[47] and others fought
for the authority, and even the supreme divinity, of the Vedas.[48] All
believed in the eternity of matter, and the past eternity of the soul;
all accepted the doctrine of transmigration, and maintained that the
spiritual nature can only act through a material body. All were
pessimistic, and looked for relief only in absorption.
But the progress of Hindu thought was marked by checks and
counter-checks. As the tyranny of the priesthood had led to the protest
of philosophy, so the extreme and conflicting speculations of
philosophic rationalism probably gave rise to the conservatism of the
Code of Manu. No adequate idea of the drift of Hindu thought can be
gained without assigning due influence to this all-important body of
laws. They accomplished more in holding fast the power of the Brahmans,
and enabling them to stem the tide of intellectual rebellion, and
finally to regain the sceptre from the hand of Buddhism, than all other
literatures combined. Their date cannot be definitely known. They were
composed by different men and at different times. They probably followed
the Upanishads, but antedated the full development of the philosophic
schools.
Many of the principles of Manu's Code had probably been uttered as early
as the seventh century B.C.[49] The ferment of rationalistic thought was
even then active, and demanded restraint. The one phrase which expresses
the whole spirit of the laws of Manu is intense conservatism. They stand
for the definite authority of dogma; they re-assert in strong terms the
authority of the Vedas; they establish and fortify by all possible
influences, the institution of caste. They enclose as in an iron
framework, all domestic, social, civil, and religious institutions.
They embrace not only the destiny of men upon the earth, but also the
rewards and punishments of the future life. Whatever they touched was
petrified. Abuses which had crept in through the natural development of
human depravity--for example, the oppression of woman--the laws of Manu
stamped with inflexible and irreversible authority. The evils which grow
up in savage tribes are bad enough, the tyranny of mere brute force is
to be deplored, but worst of all is that which is sanctioned by statute,
and made the very corner-stone of a great civilization. Probably no
other system of laws ever did so much to rivet the chains of domestic
tyranny.[50]
The Code of Manu has been classified as, 1st, sacred knowledge and
religion; 2d, philosophy; 3d, social rules and caste organization; 4th,
criminal and civil laws; 5th, systems of penance; 6th, eschatology, or
the doctrine of future rewards. No uninspired or non-Vedic production
has equal authority in India. We can only judge of its date by its
relative place among other books. It applies Vedic names to the gods,
though it mentions Brahma and Vishnu, but it makes no reference to the
Trimurti. Pantheism was evidently in existence and was made prominent in
the code. The influence of Manu over the jurisprudence of India was a
matter of growth. At first the code appears to have been a guide in
customs and observances, but as it gained currency it acquired the force
of law, and extended its sway over all the tribes of India. It was not,
however, maintained as a uniform code throughout the land, but its
principles were found underlying the laws of all the provinces. Its very
merits were finally fruitful of evil. Human weal was sacrificed to the
over-shadowing power of a system of customs cunningly wrought and
established by Brahmanical influence. The author was evidently a
Brahman, and the whole work was prepared and promulgated in the
interests of Brahmanism as against all freedom of thought. Its support
of the Vedas was fanatical. Thus: "A Brahman by retaining the Rig Veda
in his memory incurs no guilt, though he should destroy the three
worlds." Again: "When there is contradiction of two precepts in the
Veda, both are declared to be law; both have been justly promulgated by
known sages as valid law."
The laws of Manu make no mention of the doctrine of _Bakti_ or faith,
and there is no reference to the worship of the _Sakti_; both of these
were of later date. The doctrine of transmigration, however, is fully
stated, and as a consequence of this the hells described in the code,
though places of torture, resolve themselves into merely temporary
purgatories, while the heavens become only the steps on the road to a
union with deity. There is reason to believe that the practice of
employing idols to represent deity was unknown at the time the code was
compiled. There is no allusion to public services or to teaching in the
temples, the chief rites of religion were of a domestic kind, and the
priests of that age were nothing more than domestic chaplains.
Manu's theory of creation was this: "The Self-Existent, having willed to
produce various beings from his own substance, first with a thought
created the waters and placed on them a productive seed or egg. Then he
himself was born in that egg in the form of Brahma. Next he caused the
egg to divide itself, and out of its two divisions there came the heaven
above and the earth beneath. Afterward, having divided his own substance
he became half male, half female. From that female was produced Viraj,
from whom was created the secondary progenitor of all beings. Then from
the Supreme Soul he drew forth Manu's intellect." This mixed cosmogony
is supposed to indicate a diversity of authorship.
It will be seen that this is much less philosophical than the theory of
creation quoted above from the Mundaka Upanishad.[51] If we compare
Manu's account with the description of the "Beginning" found in one of
the hymns of the Rig Veda,[52] we shall see that there has been a
downward trend of Hinduism from the simple and sublime conceptions of
the early poets to that which is grotesque, and which has probably been
worked over to suit the purposes of the Brahmans. No mythological legend
was too absurd if it promoted the notion of the divine origin of the
Manus (sages) and the Brahmans.
Manu makes much of the Vedic passage which refers to the origin of
caste.[53] He maintained that this distinction of caste was as much a
law of nature and divine appointment as the separation of different
classes of animals. The prominence accorded to the Brahmans was nothing
short of divine. "Even when Brahmans employ themselves in all sorts of
inferior occupations (as poverty often compels them to do) they must
under all circumstances be honored, for they are to be regarded as
supreme divinities." "A Brahman's own power is stronger than the power
of the king, therefore by his own might he may chastise his foes." "He
who merely assails a Brahman with intent to kill him, will continue in
hell for a hundred years, and he who actually strikes him must endure a
thousand years."
It is always the truth that is mingled with the errors of any system
which constitutes its life and gives it perpetuity, and there is much in
the Code of Manu to be admired. Like the Confucian ethics, it laid its
foundations in the respect due from childhood to parents, and in
guarding the sanctities of the home. It aimed at fairness between ruler
and subject, in an age when over most of the Asiatic continent the
wildest caprice of rulers was the law of their respective realms. Manu
taught the duty of kings toward their subjects in most emphatic terms.
They were to regard themselves as servants, or rather as fathers, of the
people; and rules were prescribed for their entire conduct. They were
the representatives of deity in administering the affairs of mortals,
and must realize their solemn responsibility.[54] It must ever be
acknowledged that the Hindu laws respecting property were characterized
by wisdom and equity. Taxation was not subject to caprice or injustice;
where discriminations occurred they were in favor of the poor, and the
heaviest burdens were laid where they should be laid, upon the rich.
There were wise adaptations, calculated to develop the industry and
self-help of the weakest classes, and care was taken that they never
should become oppressive. No political or civic tyranny could be
allowed; but that of the priesthood in its relations to all ranks, and
that of the householder toward his wife and toward all women, were quite
sufficient. In this last regard we scarcely know which was the
greater--the heartless wickedness of the Code, or its blind and bigoted
folly. How it was that laws could be framed which indicated such rare
sagacity, which in many other respects were calculated to build up the
very highest civilization, and which, at the same time, failed to
foresee that this oppression of woman must result in the inevitable
degeneracy of succeeding generations of men, must ever remain a
mystery.[55]
We have glanced at the purer and simpler Aryanism of the early period,
at the bigoted, tyrannical Brahmanism, with its ritual, its sacrifices,
its caste. We have merely alluded to the rationalistic reaction of the
philosophers and the Buddhists. We shall now see that the Brahman power
is not broken, but that it will regain all and more than it has lost,
that it will prove elastic enough to embrace all that has gone before;
that while Buddhism will be banished, many of its elements will be
retained, and the whole woven into one marvellous texture which we will
call _Hinduism_.[56] Even during the period of Buddhism's greatest
triumphs, say, two or three centuries before Christ, changes of great
moment were going on in the Brahmanical faith. The old sacrificial
system had lost its power, but the flexible and inexhaustible resources
of Brahmanical cunning were by no means dormant. In the border wars of
the Aryans, with rival invaders on the one hand, and with the conquered
but ever restless aborigines on the other, great and popular heroes had
sprung up. The exploits of these heroes had been celebrated in two great
epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and the popularity of these
poems was immense. The heroes were of the soldier caste, and gave to
that caste a prestige which seemed to the Brahmans formidable and
dangerous.[57] The divine prerogatives of their order were all in
jeopardy.
The remedy chosen by the Brahmans was a bold and desperate one. These
heroes must be raised out of the soldier caste by making them divine. As
such they would hold a nearer relation to the divine Brahmans than to
the soldiers. The legends were therefore worked over--Brahmanized--so to
speak.[58] Rama, who had overcome certain chieftains of Ceylon, and
Krishna, who had won great battles in Rajputana, were raised to the rank
of gods and demi-gods. By an equal exaggeration the hostile chiefs of
rival invaders were transformed to demons, and the black, repulsive hill
tribes, who were involved as allies in these conflicts, were represented
as apes. As a part of this same Brahmanizing process, the doctrine of
the Trimurti was developed, and also the doctrine of incarnation. Most
conspicuous were the incarnations of Vishnu; Rama and Krishna were
finally placed among the ten incarnations of that deity. This was a
skilful stroke of policy, for it was now no longer the heroes of the
soldier caste who had won victory for the Aryans; it was Vishnu, the
preserver, the care-taker, and sympathizer with all the interests of
mankind. The development of the doctrines of the Trimurti and of
incarnation undoubtedly followed both the rise of Buddhism and the
promulgation of the Laws of Manu.
Meanwhile the Brahmans were shrewd enough to adapt themselves to certain
other necessities. The influence of Buddhism was still a force which
was not to be disregarded. It had demonstrated one thing which had never
been recognized before, and that was the need of a more human and
sympathetic element in the divine objects of worship. Men were weary of
worshipping gods who had no kindly interest in humanity. They were weary
of a religion which had no other element than that of fear or of
bargaining with costly sacrifices. They longed for something which had
the quality of mercy. Buddha had demonstrated the value of this element,
and by an adroit stroke of policy the Brahmans adopted Gautama as the
ninth avatar of Vishnu. Meanwhile they adopted the heroic Krishna as the
god of sympathy--the favorite of the lower masses who were not too
critical toward his vices.
We have now reached the fully developed form of _Hinduism_.[59] The
Brahmans had embraced every element that could give strength to their
broad, eclectic, and all-embracing system.[60] The doctrine of the
Trimurti had become a strong factor, as it furnished a sort of
framework, and gave stability. As compared with the early Aryanism, it
removed the idea of deity from merely natural forces to that of abstract
thoughts, principles, and emotions, as active and potent in the world.
At the same time it retained the old Vedic deities under new names and
with new functions, and it did not abate its professed regard for Vedic
authority. The Brahmans had rendered their system popular in a sense
with the intellectual classes by adopting all the philosophies. They had
stopped the mouth of Buddhist protest by embracing the Buddha among
their incarnations. They had shown an advance in the succession of
incarnations from the early embodiments of brute force, the fish, the
tortoise, the boar, up to heroes, and from these to the ninth avatar,
the Buddha, as a moralist and philosopher.[61] They left on record the
prediction that a tenth should come--and he is yet to come--who, in a
still higher range of moral and spiritual power, should redeem and
renovate the earth, and establish a kingdom of righteousness.
Meanwhile, in this renaissance of the Hindu faith, this wide, politic,
self-adapting system, we find not only Buddhism, Philosophy, the early
Aryanism, and the stiff cultus of Brahmanism, but there is also a large
infusion of the original superstitions of the Dravidians, Kohls,
Santals, and other nature worshippers of the hill tribes. Much of the
polytheism of the modern Hindus--the worship of hills, trees, apes,
cattle, the sun, the moon, unseen spirits, serpents, etc.--has been
adopted from these simple tribes, so that the present system embraces
all that has ever appeared on the soil of India--even Mohammedanism to
some extent; and as some contend, very much also has been incorporated
from the early teachings of the so-called St. Thomas Christians of
Malabar. Such is the immense composite which is called Hinduism. It
continued its development through the early centuries of the Christian
era, and down even to the Middle Ages. Since then there has been
disintegration instead of growth. The Brahmans have not only retained
the Aryan deities, and extended Vishnu's incarnate nature over the epic
heroes, but in the Puranas they have woven into the alleged lives of the
incarnate gods the most grotesque mythologies and many revolting vices.
It may be interesting to trace for a moment the influence of the
different lines of Hindu literature upon the general development of
national character. Of course, the early Vedic literature has never lost
its influence as the holy and inspired source of all knowledge to the
Hindu race; but we have seen how much more potential were the Brahmanas
and the Upanishad philosophy drawn from the Vedas, than were those
sacred oracles themselves; how the Brahmanas riveted the chains of
priestcraft and caste, and how the philosophies invigorated the
intellect of the people at a time when they were most in danger of
sinking into the torpor of ignorance and base subserviency to ritual and
sacrifice; how it gave to the better classes the courage to rise up in
rebellion and throw off every yoke, and think for themselves. We have
seen how Buddhism by its protest against sacerdotalism crippled for a
time the power of the Brahmans and raised a representative of the
soldier caste to the chief place as a teacher of men; how its
inculcation of pity to man and beast banished the slaughter and cruelty
of wholesale and meaningless sacrifice, and how its example of sympathy
changed Hinduism itself, and brought it into nearer relations with
humanity. Driven from India, though it was, it left an immense deposit
of influence and of power. We have seen how, as a counter-check to
philosophy and Buddhism, the Code of Manu reasserted the authority of
the Vedas, and riveted anew the chains of caste, and how it compensated
for its oppressiveness by many wholesome and benign
regulations--accomplishing more, perhaps, than all other literatures
combined to maintain the stability of Hinduism, through its many
vicissitudes, and in spite of the heterogeneous elements which it
received and incorporated.
Scarcely less important was the influence of the great epics--the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata--with their doctrine of Trimurti and the
incarnations of Vishnu in the national heroes. This conciliated the
soldier caste, subsidized the most popular characters in Hindu
tradition, at the same time that it made them tenfold more glorious than
before. The Epics widened out the field of Hindu mythology immensely.
Never before had there been such a boundless range for the imagination.
The early Brahmans had cramped all intellectual growth, and held mankind
by the leash of priestly ritual. The philosophies had been too strait
and lofty for any but the higher class; Manu's laws had been a stern
school-master to keep the people under curbs and restraints; even the
Brahmans themselves were the slaves of their own ritual. But all the
people could understand and admire Rama's wonderful victories over the
demon Ravana. All could appreciate the devotion of the lovely Sita, and
weep when she was kidnapped and borne away, like Grecian Helen, to the
demon court in Ceylon; and they could be thrilled with unbounded joy
when she was restored--the truest and loveliest of wives--to be the
sharer of a throne.
The Epics took such hold of the popular heart that any fact, any theory,
any myth that could be attached to them found ready credence. The
Mahabharata especially became a general texture upon which any
philosophy, or all the philosophies, might be woven at will. And for a
long period, extending from three or four centuries B.C. onward far into
the Christian era, it was ever ready to receive modifications from the
fertile brain and skilful hand of any devout Brahman. A striking example
of this was the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita. When this was
composed, somewhere about the second or third century of our era, there
was no little conflict between the different schools of philosophy; and
its unknown author attempted to unite them all in a poem which should
harmonize their contradictions and exalt the virtues of each, and at the
same time reiterate all the best maxims of Hinduism. Some centuries
later, the pronounced Vedantist Sancarakarya revamped the poem and gave
its philosophy a more pantheistic character; later still the demigod
Krishna was raised to full rank as the supreme Vishnu--the Creator and
Upholder of all things.[62]
It is important to notice that in the trend of Hindu literature through
so many ages there has been no upward movement, but rather a decline.
Nowhere do we find hymns of so pure and lofty a tone as in the early
Vedas. No philosophy of the later times has equalled that of the
Upanishads and the six Darsanas. No law-giver like Manu has appeared for
twenty-four centuries. No Sanskrit scholarship has equalled that of the
great grammarian Panini, who lived in the fourth century B.C. And
although no end of poetry has succeeded the great Epics, it has shown
deterioration. The Puranas, written at a later day, reveal only a
reckless zeal to exalt the incarnate deities. They may properly be
called histories of the incarnations of Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, and
glorifications of Krishna. And the very nature of the subjects with
which they deal gives free scope to an unbridled imagination and to the
most reckless exaggeration.
If anything more were wanting to insure their extravagance, it may be
found in the fact that they were inspired by the rivalry of the
respective worshippers of different gods. The Puranas mark the
development of separate sects, each of which regarded its particular
deity as the supreme and only god. The worshippers of Vishnu and the
worshippers of Siva were in sharp rivalry, and they have continued
their separation to this day.[63] Those who came to worship Vishnu as
incarnate in Krishna, gained an advantage in the popular element
associated with a favorite hero. Yet this was matched by the influence
of the Sankhya philosophy, which assigned to Siva a male and female
dualism, a doctrine which finally plunged Hinduism into deepest
degradation. It brought about a new development known as Saktism, and
the still later and grosser literature of the Tantras. In these,
Hinduism reached its lowest depths. The modern "Aryas" discard both the
Tantras and the Puranas, and assert that the popular incarnations of
Vishnu were only good men. They take refuge from the corruptions of
modern Hinduism in the purer teachings of the early Vedas.
_The Contrasts of Hinduism and Christianity._
Hinduism has some elements in common with Christianity which it is well
to recognize. It is theistic; it is a religion, as distinguished from
the agnostic and ethical systems of India and China.[64] Hinduism always
recognized a direct divine revelation which it regards with profound
reverence; and through all its variations and corruptions it has
inculcated in the minds of the Indian races a deeply religious feeling.
It has been claimed that it has made the Hindus the most devotional
people in the world. Like Christianity, Hinduism appeals to man's
intellectual nature, and it is inwrought with profound philosophy. It
does not, however, like some modern systems, teach that divine truth has
been revealed to man by natural processes; rather it regards the early
revelation as having suffered obscuration.[65] It also has its trinity,
its incarnations, and its predictions of a Messiah who shall restore the
truth and establish righteousness. The Hindu traditions maintain that
mankind descended from a single pair;[66] that the first estate of the
race was one of innocence; that man was one of the last products of
creation; that in the first ages he was upright, and consequently happy.
"The beings who were thus created by Brahma are said to have been
endowed with righteousness and perfect faith; they abode wherever they
pleased, unchecked by any impediment; their hearts were free from guile;
they were pure, made exempt from toil by observance of sacred
institutes. In their sanctified minds Hari dwelt; they were filled with
perfect wisdom by which they contemplated the glory of Vishnu." Hartwell
has pointed out the fact that the early Hindu traditions here unite with
the Scriptural account in virtually denying all those theories of
evolution which trace the development of man from lower animals.[67]
But compared with Christianity, its contrasts are far greater than its
resemblances. First, as to the nature of God, there is an infinite
difference between the cold and unconscious Brahman, slumbering for ages
without thought or emotion or any moral attribute, and the God of
Israel, whose power and wisdom and goodness, whose mercy and truth and
tender compassion, are so constantly set forth in the Bible. The latter
compares Himself to a Father who cares for his children, and who has
redeemed the world by an infinite sacrifice. Even in the most popular
emanation of Brahman--even in Vishnu--there is nothing of a fatherly
spirit, no appeal as to children, no kindly remonstrance against sin, no
moral instruction, or effort to encourage and establish character, no
promise of reward, no enkindling of immortal hope.
Second, there is a striking contrast in the comparative estimates which
Hinduism and Christianity place upon the human soul. Unlike Buddhism,
Hinduism does recognize the existence of a soul, but it is only a
temporary emanation, like the moon's reflection in the water. It
resembles its source as does the moon's image, but coldly and in a most
unsatisfactory sense; there is no capacity for fellowship, and the end
is absorption.[68] On the other hand, Christianity teaches us that we
are created in God's image, but not that we _are_ his image. We are
separate, though dependent, and if reunited to him through Christ we
shall dwell in his presence forever.
Third, the two systems are in strong contrast in the comparative hopes
which they hold out for the future. The doctrine of transmigration casts
a gloom over all conscious being; it presents an outlook so depressing
as to make life a burden, and the acme of all possible attainment is
individual extinction, or what amounts to the same thing, absorption
into deity. The logic of it is that it would be better still not to have
been born at all. Christianity promises an immediate transfer to a life
of unalloyed blessedness, and an endless growth of all our powers and
capacities; but why should Hinduism urge the cultivation of that whose
real destiny is "effacement?" Hinduism finds the explanation of life's
mysteries and inscrutable trials in the theory of sins committed in a
previous existence. Christianity, while recognizing the same trials,
relieves them with the hope of solutions in a future life of
compensating joy. The one turns to that which is past, unchangeable and
hopeless, and finds only sullen despair; the other anticipates an
inheritance richer than eye hath seen, or ear heard, or heart conceived.
Fourth, Hinduism has no Saviour and no salvation. It is not a religion
in the highest sense of _rescue_ and reconciliation. It avails us of no
saving power higher than our own unaided effort. It implies the ruin of
sin, but provides no remedy. It presents no omnipotent arm stretched
forth to save.
Its fatalism places man under endless disabilities, and then bids him to
escape from the nexus if he can; but it reveals no divine helper, no
sacrifice, no mediator, no regenerating Spirit. It has no glad tidings
to proclaim, no comfort in sorrow, no victory over the sting of death,
no resurrection unto Life. Though at a period subsequent to the
preaching of the Gospel in India--perhaps the seventh or eighth century
A.D.--a doctrine of faith (_Bakti_) was engrafted upon Hinduism, yet it
had no hint of a Saviour from sin and death.[69]
Fifth, in Hinduism there is no liberty for the free action of the human
spirit. Though the life of a Brahman is intensely religious, yet it is
cramped with exactions which are not only abortive but positively
belittling. The code of Brahmanism never deals with general principles
in the regulation of conduct, but fills the whole course of life with
punctilious minutiæ of observances. Instead of prescribing, as Christ
did, an all-comprehensive law of supreme love to God and love to our
neighbor as ourselves, it loads the mind with petty exactions, puerile
precepts, inane prohibitions. "Unlike Christianity, which is all spirit
and life," says Dr. Duff, "Hinduism is all letter and death." Repression
takes the place of inspiration and the encouragement of hope.
There are a thousand subtle principles in Hinduism whose influence is
felt in society and in the state, and to which the faith and power of
the Gospel present the very strongest contrasts. For example, while
Christianity has raised woman to a position of respect and honor, and
made her influence felt as something sacred and potential in the family
and in all society, Hinduism has brought her down even from the place
which she occupied among the primitive Aryans, to an ever-deepening
degradation. It has made her life a burden and a curse. Pundita Ramabai,
in her plea for high-caste Hindu women, quotes a prayer of a child widow
in which she asks, "O Father of the world, hast Thou not created us? or
has perchance some other God made us? Dost Thou only care for men? O
Almighty One, hast Thou not power to make us other than we are, that we
too may have some part in the blessings of life?" Even in this last
decade of the nineteenth century the priesthood of Bengal are defending
against all humane legislation those old customs which render the
girlhood of Hindu women a living death.[70]
In its broad influence Christianity has raised the once savage tribes
of Europe to the highest degree of culture, and made them leaders and
rulers of the world; but Hinduism has so weakened and humbled the once
conquering Aryans that they have long been an easy prey to every
invading race. Christianity shows in its sacred Book a manifest progress
from lower to higher moral standards--from the letter to the spirit,
from the former sins that were winked at to the perfect example of
Christ, from the narrow exclusiveness of Judaism to the broad and
all-embracing spirit of the Gospel, from prophecy to fulfilment, from
types and shadows to the full light of Redemption; the sacred books of
Hinduism have degenerated from the lofty aspirations of the Vedic
nature-worship to the vileness of Saktism, from the noble praises of
Varuna to the low sensuality of the Tantras, from Vedic conceptions of
the creation, sublime as the opening of St. John's Gospel, to the myths
of the divine turtle or the boar, or the escapades of the supreme and
"adorable Krishna."[71]
Christianity breaks down all barriers which divide and alienate mankind,
and establishes a universal brotherhood in Christ; Hinduism has raised
the most insurmountable barriers and developed the most inexorable
social tyranny ever inflicted on the human race. The Hebrew economy also
recognized a priestly class, but they were chosen from among their
brethren and were only a distinct family; they made no claim to divine
lineage, and they were guiltless of social tyranny.
Christianity enjoins a higher and purer ethic than it has ever found in
the natural moral standards of any people; it aims at perfection; it
treats the least infraction as a violation of the whole law; it regards
even corrupt thoughts as sins; it bids us be holy even as He is holy in
whose sight the heavens are unclean. Hinduism, on the other hand, is
below the ethical standard of respectable Hindu society. The better
classes are compelled to apologize for it by asserting that that which
is debasing in men may be sinless in the gods. The offences of Krishna
and Arjuna would not be condoned in mortals; the vile orgies of the
"left-handed worshippers" of Siva would not be tolerated but for their
religious character. The murders committed by the Thugs in honor of Kali
were winked at only because a goddess demanded them. The naked
processions of Chaitanya's followers would be dispersed by the police
anywhere but in India.
It is the peculiar distinction of India that it has been the theatre of
nearly all the great religions. Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Mohammedanism
have all made trial of their social and political power and have failed.
Last of all came Christianity. The systems which preceded it had had
centuries of opportunity; and yet Christianity has done more for the
elevation of Hindu society in the last fifty years than they had
accomplished in all the ages of their dominion. Neither Buddhism nor
Mohammedanism had made any serious impression on caste; neither had
been able to mitigate the wrongs which Brahmanism had heaped upon
woman--Mohammedanism had rather increased them. The horrors of the satti
and the murder of female infants--those bitterest fruits of priestly
tyranny--were left unchecked until the British Government, inspired by
missionary influence and a general Christian sentiment, branded them as
infamous and made them crimes. But now even the native sentiment of the
better classes in India is greatly changed by these higher influences,
and the conventional morality is rising above the teachings of the
national religion. Widow-burning and infanticide belong almost wholly to
the past. Child-marriage is coming into disrepute, and caste, though not
destroyed, is crippled, and its preposterous assumptions are falling
before the march of social progress.
Perhaps the very highest tribute which Hinduism has paid to Christianity
is seen in the fact that the modern Arya Somaj has borrowed its ethics
and some of its religious doctrines, and is promulgating them under
Vedic labels and upon Vedic authority.[72] It has renounced those
corruptions of Hinduism which can no longer bear the light--such as
enforced widowhood and the general oppression of woman. It denounces the
incarnations of Vishnu as mere inventions, and therefore cuts up by the
roots the whole Krishna cult and dissipates the glory of the Bhagavad
Gita. It abhors polytheism, and not only proclaims the supremacy of one
only true God, self-existent, the creator and upholder of all things,
but it maintains that such was the teaching of the Vedas. But although
this modern eclectic system adopts the whole ethical outcome of
Christian civilization in India for its own purposes, it shows a most
uncompromising hostility to Christianity. Though it claims to be
positively theistic, it seems ready to enter into alliance with any form
of atheism or agnosticism, Eastern or Western, against the spread of
Christian influence in India.
In speaking of the movement of revived Aryanism I assume that with the
more intelligent and progressive classes of India the old Hinduism is
dead. Of course, millions of men still adhere to the old corruptions.
Millions in the remoter districts would retain the festival of
Juggernaut, the hook-swinging, even infanticide and widow-burning, if
they dared. The revolting orgies of Kali and Doorga, and the vilest
forms of Siva worship, even the murderous rites of the Thugs, might be
revived by the fanatical, if foreign influence were withdrawn; but,
taking India as a whole, these things are coming to be discarded. The
people are ashamed of them; they dare not undertake to defend them in
the open day of the present civilization. All intelligent Hindus are
persuaded to accept the situation, and look to the future instead of the
past. The country is full of new influences which must be counted as
factors. British rule is there, and is there to stay. Education has
come--good, bad, and indifferent. English University training is
bringing forward a host of acute thinkers of native blood. But the
forces of Western infidelity are also there, grappling with Western
Christianity on Indian soil, and before the eyes of the conquered and
still sullen people. The vilest of English books and the worst of French
novels in English translations are in the markets. All the worst phases
of European commerce are exhibited. The opium monopoly, the liquor
traffic, and all the means and methods of unscrupulous money-getting,
with the wide-spread example of drinking habits, and unbounded luxury
and extravagance.
And, in opinions, the war of aggression is no longer on one side only.
While the foreigner speaks and writes of superstition, of heathenism, of
abominable rites now passing away, the native Hindu press is equally
emphatic in its condemnation of what it calls the swinish indulgence of
the Anglo-Saxon, his beer-drinking and his gluttony, his craze for money
and material power, his disgust at philosophy and all intellectual
aspiration, his half-savage love for the chase and the destruction of
animal life. Educated Hindus throw back against the charge of idolatry
our idolatry of pelf, which, as they claim, eclipses every other thought
and aspiration, leads to dishonesty, over-reaching, and manifold crime,
and sinks noble ethics to the low level of expediency or self-interest;
the conquest is not yet won.
A hundred varieties of creed have sprung up beneath this banyan-tree
which I have called Hinduism. There are worshippers of Vishnu, of Siva,
of Kali, of Krishna as Bacchus, and of Krishna as the supreme and
adorable God. There are Sikhs, and Jains, and Buddhists; Theosophists,
Vedantic Philosophers, Mohammedans, Brahmos, Parsees, Evolutionists, and
Agnostics; Devil-worshippers, and worshippers of ghosts and serpents;
but in considering these as forces to be met by Christian influence, we
must regard them all as in virtual alliance with each other. They are
all one in pride of race and of venerable custom. They are all one in
their hatred of foreign dominion, and of the arrogance and overbearing
assumption of the European.[73]
The Hindu religions, therefore, however divided, and however weak and
moribund they may be taken singly, find a real vitality in the union of
common interests, in the sentiments of patriotism, in the pride of their
philosophy, in the glory of their ancient history as the true and
original Aryans, compared with whom Western nations are mere offshoots.
Their religious faith is mixed and involved with patriotism, politics,
and race prejudice, and on the other hand Christianity in India is
handicapped by political and commercial interest and a hated domination.
On both sides these combined influences must be considered in estimating
the future issues of the great conflict. The question is not how
Christianity and Hinduism would fare in a conflict pure and simple,
unembarrassed by complications, but how Christianity with its drawbacks
is likely to succeed against Hinduism with its manifold intrenchments.
But, while weighing well the obstacles, how great are the
encouragements! What an auspicious fact that even a hostile organization
has appropriated the Christian cultus bodily, and can find no better
weapons than its blessed truths. Christianity is felt as a silent power,
even though under other names. It is, after all, the leaven that is
working all-powerfully in India to-day.
There was a period in the process of creation when light beamed dimly
upon the earth, though the sun, its source, had not yet appeared. So
through the present Hinduism there is a haze of Christian truth, though
the Sun of Righteousness is not yet acknowledged as its source.
But the Spirit of God broods over the waters, and the true Light of the
world will break on India.