Religion.
The chief Indian religions with the numbers of their followers according
to the census of 1901 are: Hindu (207,147,026), Mahommedan (62,458,077),
Buddhist (9,476,759), Sikh (2,195,339), Jain (1,334,148), Christian
(2,923,241), Parsee (94,190), and Animist (8,584,148). The oldest of
these religions is Animism (q.v.), which represents the beginnings of
religion in India, and is still professed by the more primitive tribes,
such as Santals, Bhils and Gonds. The transition from this crude form of
religion to popular Hinduism (q.v.) is comparatively easy. The most
obvious characteristics of the ordinary Hindu are that he worships a
plurality of gods, looks upon the cow as a sacred animal, and accepts
the Brahmanical supremacy (see BRAHMANISM) and the caste system; and
when it is a question whether one of the animistic tribes has or has not
entered the fold of Hinduism, these two latter points seem to be the
proper test to apply. On the other hand there are various offshoots from
orthodox Hinduism, the distinguishing feature of which, in their earlier
history at least, is the obliteration of caste distinctions and the
rejection of the Brahmanical hierarchy. It is doubtful if Buddhism, and
still more so if Jainism and Sikhism, all of which are commonly
recognized as distinct religions, ever differed from Hinduism to a
greater extent than did the tenets of the earlier followers of Chaitanya
in Bengal or those of the Lingayats in Mysore; and yet these latter two
are regarded only as sects of Hinduism. Considerations of their history
and past political importance have led to the elevation of Buddhism,
Jainism and Sikhism to the rank of independent religions, while the
numerous other schismatic bodies are held to be only sects. But there is
a marked tendency both on the part of the sects and of the distinct
religions to lapse into the parent religion from which they sprang. In
this way both Buddhism (q.v.) and Jains (q.v.) have almost been
swallowed up by Hinduism; Sikhism (q.v.) is only preserved by the
military requirements of the British, and even the antagonism between
Hindu and Mahommedan is much less acute than it used to be. The
bewildering diversity of religious beliefs collected under the name of
Hinduism has no counterpart amongst the Mahommedans (see MAHOMMEDAN
RELIGION), who are limited as to their main tenets by the teaching of a
single book, the Koran. The two main sects are the Sunnis and the
Shiahs. In India the Sunnis greatly preponderate, but they usually share
with the Shiahs their veneration for Hasan and Husain and strictly
observe the Mohurrum.
The Mahommedans of India may be divided into two classes, pure
Mahommedans from the Mogul and Pathan conquering races, and Mahommedan
converts, who differ very little from the surrounding Hindu population
from which they originally sprang. The pure Mahommedans may again be
subdivided into four sections: Moguls, or the descendants of the last
conquering race, including Persians; Afghans or Pathans, who from their
proximity to the frontier are much more strongly represented, chiefly in
the Punjab and in the Rohilkhand division of the United Provinces;
Sayads, who claim to be lineally descended from the Prophet; and
Sheikhs, which is a name often adopted by converts. The remainder are
unspecified, but the following tribes or classes among Indian Mussulmans
are worthy of notice. In Bengal the vast majority of the Mahommedans
manifestly belong to the same race as the lowest castes of Hindus. They
are themselves subdivided into many classes, which in their devotion to
hereditary occupations are scarcely to be distinguished from Hindu
castes. In the Punjab, besides the Pathan immigrants from across the
frontier, Islam has taken a strong hold of the native population. The
census returned large numbers of Jats, Rajputs and Gujars among the
Mussulmans. Here, again, the Mahommedans are not strongly distinguished
from their Hindu brethren. Bombay possesses three peculiar classes of
Mussulmans, each of which is specially devoted to maritime trade--the
Memons, chiefly in Sind; the Borahs, mainly in Gujarat; and the Khojahs,
of whom half live in the island of Bombay. In southern India the
majority are known as Deccani Mussulmans, being descendants of the
armies led by the kings and nawabs of the Deccan. But the two peculiar
races of the south are the Moplahs and the Labbays, both of which are
seated along the coast and follow a seafaring life. They are descended
from the Arab traders who settled there in very early times, and were
recruited partly by voluntary adhesions and partly by forcible
conversions during the persecutions of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Sultan. The
Moplahs of Malabar are notorious for repeated outbreaks of bloody
fanaticism. In proportion to the total population Islam is most strongly
represented in the North-West Frontier Province, where it is the
religion of 92% of the inhabitants; then follow Kashmir and Sind with
about 75% each. Eastern Bengal and Assam with 58%, the Punjab with 49%,
Bengal with 18%, and the United Provinces with 14%. In the great
Mahommedan state of Hyderabad the proportion is only 10%. It appears
that the Mahommedans generally tend to increase at a faster rate than
the Hindus.
The Sikh religion is almost entirely confined to the Punjab. Of the
total number of 2,195,339 Sikhs all but 64,352 are found in the
Punjab, and two-thirds of the remainder are in the United Provinces
and Kashmir which adjoin it.
Buddhism had disappeared from India long before the East India Company
gained a foothold in the country, and at the present day there are
very few Buddhists in India proper. Of the 9,476,759 enumerated in the
census of 1901 all but some three hundred thousand were in Burma. The
greater part of the remainder are found in Bengal on the borders of
Burma, on the borders of Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, and in the Spiti,
Lahul and Kanawar districts of the Punjab Himalayas, where many of the
inhabitants are of Tibetan origin.
More than two-fifths of the Jains in India are found in Bombay and its
native states, including Baroda. They are proportionally most numerous
in central and western Rajputana and in Gujarat and Central India.
The Parsees, though influential and wealthy, are a very small
community, numbering only 94,000, of whom all but 7000 are found in
Bombay. The remainder are scattered all over India, but are most
numerous in Hyderabad, the Central India Agency, and the Central
Provinces.
The Christian community numbers 2,923,241, of whom, 2,664,313 are
natives and the remainder Europeans and Eurasians. Of the native
Christians about two-fifths are Roman Catholics and one-eighth Uniat
Syrians; one-ninth belong to the Anglican communion, one-eleventh are
Jacobite Syrians, and one-twelfth are Baptists; while Lutherans,
Methodists and Presbyterians are also represented. Nearly two-thirds
of the total number are found in the Madras Presidency, including its
native states. In Cochin and Travancore, where the Syrian church has
most of its adherents, nearly a quarter of the entire population
profess the Christian faith. More than four-fifths of the Christians
in Madras proper are found in the eight southernmost districts, the
scene of the labours of St Francis Xavier and the Protestant
missionary Schwarz. The adherents of the Syrian church, known as
"Christians of St Thomas," in Malabar, Travancore and Cochin are the
most ancient Christian community in the south. After these come the
Roman Catholics, who trace their origin to the teaching of St Francis
Xavier and the Madura Jesuits. The Protestant churches date only from
about the beginning of the 19th century, but their progress since that
time has been considerable. As is to be expected in the case of a
religion with a strong proselytizing agency, the growth of
Christianity is far more rapid than that of the general population.
Taking native Christians alone, their numbers increased from 1,246,288
in 1872 to 2,664,313 in 1901, and the rate of increase in the thirty
years was even greater than these figures would show, because they
include the Syrian church, whose numbers are practically constant. The
classes most receptive of Christianity are those who are outside the
Hindu system, or whom Hinduism regards as degraded. Amongst the Hindu
higher castes there are serious obstacles in the way of conversion, of
which family influence and the caste system are the greatest.
_Languages._--According to the linguistic survey of India no fewer than
147 distinct languages are recorded as vernacular in India. These are
grouped according to the following system:--
_Vernaculars of India._
Number of
languages spoken.
Malayo-Polynesian Family--
Malay Group (7831) 2
Mon-Khmer Family (427,760) 4
Tibeto-Chinese Family--
Tibeto-Burman Sub-family (9,560,454) 79
Siamese-Chinese Sub-family (1,724,085) 9
Dravidian Family (56,514,524) 14
Munda Family (3,179,275) 10
Indo-European Family, Aryan Sub-family--
Iranian Branch (1,377,023) 3
Indo-Aryan Branch (219,780,650) 22
Semitic Family (42,881) 1
Hamitic Family (5530) 1
Unclassed Languages 2
Andamanese (1882)
Gipsy Languages (344,143)
Others (125)
---
Total Vernaculars of India 147
The only representatives of the Malayo-Polynesian group in India are
the Selungs of the Mergui Archipelago and the Nicobarese. The
Mon-Khmer family, which is most numerous in Indo-China, is here
represented by the Talaings of southern Burma and the Khasis of Assam.
Of the Tibeto-Chinese family, the Tibeto-Burman subfamily, as its name
implies, is spoken from Tibet to Burma; while the Siamese-Chinese
subfamily is represented by the Karens and Shans of Burma. The Munda
or Kolarian family, which is now distinguished from the Dravidian, is
almost confined to Chota Nagpur, its best-known tribe being the
Santals. The Dravidian family includes the four literary languages of
the south, as well as many dialects spoken by hill tribes in central
India, and also the isolated Brahui in Baluchistan. Of the
Indo-European family, the Iranian branch inhabits Persia, Afghanistan
and Baluchistan; while the Indo-Aryan branch is spoken by the great
mass of the people of northern India. The only Semitic language is
Arabic, found at Aden, where also the Hamitic Somali was returned.
Gipsy dialects are used by the nomadic tribes of India, while
Andamanese has not been connected by philologists with any recognized
family of speech.
All the chief languages of India are described under their separate
names.
_Education._--The existing system of education in India is mainly
dependent upon the government, being directly organized by the state, at
least in its higher departments, assisted throughout by grants-in-aid
and under careful inspection. But at no period of its history has India
been an altogether unenlightened country. The origin of the Deva-Nagari
alphabet is lost in antiquity, though that is generally admitted not to
be of indigenous invention. Inscriptions on stone and copper, the
palm-leaf records of the temples, and in later days the widespread
manufacture of paper, all alike indicate, not only the general
knowledge, but also the common use, of the art of writing. From the
earliest times the caste of Brahmans has preserved, by oral tradition as
well as in MSS., a literature unrivalled alike in its antiquity and in
the intellectual subtlety of its contents. The Mahommedan invaders
introduced the profession of the historian, which reached a high degree
of excellence, even as compared with contemporary Europe. Through all
changes of government vernacular instruction in its simplest form has
always been given, at least to the children of respectable classes, in
every large village. On the one hand, the _tols_ or seminaries for
teaching Sanskrit philosophy at Benares and Nadiya recall the schools of
Athens and Alexandria; on the other, the importance attached to
instruction in accounts reminds us of the picture which Horace has left
of a Roman education. Even at the present day knowledge of reading and
writing is, owing to the teaching of Buddhist monks, as widely diffused
throughout Burma as it is in some countries of Europe. English efforts
to stimulate education have ever been most successful when based upon
the existing indigenous institutions.
During the early days of the East India Company's rule the promotion of
education was not recognized as a duty of government. The enlightened
mind of Warren Hastings did indeed anticipate his age by founding the
Calcutta _madrasa_ for Mahommedan teaching, and by affording steady
patronage alike to Hindu pundits and European students. But Wellesley's
schemes of imperial dominion did not extend beyond the establishment of
a college for English officials. Of the Calcutta colleges, that of
Sanskrit was founded in 1824, when Lord Amherst was governor-general,
the medical college by Lord William Bentinck in 1835, the Hooghly
_madrasa_ by a wealthy native gentleman in 1836. The Sanskrit college at
Benares had been established in 1791, the Agra college in 1823.
Meanwhile the missionaries made the field of vernacular education their
own. Discouraged by the official authorities, and ever liable to
banishment or deportation, they not only devoted themselves with courage
to their special work of evangelization, but were also the first to
study the vernacular dialects spoken by the common people. Just as two
centuries earlier the Jesuits at Madura, in the extreme south, composed
works in Tamil, which are still acknowledged as classical by native
authors, so did the Baptist mission at Serampur, near Calcutta, first
raise Bengali to the rank of a literary dialect. The interest of the
missionaries in education, which has never ceased to the present day,
though now comparatively overshadowed by government activity, had two
distinct aspects. They studied the vernacular, in order to reach the
people by their preaching and to translate the Bible; and they taught
English, as the channel of non-sectarian learning.
At last the government awoke to its own responsibility in the matter of
education, after the long and acrimonious controversy between the
advocates of English and vernacular teaching had worn itself out. The
present system dates from 1854, being based upon a comprehensive
despatch sent out by Sir C. Wood (afterwards Lord Halifax) in that year.
At that time the three universities were founded at Calcutta, Madras and
Bombay; English-teaching schools were established in every district; the
benefit of grants-in-aid was extended to the lower vernacular
institutions and to girls' schools; and public instruction was erected
into a department of the administration in every province, under a
director, with a staff of inspectors. In some respects this scheme may
have been in advance of the time; but it supplied a definite outline,
which has gradually been filled up with each succeeding year of
progress. A network of schools has now been spread over the country,
graduated from the indigenous village institutions up to the highest
colleges. All alike receive some measure of pecuniary support, which is
justified by the guarantee of regular inspection; and a series of
scholarships at once stimulates efficiency and opens a path to the
university for children of the poor.
During Lord Curzon's term of office the whole system of education in
India was examined, reported upon and improved. The five universities of
Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad and Lahore, which were formerly
merely examining bodies, had their senates reformed by the introduction
of experts; while hostels or boarding-houses for the college students
were founded, so as to approach more nearly to the English ideal of
residential institutions. The schools for secondary education were found
to be fairly prosperous, owing to the increasing demand for English
education; but more teachers and more inspectors were provided. In the
primary schools, however, which provide vernacular teaching for the
masses, there were only 4½ million pupils to the 300 millions of India.
In 1901 three out of every four country villages had no school, only
3,000,000 boys, or less than one-fifth of the total number of
school-going age, were in receipt of primary education, and only one
girl for every ten of the male sex, or 2½% of the female population of
school-going age. In order to remedy these defects primary education was
made a first charge upon provincial revenues, and a permanent annual
grant of £213,000 was made from the central government, with the result
that thousands of new primary schools have since been opened. The
technical schools may be divided into two classes, technical colleges
and schools and industrial schools. The former include colleges of
engineering and agriculture, veterinary colleges, schools of art and
similar institutions. Several of these, such as the Rurki and Sibpur
engineering colleges, the college of science at Poona, the Victoria
Jubilee Institute at Bombay and some of the schools of art, have shown
excellent results. The agricultural colleges have been less successful.
The industrial schools were largely engaged in 1901 in teaching
carpentry and smithy-work to boys who never intended to be carpenters or
smiths; but this misdirection of industry has since been remedied, and
the industrial schools have been made the first stepping-stone towards a
professional career. In addition a number of technical scholarships of
£150 each have been founded tenable in Europe or America.