THE PEOPLE (_continued_): RELIGIONS
~Religions in N.W.F. Province.~--In the N.W.F. Province an overwhelming
majority of the population professes Islám. In 1911 there were 2,039,994
Musalmáns as compared with 119,942 Hindus, 30,345 Sikhs, and 6585
Christians.
~Religions in Kashmír.~--In Kashmír the preponderance of Muhammadans is
not so overwhelming. The figures are:
Muhammadans 2,398,320
Hindus 690,390
Buddhists 36,512
Sikhs 31,553
The Hindus belong mostly to the Jammu province, where nearly half of the
population professes that faith. The people of Kashmír, Báltistán, Astor
and Gilgit, Chilás and Hunza Nagár, are Musalmáns. The Ladákhís are
Buddhists.
~Religions in Panjáb.~--The distribution by religions of the population of
the Panjáb and its native States in 1911 was:
Muhammadans 12,275,477 or 51 p.c.
Hindus 8,773,621 or 36 p.c.
Sikhs 2,883,729 or 12 p.c.
Others, chiefly Christian (199,751) 254,923 or 1 p.c.
[Illustration: Fig. 36. Map showing distribution of religions.]
The strength of the Muhammadans is in the districts west of the Biás and
the Sutlej below its junction with the Biás. 83 p.c. of the subjects of
the Nawáb of Baháwalpur are also Muhammadans. In all this western region
there are few Hindus apart from the shopkeepers and traders. On the
other hand the hill country in the north-east is purely Hindu, except on
the borders of Tibet, where the scanty population professes Buddhism.
While Hinduism is the predominant faith in the south-east, quite a
fourth of the people there are Musalmáns. Sikhs nowhere form a majority.
The districts in the eastern part of the Central Plains where they
constitute more than one-fifth of the population are indicated in the
map. In six districts, Lahore, Montgomery, Gujránwála, Lyallpur,
Hoshyárpur, and Ambála the proportion is between 10 and 20 p.c.
[Illustration: Fig. 37. Raghunáth Temple, Jammu.]
~Growth and Decline in numbers.~--There was a slight rise in the number of
Muhammadans between 1901 and 1911. Their losses in the central
districts, where the plague scourge has been heaviest, were
counterbalanced by gains in the western tract, where its effect has been
slight. On the other hand the decrease under Hindus amounts to nearly
15 p.c. The birth-rate is lower and the death-rate higher among Hindus
than among Musalmáns, and their losses by plague in the central and some
of the south-eastern districts have been very heavy. A change of
sentiment on the part of the Sikh community has led to many persons
recording themselves as Sikhs who were formerly content to be regarded
as Hindus. It must be remembered that one out of four of the recorded
Hindus belongs to impure castes, who even in the Panjáb pollute food and
water by their touch and are excluded from the larger temples. Since
1901 a considerable number of Chúhras or Sweepers have been converted to
Islám and Christianity.
[Illustration: Fig. 38. Golden Temple, Amritsar.]
~Sikhs.~--Notwithstanding heavy losses by plague Sikhs have increased by
37 p.c. A great access of zeal has led to many more Sikhs becoming
_Kesdhárís_. _Sajhdhárís_ or _Múnas_, who form over one-fifth of the
whole Sikh community, were in 1901 classed as Hindus. They are followers
of Bába Nának, cut their hair, and often smoke. When a man has taken the
"_pahul_," which is the sign of his becoming a _Kesdhárí_ or follower of
Guru Govind, he must give up the _hukka_ and leave his hair unshorn. The
future of Sikhism is with the _Kesdhárís_.
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Mosque in Lahore City.]
~Muhammadans.~--In the eastern districts the conversions to Islám were
political, and Hindu and Muhammadan Rájputs live peaceably together in
the same village. The Musalmáns have their mosque for the worship of
Allah, but were, and are still, not quite sure that it is prudent wholly
to neglect the godlings. The conversion of the western Panjáb was the
result largely of missionary effort. _Pírí murídí_ is a great
institution there. Every man should be the "_muríd_" or pupil of some
holy man or _pír_, who combines the functions in the Roman Catholic
Church of spiritual director in this world and the saint in heaven. The
_pír_ may be the custodian of some little saint's tomb in a village, or
of some great shrine like that of Baba Faríd at Pákpattan, or Baháwal
Hakk at Multán, or Taunsa Sharif in Dera Ghází Khán, or Golra in
Ráwalpindí. His own holiness may be more official than personal. About
1400 A.D. the Kashmírís were offered by their Sultán Sikandar the choice
between conversion and exile, and chose the easier alternative. Like the
western Panjábís they are above all things saint-worshippers. The
ejaculations used to stimulate effort show this. The embankment builder
in the south-western Panjáb invokes the holy breath of Baháwal Hakk, and
the Kashmírí boatman's cry "Yá Pír, dast gír," "Oh Saint, lend me a
hand," is an appeal to their national saint.
~Effect of Education.~--The Musalmáns of the western Panjáb have a great
dislike to Sikhs, dating from the period of the political predominance
of the latter. So far the result of education has been to accentuate
religious differences and animosities. Both Sikhs and Musalmáns are
gradually dropping ideas and observances retained in their daily life
after they ceased to call themselves Hindus. On the other hand, within
the Hindu fold laxity is now the rule rather than the exception, and the
neglect of the old ritual and restrictions is by no means confined to
the small but influential reforming minority which calls itself Árya
Samáj.
~Christians.~--The number of Christians increased threefold between 1901
and 1911. The Presbyterian missionaries have been especially successful
in attracting large numbers of outcastes into the Christian Church.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. God and Goddess, Chamba.]
~Hinduism in the Panjáb.~--Hinduism has always been, and to-day is more
than ever, a very elastic term. The Census Superintendent, himself a
high caste Hindu, wrote: "The definition which would cover the Hindu of
the modern times is that he should be born of parents not belonging to
some recognised religion other than Hinduism, marry within the same
limits, believe in God, respect the cow, and cremate the dead." There is
room in its ample folds for the Árya Samájist, who rejects idol worship
and is divesting himself of caste prejudices and marriage restrictions,
and the most orthodox Sanátan dharmist, who carries out the whole
elaborate daily ritual of the Brahmanical religion, and submits to all
its complicated rules; for the ordinary Hindu trader, who is equally
orthodox by profession, but whose ordinary religious exercises are
confined to bathing in the morning; for the villager of the eastern
districts, who often has the name of Parameshvar or the Supreme Lord on
his lips, but who really worships the godlings, Gúgá Pír, Sarwar or
Sultán Pír, Sítla (the small-pox goddess), and others, whose little
shrines we see round the village site; and for the childish idolaters of
Kulu, who carry their local deities about to visit each other at fairs,
and would see nothing absurd in locking them all up in a dungeon if rain
held off too long.
[Illustration: Fig. 41. A Kulu godling and his attendants.]