THE HOME OF MANY FAITHS
The land of the Vedas justly boasts of being the mother, or the
foster-mother, of nine great religions.
It has given birth to the greatest ethnic religion the world has seen;
it is also the motherland of one of the three great missionary faiths
of the world. These two religions--Hinduism and Buddhism--count among
their followers more than a third of the human race, and are, in some
respects, as vigorous now as at any time in their history.
It is the foster-mother of Mohammedanism and counts among her sons and
daughters more of the followers of the Prophet of Mecca than are found
in any other land.
It has also been the asylum of many followers of the Nazarene for at
least sixteen centuries; many even claim that Christianity has found a
home here since apostolic days.
There is no land comparable with India in the variegated expressions
of its beliefs which add picturesqueness to the country and diversity
to the people.
I purpose to take the reader with me on a tour with a view to
furnishing glimpses of these religions at those places where they
reveal special interest to the tourist.[1]
[Footnote 1: The principal faiths of the land, with their adherents,
were as follows, according to census of 1901:--
Hindu 207,147,026
Sikh 2,195,339
Jain 1,334,148
Buddhist 9,476,759
Parsee 94,190
Mohammedan 62,458,077
Jewish 18,228
Christian 2,923,241
These figures include Burma.]
India is a land of immense distances. But its thirty thousand miles of
railroad will enable the traveller, within a couple of months, to scan
all its points of interest, and to feast his eyes upon visions of
Oriental charm and splendour, of architectural beauty and grandeur,
and of such monuments of religious devotion as no other land can
present to the traveller and student.
Let not the Westerner indulge his fears about the discomforts and
dangers of travel in this tropical land. To an English-speaking
tourist there are a few lands only which furnish more conveniences and
facilities for travel than this same India; and travelling is cheaper
here than in any other country. Comfortable second-class travelling
rarely costs more than one cent a mile. And many, like the writer,
have travelled thousands of miles in third-class compartments at less
than half a cent a mile, and without much other inconvenience than an
excess of dust and stiffened bones. The writer has seen many
globe-trotters pass through India of whom few were not surprised at
the relative comforts of travel here during the winter months, and no
other time of the year should be chosen for travelling in India.
It will be convenient to start upon our tour from Madura, the
missionary home of the writer. It is a large, wide-awake centre of
enthusiastic Hinduism in the extreme south of the peninsula. In the
heart of this town, of more than a hundred thousand people, stands its
great temple, dedicated to Siva. The principal monuments of South
India are its temples. They are the largest temples in the world. The
Madura temple is only the third in size; but in its upkeep and
architectural beauty it far surpasses the other two, which are larger.
It covers an area of fifteen acres, and its many _Gopuras_, or
towers, furnish the landmark of the country for miles around. It is
erected almost entirely of granite blocks, some of which are sixty
feet long. Its monolithic carving is exquisitely fine, as it is most
abundant and elaborate. Hinduism may be moribund; but this temple
gives only intimation of life and prosperity as one gazes upon its
elaborate ritual, and sees the thousands passing daily into its shrine
for worship. It represents the highest form of Hindu architecture,
and, like almost all else that is Hindu, its history carries us to the
dim distance of the past. But the great Tirumalai Nayak, the king of
two and a half centuries ago, spent more in its elaboration than any
one else. And it was he who built, half a mile away, the great palace
which, though much reduced, still stands as the noblest edifice of its
kind south of a line drawn from Bombay to Calcutta.
In this same temple we find, transformed, another cult. It is called
the Temple of Meenatchi, after its presiding goddess, "the Fish-eyed
One." When Brahmanism reached Madura, many centuries ago, Meenatchi
was the principal demoness worshipped by the people, who were all
devil-worshippers. As was their wont, the Brahmans did not antagonize
the old faith of the people, but absorbed it by marrying Meenatchi to
their chief god Siva, and thus incorporated the primitive
devil-worship into the Brahmanical religion. Thus the Hinduism of
Madura and of all South India is Brahmanism _plus_ devil-worship. And
the people are to-day much more absorbed in pacifying the devils which
infest every village than they are in worshipping purely Hindu
deities.
The prevailing faith of the Dravidians, therefore, is demonolatry; and
the myriad shrines in the villages and hamlets, and the daily rites
conducted in them, attest the universal prevalence of this belief and
the great place it has in the life of these so-called Hindus.
A run of a hundred and fifty miles directly south brings us to Cape
Comorin, the southernmost point of India. It is also the extreme south
of Travancore, "the Land of Charity," and one of the richest and most
charming sections of India. It is a Native State under the control of
the Brahmans.
[Illustration: THE GOLDEN LILY TANK IN THE MADURA TEMPLE]
It is unique in the large proportion of Christians which are among its
inhabitants. Though the Christian community in India averages only one
per cent of the population, in the State of Travancore it amounts to
25 per cent. It is here that we find the ancient Syrian Church, with
its three hundred and fifty thousand souls. Though it calls itself
"the Thomasian, Apostolic Church," and though the Romish Church
accepts the legend, modern historians deny its apostolic origin, and
claim that it was founded no earlier than the third century. Even
thus, it furnishes an intensely interesting study. The writer was
deeply interested to see and enter its two churches at Kottayam, both
of which are at least eight hundred years old.
Four centuries ago, Roman Catholicism used all the resources of the
Inquisition in order to absorb this Church. They succeeded only too
well, and half of the Indian Syrian Church is now subject to Rome.
Nearly a century ago, the Church Missionary Society of England lent a
helping hand to the Syrian Church, and has brought new life and
progressive energy, and a new spiritual power and ambition, into a
portion of that decrepit type of ancient Christianity.
Furthermore, a century of work given by the London Missionary Society
and the Church Missionary Society has created a Protestant Christian
community of more than one hundred thousand souls in that little
kingdom alone.
We pass from Travancore into the little State of Cochin, on the
north. We are impressed by the colossal Christian church in the town
of Cochin, in which, however, only a small handful of English people
worship every Sunday evening. It was erected by the Portuguese four
centuries ago, and is a charming study. It is here, shortly after
Vasco da Gama had completed the first round-the-Cape journey, that
this house of God was erected by his followers. Two centuries later,
the Dutch came, conquered the Portuguese, occupied their house of
worship, and desecrated their tombs. In that church to-day one can
find tombstones inscribed on one side by the Portuguese to their
departed friends, and, on the other side, in Dutch, to commemorate
departed Hollanders.
But the most interesting sight, by far, in this quiet old Indian town,
is the community of white Jews who live on its southern side. No one
knows when they came here. They probably arrived at the Dispersion of
the first century of our era; or it may be later. But the community
must have been reenforced from time to time, as they have maintained,
in a marvellous way, the fairness of their complexion. It will not
require much imagination, as one enters their synagogue, to think of
the synagogue of Nazareth of old. As we ascend the stair-way into the
little schoolroom above, and hear the little ones reciting, in pure
Hebrew, passages from the Pentateuch, we can easily imagine that we
are listening to the voice of a dear little Boy, nineteen centuries
ago, reciting to His master those same passages in that same tongue in
Palestine. There is hardly a place on earth where Judaism has met with
fewer vicissitudes and changes than on this western coast of India.
It is only a couple of hundred yards farther away that we find the
synagogue of the black Jews--the descendants of those who were given
by the ancient king to be slaves to the white Jews. They adopted the
religion of their masters, and are still praying, like their masters,
for the coming of the Messiah, of whose arrival and triumphs in India
they seem to be oblivious.
Leaving Cochin, we pass along the coast as far as Bombay, which has
been called the "Eye of India," and also the "Gateway of India," two
names which are equally appropriate to this beautiful city. There is
hardly another city on earth where more races and religions blend. And
its streets are made exceedingly picturesque by the many costumes of
its polyglot population. Before the arrival of the plague, some eight
years ago, Bombay was perhaps the most populous city in India. But
this fell scourge has decimated its population and has robbed it of
much of its ambition.
Perhaps the most interesting people that we see here are the Parsees,
with their "Towers of Silence." According to their belief, earth is
too sacred to be contaminated, and fire too divine to be polluted, by
the bodies of their dead, which, therefore, they expose in the towers,
erected upon an adjacent hill, to be consumed by a crowd of hungry,
expectant vultures. One usually sees forty or fifty of these filthy
birds standing around the edge of each tower, watching the funeral
cortege as it slowly winds its way up the hill, eager to pounce upon
the body as soon as exposed by the bearers in the centre within. And
from the time of exposure it takes hardly ten minutes before every
particle of flesh has been consumed.
The one hundred thousand Parsees of Bombay are almost the only
representatives of the ancient faith of Zoroaster, perhaps the purest
of all ethnic religions. They were driven out of their home land of
Persia in the early onrush of Mohammedan fury, and fled, twelve
centuries ago, to India, where they found asylum.
The Parsees have the distinction of being the most advanced people of
India, alike in wealth and philanthropy, in their treatment of woman,
and in education and general culture. Their influence throughout the
land is far beyond their numbers. And yet they are so narrow in their
conception of their faith, that they declined, the other day, to
receive into their fold the English bride of one of their number. Thus
they decided that there is no door of entrance into their religion for
any one who is not a born Parsee.
It is in this city, also, that we find a large representation of
another ancient cult--Jainism.
Jainism is closely kin to Buddhism. It represents the same type of
reaction from a debased Brahmanism. As its name indicates, it is a
cult for the worship of "The Victorious Ones," that is, men who by
self-discipline have triumphed over their passions and have attained
perfection. Buddhism succumbed to, and was absorbed by, a new militant
Brahmanism, which we call Hinduism. Jainism, on the other hand, has
maintained itself as a distinct faith and now has 1,334,148 followers.
Like Buddhism, it is an agnostic religion, knowing no object of
worship save the seventy-two Victorious Ones.
One of the leading characteristics of Jainism is its love of life,
even in its lowest manifestation. Their devotion to this article of
their faith is carried to such an extent that the devout will sweep
the road lest they step upon insects, and cover their mouth with gauze
cloth lest they swallow and destroy minute forms of life. In the city
of Bombay, Jains have a hospital for animals, for the maintenance of
which they spend large sums of money annually. Maimed cattle, stray
dogs and cats, and decrepit animals of all kinds are sought and
brought here for asylum and care. It is even said, I cannot say with
how much truth, that they employ men to come and spend nights here
with a view to furnishing food for the many kinds of vermin which
infest the place.
[Illustration: TAJ MAHAL, AGRA]
In a sumptuous through train we now pass rapidly over nearly one
thousand miles of a country which is intensely interesting,
historically and ethnologically, and finally arrive in the famous city
of Agra, which stands supreme among Indian cities as a centre of
architectural beauty. We have here come into a distinctively
Mohammedan region; and the edifices which crown the city with glory
are not only connected with the Mohammedan faith, they are also the
masterpieces of the greatest minds of the Mogul Empire, and culminate
in the Taj Mahal, which is the most valued gem of Mohammedan
architecture, and, perhaps, the most beautiful edifice in the world.
We first turn our face toward the Fort, which is one of the
magnificent fortresses of India. Two and a half centuries ago, Shah
Jehan was the ruling Mogul. He was not only one of the greatest rulers
of the dynasty; he had also a passion for building, and was a man of
rare taste as an architect. The Agra Fort, whose stern walls of red
sandstone extend about a mile and a half, represents to us, at
present, not strength and protection, but an enclosure within which
the emperor built his great palace, which is a marvel of beauty and of
superb architectural workmanship. The most attractive of the many
parts of this palace is the Pearl Mosque, which "owes its charm to its
perfect proportions, its harmony of designs, and its beauty of
material, rather than to richness of decoration and ornament. In
design it is similar to most temples of this kind; a court-yard with a
fountain in the middle, surrounded on three sides by arcaded
cloisters; while on the entrance side and that facing it are
exquisitely chaste marble screens." "Into the fair body of the India
marble the Moguls could work designs and arabesques borrowed from the
Persia of ancient history, and flowers of exquisite hue and symmetry
suggested by the more advanced and civilized Florentine artists, who
were tempted over by the well-filled coffers of Shah Jehan." As the
Pearl Mosque was a part of the palace, it was only used by the royal
court. Days of pleasure and improvement could be spent in the study of
the various parts which have been preserved of this ancient palace.
But we pass on a few miles to the Taj Mahal, which, like most of the
best buildings of Mohammedan art in North India, is a mausoleum and
was erected by Shah Jehan to his favourite wife, Mumtaz-i-Mahal. The
Taj is erected in a beautiful garden, the gateway into which is
perhaps the finest in India and is "a worthy pendant to the Taj
itself." The garden is exquisitely laid out, with a view to setting
off the unspeakable charms of that "dream of loveliness embodied in
white marble." The Taj has well been described as a work "conceived by
Titans and finished by jewellers." The grandeur of the conception and
the wonderful delicacy of the workmanship cannot fail to impress even
the most unlearned in the architectural art. Much has been written,
and all in unstinted praise, of this incomparable edifice; and yet,
like the writer, every visitor comes to its presence, feels the
growing thrill of its beauty, and exclaims, "The half was never told!"
And few leave the place without returning to be enthralled once more
by a moonlight view of this thing of beauty. How great, indeed, must
have been the love of that otherwise cruel monarch for his departed
empress that he should have exhausted so much of wealth (some say that
the Taj cost thirty million rupees) and conceived so much of beauty
wherewith to embalm her memory. And as we enter the mausoleum and
stand in the presence of the lovely shrines which it encases,--that of
Mumtaz-i-Mahal, and that of the emperor himself,--the mind is awed and
may find expression in Sir Edwin Arnold's poetic fancy,--
"Here in the heart of all,
With chapels girdled, shut apart by screens,
The shrine's self stands, white, delicately white,
White as the cheek of Mumtaz-i-Mahal,
When Shah Jehan let fall a king's tear there.
White as the breast her new babe vainly pressed
That ill day in the camp at Burhanpur,
The fair shrine stands, guarding two cenotaphs."
[Illustration: MARBLE SCREEN IN TAJ MAHAL]
And upon a panel of his own shrine the mourning emperor had inscribed
these significant words from ancient traditions: "Saith Jesus, on whom
peace be, this world is a bridge. Pass thou over it, but build not
upon. This world is one hour; give its minutes to thy prayers, for the
rest is unseen."
We cannot but feel that the Taj is the highest expression of art that
human affection and domestic affliction have ever achieved. This is
not religion; but it is closely kin to it.
Not far from the Fort is found another great mosque, or _musjid_,
where the Mohammedans crowd for worship. This, also, is a wonderful
specimen of art, and in its combination of simplicity and beauty is
well calculated to rouse to enthusiasm the many worshippers of Allah.
About six miles away from Agra is another specimen of architectural
genius. It is the tomb of Akbar the Great. Some believe it to be
almost equal to the Taj. It commemorates with great beauty the noble
name of that most distinguished man of the whole Mogul dynasty,--a man
who was famed for his breadth of view and sympathy, his wise
statesmanship, and religious tolerance. He did more than any other to
create sympathy between Hindus and Mohammedans. It was in this
mausoleum that the famous Kohinor diamond found its place and was
exhibited for years. It is a striking fact that this precious stone
was undisturbed there, in the open air, for over seventy years,
until the Shah of Persia, in 1739, invaded India and sacked the palace
of the Moguls, and, with other fabulous wealth, carried this diamond
also back to his own country.
[Illustration: SHAH JEHAN'S FORT, AGRA]
Delhi is only a few hours' ride to the north from Agra. It is perhaps
the most interesting city in all India. From the earliest times of
Brahmanic legends down to the present, it has been the centre of war
and conflict, of royal display, extravagance, and treachery. Here,
again, Mohammedanism has, from the first, exercised its power and
revealed its religious warmth and enthusiasm. The Mohammedan mosques
are equal to any in the land. And though the Persian sacked the city a
hundred and seventy years ago, and robbed it of most that was
beautiful and valuable, there still remains a part of what was
probably the loveliest palace that was ever erected. It reveals to us
also "the imperial grandeur of the Moguls, whose style of living was
probably more splendid than that of any monarchs of any nation before
or since that time. Their extravagance was unbounded. Their love of
display has never been surpassed." It is claimed that the Peacock
Throne of this Delhi Palace was of sufficient value to pay the debts
of a nation. The marble walls are richly adorned with exquisite
mosaics. Indeed, they are regarded as incomparable specimens of the
art. One can pardon the builder who engraved over the north and south
entrances to this palace of the Moguls the following lines:--
"If there be a Paradise on Earth,
It is This! It is This! It is This!"
Eleven miles from the city are found splendid ruins which are crowned
by the celebrated tower known as Kutab-minar, which is another of the
most ancient and interesting monuments of India. Originally, this
remarkable structure was a Hindu temple, and was erected probably in
the fourth century of our era. But upon the invasion of the Mussulmans
the temple was converted into a Mohammedan mosque, and the famous
tower, which is 238 feet high, and is one of the most beautifully
erected in the world, was allowed to stand. "The sculptures that cover
its surface have been compared to those upon the column of Trajan in
Rome and the Column Vendome in Paris; but they are intended to relate
the military triumphs of the men in whose honour they were erected,
while the inscription on the Kutab-minar is a continuous recognition
of the power and glory of God and of the virtues of Mohammed, his
Prophet."
[Illustration: AKBAR'S TOMB]
It is in this city that one is impressed most thoroughly with
memorials of the great Mutiny of half a century ago, where the British
were so hard pushed and suffered so terribly in those days of
bitterness which tried men's souls. And there is no memorial of this
bitter struggle, to which the British refer with so much of pride and
glory, as they do to the Cashmere gate, which they blew up and thereby
forced an entrance into the city, with a loss of much precious blood.
But it was not the Mutiny nor the massive and gorgeous emblems of
Mohammedanism which impressed the writer most in this city. It was a
vision just outside the walls of the city--a vision of great
simplicity--which thrilled his heart a few years ago. It was a very
unattractive little ruined tower, from the centre of which rose a
polished granite pillar, some thirty or forty feet high. It was
inscribed from top to bottom, and the inscription was quite legible.
It spoke not of the triumphs of war nor of the glory of human rule and
conquest. It is one of the most eloquent testimonies to the nobility
of the Buddhist faith. It was carried here only a few centuries ago by
an enlightened Mohammedan monarch from the far-off plains of the
north. It is one of the celebrated "Asoka Pillars." Asoka was the
emperor of twenty-two centuries ago who wrought for Buddhism what
Constantine the Great, at a later day, wrought for Christianity. He
was converted to Buddhism and at once became the devout propagator of
that faith. As the great emperor of his time, he exalted Buddhism and
made it the State religion of India. He not only sent his missionaries
all over the land; he decreed that its principal teachings should be
everywhere inscribed upon rocks and upon pillars; and that these
pillars should be erected in public places for the instruction of the
people. This pillar in Delhi is one of about a dozen already
discovered and preserved in North India. And it is, perhaps, the most
fully inscribed of all that have been found. And of the fourteen
Asokan edicts inscribed, most of them inculcate a high morality, and
some of them a noble altruism. For instance, the first is a
prohibition of the slaughter of animals for food or sacrifice. The
second is the provision for medical aid for men and animals, and for
plantations and wells on the roadside. The third is a command to
observe every fifth year as a year of mutual confession of sins, of
peace-making, and of humiliation. The ninth is the inculcation of true
happiness as found in virtue. In all these inscribed edicts of that
most tolerant and cosmopolitan Buddhist emperor, we see nothing of
which Buddhism should be ashamed, and much of which it may be proud,
in the way of ethical injunction. It is more than ten centuries since
Buddhism, which had been the common faith of India for a thousand
years, was absorbed into a new militant Hinduism and ceased to exist
as a separate faith in this land. To-day, India proper has hardly half
a million Buddhists. And yet we behold these mute prophets of far-off
days scattered in many parts of the land, still pressing their
message, but vainly, indeed, upon a people of unknown tongues. Buddha
himself is now a part of the Hindu Pantheon; and his principal
teachings have become an essential part of the faith which he tried to
overthrow. But these pillars stand for Buddhism that was tolerant
toward all save, perhaps, the Brahmanism which it existed to
overthrow.
[Illustration: KUTAB-MINAR, DELHI]
From Delhi we pass on northward to the beautiful city of Amritsar,
which is comparatively a modern town of one hundred and fifty thousand
people. In the heart of this town stands the far-famed Golden Temple
of the Sikhs, built by Ranjit Singh,--"The Lion of the Panjaub." The
temple is not a large one, being only fifty-three feet square, and is
built in the centre of a water tank, called "The Pool of
Immortality." The peculiar external feature of the temple is that it
is largely covered with gold plate; hence its name. It is a beautiful
object to behold; and we are in haste to take off our shoes, which are
prohibited in the sacred precincts, and to put on the shapeless holy
slippers presented to us! We enjoy perfect freedom in passing through
all parts of the temple, while devotees, under the guidance of the
priests, sing their songs of praise with devout impartiality to their
god and to their bible.
The temple is the centre and inspiration of the Sikh religion. The
Sikhs are an interesting people. They rallied round one of the
multitude of the Hindu religious reformers, named Nanak Shah, who
established this cult about the end of the fifteenth century. It may
be called an amalgam of Mohammedanism and Hinduism. It unites the
monotheism and the stern morality of the former with much of the petty
ritual of the latter. It does not observe caste. Still, in outer
matters of observances, Sikhs are not easily distinguishable from
ordinary Hindus. They, also, have bound themselves into a military
order, which gives them almost the distinction of a nation. For this
reason they are among the very best material which the country
furnishes for the native army, and are worthy to stand shoulder to
shoulder with European soldiers.
[Illustration: CASHMERE GATE, DELHI]
This religion is peculiarly a _book_ religion. It has degenerated into
a species of bibliolatry. Their bible contains the teachings and
sermons of the founder of the faith; and it presents the highest
standard of morality and courage, and appeals with special power to
this sturdy tribe of the north. This book is called "Granth," and is
generally spoken of as "Granth Sahib," which we may translate as "Mr.
Book"! That is, they give it a dignity and a personality which is
unique in any faith; and the Golden Temple is largely used as the
receptacle of the "Granth," of which they keep a few copies protected
by covers, which, however, they remove in order to show them to us as
we pass by.
In several particulars this faith is unique. They have no idols or
altars, but meet once a week for prayer and praise. Their preacher
reads passages from the "Granth" and prays to their god, who may be
reached through the intercession of Nanak Shah, his prophet and their
redeemer. They sing hymns similar to those used in Protestant worship,
and celebrate communion by partaking of wafers of unleavened bread.
Their congregation do not object to the presence of strangers, but
usually invite them to participate in the worship. There are about
two and a quarter million Sikhs in the Province of the Panjaub,--the
land of the "five rivers."
While in this city, one is tempted to look at the Khalsa College, one
of the institutions established by government in different parts of
the land for the suitable training of native princes. Here one may
find young Sikh nobles and wealthy landlords, to the number of five
hundred, being qualified for the high responsibilities which are
before them.
We hurry back from the north in a southeastern direction over a
distance of eight hundred miles and reach the city of Benares, on the
river Ganges. There is hardly a river in the world which produces more
fertility and which brings sustenance to more people than the divine
Ganges. The river is not only deified, but is regarded as one of the
most potent deities of India.
From time immemorial, Benares, or "Kasi," which is built upon the
banks of the Ganges, has partaken of the sanctity of the river, and is
regarded by devout Hindus as the most sacred spot in the world. To die
within the radius of ten miles from its centre is sure and eternal
bliss, even to the outcast and the defiling white man! Many thousands
are brought annually from all parts of the land to die at this sacred
place, and have their ashes scattered upon the waters of the holy
river. Many thousands of others who die in all parts of the land have
their bodies burned and their ashes brought, by loving relatives upon
pilgrimage, to this city to be sprinkled upon the tides of the Ganges,
which insures eternal rest to the departed souls.
What Mecca is to Mohammedans, more than Jerusalem is to Jews, is
Benares to devout Hindus. It has more temples and shrines than any
other equal area in the world. Its priests, who are called
_Gangaputhira_ ("the Sons of the Ganges"), are legion. They have their
emissaries at principal railway stations for hundreds of miles from
the city, always on the lookout for pilgrims, and gathering up pilgrim
bands to lead them on with ever increasing numbers to their temples.
The idols of this city are legion.
But there is nothing here which impresses one more than its squalid
filth, and the abject degradation of the people which crowd its
streets. The temples are extremely dirty. There is not one of imposing
size or of decent attractiveness. There stands the monkey-temple,
where scores of mangy, tricky brutes are daily sumptuously fed by
devout pilgrims. On one side of the precinct a clever butcher-priest
severs with one stroke the heads of goats which are brought for
sacrifice to the thirsty deity. As in Madura, so in Benares, the great
god of the Hindu is Siva. But the character of the worship which is
rendered to him and to others of his cult is far from ennobling when
not actually revolting. And the phallic emblem of this god is
everywhere found in his temples and is suggestive of definite evils
connected with his worship.
The saddest and most grewsome of all objects which impress one in this
centre of Hinduism is its burning Ghaut. To the side of the river many
bodies are brought daily, each wrapped in a white cloth, and are
deposited just where they are half covered by the water. Within ten
feet of this place we see parties of pilgrims bathing in and drinking
of the sacred water of the river, utterly regardless of the proximity
of corpses above stream! From time to time corpses are picked out of
the water and placed upon piles of wood near by. Each pile is ignited
and the body reduced to ashes. These ashes are carefully collected,
later on, and sprinkled, with appropriate ceremonies, on the face of
the river. Day after day, and year after year, this ceaseless
procession of the dead takes place, while up stream and down stream
the bank of the river is covered with men and women who fatally
believe that by bathing in this dirty stream they are washing away
their sins and preparing themselves for final absorption and eternal
rest in Brahm!
Benares reminded the writer of Rome. He never realized the degradation
possible to Christianity until he visited "The Eternal City," with its
huge shams and ghastly superstitions. He never saw Hinduism with its
myriad inane rites and debasing idolatry half so grotesque, idiotic,
and repulsive, as in this city of Benares, where one ought to see the
religion of these two hundred odd million people at its best, and not
at its worst.
It is a positive relief to go out of the city, a distance of four
miles, to Sarnath, where the great Buddha--"The Enlightened
One"--spent many long years in establishing his faith and in
inculcating his "Doctrine of the Wheel." It is a beautiful drive to
the birthplace of one of the greatest world faiths. Very little but
ruins meets the inquiring gaze of the visitor. Some of these, however,
are very impressive, especially the great _stupa_, or tower. It now
stands a hundred and ten feet high and ninety-three feet in diameter.
It was very substantially built, the lower part faced by immense
blocks of stones which were clamped together with iron. And this
facing was covered with elaborate inscriptions. The upper part was
built of brick. At the foot of this striking ruin, built in the remote
past as a monument to an ancient faith, devout Buddhists from all
parts of the world come for worship and meditation upon the vanity of
life. The day before the writer arrived, the Lama of Tibet spent here
a few hours worshipping and seeking the blessing of the "Enlightened
One." Near by, government is making a series of excavations and is
discovering very interesting relics connected with this ancient
monastery founded by the Buddha. Already a beautiful specimen of an
Asoka pillar and a variety of interesting sculptures have rewarded
their industry. One can imagine no place more dear to the
contemplative Buddhist than this centre of the activities of his great
Master, where he spent many of the best years of his life in
expounding the teachings of his new cult, and in leading many souls
toward the light for which he had struggled with so much of heroic
self-denial, and which had ultimately dawned upon him under the sacred
Boh tree at Buddha Gaya.
In this extended pilgrimage, during which we have sought ancient and
modern expressions of the many faiths which have dominated, or which
now dominate, the people of this land, we have come into touch not
only with those tolerant faiths which have found their origin here, or
which have found refuge and popularity in this peninsula,--such as
Hinduism, Demonolatry, Buddhism, Jainism, Zorastrianism, and Sikhism.
We have also come into touch with the three most intolerant faiths of
the world,--Christianity, Mohammedanism, and Judaism. There is no land
where these three religions have suffered less of opposition than in
India. Indeed, it is not from persecution and opposition that they
have stood in most danger, but from fraternal contact, growing
appreciation, and ultimate absorption. The Hindu mind, like the Hindu
faith, has a fatal facility for accepting, semi-assimilating, and
finally absorbing, all of religious belief and conviction that may
come into contact with it. And this never necessarily involves the
abandoning of the old beliefs.