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adopting, it is said, the dcvlco of making him
one of the incarnations of their own god.
At Bonares one soos idolatry in its grossest
and most repulsive forms, and it is therefore as
interesting today to the student of the world's
great religions as to tho devoted Hindu who
travels hundreds of miles over dusty roads to
batho In the Ganges, whoso waters he considers
sacred. Benares is built upon the north bank
of tho Ganges, and it is estimated that each year
it is visited by a million pilgrims. When more
than three hundred miles from the city, wo saw
tho caravan of one of the Maharaja (Maharaja
is tho title borne by native princes) on its way
to the river. There were five elephants, a dozen
camels and twenty or thirty bull carts, besides
numerous pack animals and horses. The trip
could not be made in much less than two months,
and all this for the sake of a bath in the waters
of the sacred river.
Tho bank of the Ganges is lined for a long
distance with bathing ghats (as the steps leading
to the river are called), and at one point there
is a burning ghat, where the bodies of the dead
are cremated. Cremation is universal among the
Hindus, sandal-wood being used where the rela
tives can afford it. Taking a boat, as is custom
ary, we rowed up and down the river in the early
morning, and such a sight! Down the steps
as far as tho eye could reach came the battlers,
men, women and children, and up the steps
went a constant stream of those whtHiad finished
their ablutions. Most of them carried upon their
heads water pots of shining brass and some carried
bundles of wearing apparel. The bathing is done
leisurely as if according to ritual, with frequent
dippings; water is poured out to the sun and
prayers are said. Tho lame, the halt and the
blind are there, some picking their way with
painful step, others assisted by friends. Here, a
leper sought healing in the stream; near him a
man with emaciated form mixed his medicine
, with the holy water, and not far off a fakir with
matted hair prayed beneath his big umbrella.
On one of the piers a young man was cultivating
psychic power by standing on one leg while he
told his beads with his face toward the sun.
, pressing and undressing is a slmnle matter
with,tb.o mass of the people. Men, and women
emerging from the water, throw a clean robe
around themselves and then unloosening tlfe wet
garment, wring it out and are ready to return.
Those who bring water pots fill them from the
stream, out of which they have recently come,
and carry them away as if some divinity protected
the water from polution. As the river contains
countless dead and receives the filth of the city
as well as the flowers cast Into it by worshipers,
. it requires a strong faith to believe it free from
lurking disease and seeds of pestilence,
."When wo reached the burning ghat, we found
one body on the funeral pyre and another soaking
. ,ln the water as a preparatiou for burning. So
highly is the Ganges revered that aged people
are brought there that they may die, if possible,
n the water. While we wore watching, a third
so limp tlmt death could not have occurred long
thrpn;n,mUe the flames were consuming those
three corpses, we saw coming down the steps a
man carrying the body of a child aVarentlv
about two years old, wrapped in a piece of ?h In
cotton cloth. (The children of the poor are
buried in the stream because of the cost of wood )
,f ?? bnre hi& llfeless burden a little Targe
tH we thecorDSe fflst to a heavy stone slab.
The boatman then pushed out from the shore and
when the middle of the stream was reached t he
the SnS, ? oTlTSSi Mangel S
be?aSsee Ft? &T "7 t
graphs of the temple present rather an' attracUve
appearance, but the original is anyt Stag but
beautiful and the monkeys and general filth
vtur ve ii of m ai)pearance
filled with images and thronged with bel
One fiivdsXhis interest in missionary work qS?c
ened f heVwanders through these streets nmi
S ??! ffg f lncenso t0 tholSeTant gS
and the mmrvpv rrn.i o.i i l . " uu
nhi mi,: , v , , ' "u uu bos innumer
able. The airis heavy with nerfnmo .i ,
odor of decaying flowers, and one jostles against
the sacred bulls as he threads his way through
the crowd. Wo have not seen in any other land
such evidences of superstition, such effort to ward
off evil spirits and to conciliate idols. The
educated Hindus, and there are many learned
men among the Hindus, regard these idols as only
visible representations of an invisible God, but
the masses seem to look no farther than the
ugly images before which they bow
It was a relief to find near this dark pobl of
idolatry an institution of learning, recently
founded, which promises to be a purifying spring.
I refer to the Central Hindu College of which
Mrs. Annie Besant, the well known theosophist,
is the head. Although the school is but seven
years old, it already includes a valuable group
of -buildings and has some five hundred students.
Among the professors are several Englishmen
who serve without compensation, finding sufficient
reward in the consciousness of service.
Next to Benares Allahabad is the most im
portant Hindu center. The city is on the Ganges,
at its junction with the Jumna, one Qf its longest
branches. There is an old tradition" that another
river, flowing underground,- empties into the
Ganges at this point, and the place is referred
to as the junction of the three rivers. The
great Mogul Akbar built a splendid fort where
the Ganges and the Jumna meet, and probably
on this account Allahabad is the capital of the
United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Within
the walls of the fort there is another of the
Asoka pillars, a very well preserved one, forty
nine feet high and bearing numerous inscrip
tions, among which are the famous edicts of
Asoka, issued in 240 B. C, against the taking of
life. Within the fort in a subterranean room
is another object of interest, the Akhshai Bar
or undecaylng banyan tree. As this tree is de
scribed by a Chinese pilgrim, of the seventh
century, it is either of, remarkable antiquity or
has been renewed from time to time.
The religjous importance of Allahabad is
largely due to a fair which is held there every
year and which on every twelfth year becomes
a national event. It is called the Mela and last
January brought to the city a crowd estimated
at from one and a half to three, 'millions. This
every-twelfch-year fair brings together not only
the devout Hindus, who come as a matter of
religious duty, and innumerable traders who
at such times find a market for their wares!
but it draws large numbers of fakirs (pronounced
fah-keers,. with the accent upon the last syllable)
or holy men. They wear full beards and long
hair and no clothing except the breech cloth.
iney put ashes and even manure upon their
sheads, and their hair and whiskers are matted
and discolored. .These men are supposed to have
raised themselves to a high spiritual state by
asceticism and self-punishment. They undergo
SV2rVi,of hardsniP' such as hanging over a
fii e holding up the arm until it withers, and sit
ting upon a bed of spikes. We saw many fakirs
at Benares and Allahabad and some elsewhere
if Jeyare, Satto,;ea over the whole country),
S tnwn?t-lalter Plttce one accommodated ii
by taking his seat upon the Bpikes.
At the recent Mela five hundred of these
fakirs marched in a procession naked,. even the
breech cloth having been abandoned for the
S tnhatanttf FT" W the rev p
hem that their followers struggled to obtain
the sand made sacred by their tread, a numbe?
of people meeting their death in the crowd These
fakirs are supposed to have reached a state of
sinlessness, but one of them seized a child I atone
the line of march and dashed out its brains "n
the presence of its mother, claiming to be advised
that the gods desired a human sacrifice He was
ETt LVoVtf Bl? iSb fflJ?iaIs anTlsCnowHLWaat!
ing trial on the cliarge of murder. The papers
recently reported another instance in which a
fakir was the cause of a murder. He was con
suited by a woman who had lost several children
and was anxious to protect her prospective child
from a like fate. The fakir told her that she
could insure her child's life if she would herself
bathe in human blood, and she and her husS
5 iCf aJ seven-yeai-0 boy into their home and
killed him to secure the blood necessary for the
hath. The fakirs are not only a danger t
community in some cases and a source of de
moralization at all times, but they are a heavv
dra n upon the producing wealth of the countr
Adding nothing to the material, intellectual ov
moral development of the country, they live
upon the fears and credulity of the ueonln
The Hindu religion claims sometS more
han two hundred millions of humC beings with
in its membership; it teaches the transmigration
of the soul or reincarnation as it is geferai
VOLUME G, .'.NUMBER 22
called. The Hindu mind takes -kindly to tho
metaphysical, and the Hindu priests haye evolved
an intricate system of philosophy in support of
"their religious'beliefs. Reincarnation is set forth
ns a theory necessary to bring God's plans into
accord with man's conception of justice. If a man
is born blind or born into unfavorable surround,
ings, it is explained on the theory that he is be
ing punished for sins committed during a former
existence; if he is born into a favorable environ
ment, he is being rewarded for virtue previously
developed.
It is not quite certain whether the Hindus
have many gods or many forms of one god, for
the ancient Vedas speak of each of several gods
as if they were supreme. 'The most popular god
is a. sort of trinity, Bramah, the creator- Vis
chnu, tho preserver, and "Siva, the destroyer
being 'united in one. Sometimes the trinity is
spoken of as representing creation, destruction
and renovation, in which Krishna' appears as the
principal god. Out of this system have sprung
a multitude of gods until tho masses bow down
"to sticks and stone," x
The most pernicious product of the Hindu
religion is the caste system. Infant marriage is
terrible, but that will succumb to education;
the seclusion of the women is benumbing, but
it will give way before the spread of European
and American influence, and with it will go the
praotical servitude of widows, as the practice
of suttee (the burning of widows) has practically
gone. But the caste system, resting upon vanity
and pride and. egotism, is more difficult to eradi
cate. Nowhere in the world is caste so inex
orable in its demands or so degrading in its
influence. The line between the human being and
the beast of the field is scarcely more distinctly
drawn' than "the line between the various castes.
The Brahmins belong to the priestly class and
are supposed to have sprung from 'the mouth of
Brahm, the great creator; the Kshatrias, or war
rior class, are supposed to have sprung- from the
shoulders ' of Brahm; the" Vaisyas, or merchant
class, are supposed to have sprung from' the
thighs of Brahm; while the Sudras, or laborers,
are, supposed to have sprung from the feet of
Brahm; There are numerous .sub-divisions of
these . castes,- and besides these there are out
casts, .although there does not1 seem to be, any
room below the Sudras' for, any other-class. The
"caste system not only affects social intercourse
and political progress, but it complicates living.
A high caste Hindu' can not accept food or
drink from a low caste and must purify his water
bottle if a low -caste touches it.
About seventy years ago a reform in Hin
duism was begun under the name of Brahmo
Somaj. It was built upon monotheism, or the
worship of one god, for which' it claimed to find
authority in the Hindu sacred books. It drew
to Itself a number of strong men, among them
Mr. Tagore and Mr. Sen, the latter making a
trip to England to present the principles of the
new faith before prominent religious bodies there.
The Arya Somaj, another reform sect, sprung
up later. Both of these have' exerted considerable
influence Upon the thought of India, far beyond
their numerical strength. q far, however, Chris
xiamty has made greater inroads upon Hinduism
than any of the reformations that have been at
tempted from within. -
At Allahabad we found two Christian col
leges, the Allahabad Christian college for men and
the Wanamaker school for girls'. Dr. A. H. Ewing
is at the head of the former and Miss" Foreman,
the daughter of an early misiopary, at the head
of the latter. Both of these schools have been
built with American money, Mr. Yanamaker hav
ing been the most liberal patron. They are ex
cellently located, are doing- 'a splendid work and
are affiliated witli the Presbyterian church. Fifty
dollars will pay for the food, room clothes and
tuition of one boy while thirty dollars will pro
vide for one girl, and interested Americans have
already established several scholarshipV but
money1 is badly needed to enlarge the facilities
of both these schools. ' '
Wo spent the Sabbath at Allahabad and
visited both, of these schools, and our appreci
ation of their work was enhanced by our observa
tions at Benares. It seemed like an oasis in the
desert. Surely those who have helped to create
this green'1 spot may it ever wjden will find
interise satisfaction in the good that these schools
are doing and will do. J-" '
Copyright. ' ! .
t TJie organized musicians 'of the country as
sert that the "royal lta'(lah ; bauds'" are only
plebiah hahdorganists Recruited' in' this "coim'try
and decorated with rediinif6'rms.' The organized
musicians have plenty of auditory proof ofthe
truth of their assertions. x"
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