The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-12
CASTE SYSTEM BAD
RETURNED MISSIONARY TELLS OF
IT'S BALEFUL INFLUENCE
n IN INDIA
PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY
Although There Are 100000 Chris
tians in India, Nine-Tenths of
the Population Are Still
ReniEhted.

"1ndia-Her People, Caste System.
Famine and Mission Work. constituted
the subject treated of in the sermons Of
Rev. w. E.. Hopkins, who preached at
potn morning and evening services of the
First Baptist church yesterday. Mr.
! Hopkins, assisted by his wife, has been
for some years engaged in missionary
work in British India in the state of
/ Hyderabad, with his place of residence
| In Suzerabad, which is the principal
Christian settlement. Therefore his dis
course on the conditions existing in In
dla rebounds with information gained
by actual experience as well as, that
CLEANED by literary research and study
of native traditions
He devoted his attention las evening
particularly to the British occupation of
India and the famine of 1896. He re-
viewed the history of Brahminism and
the establishment of the caste system,
whose rigid laws of caste were framed
by the Brahmins, for the Brahmins, and
TO protect the Brahmins. The Brah-
| MINIS, ne said, were, in their own opin-
ion, the lords of all creation and the
god OF the Hindus. He dwelt upon the
strict manner in which the laws of caste
were enforced and the strong hold which
the Brahm1ns had upon the HindUs. Tie
religion founded by Buddha some time
subsequent to $50 B. c. was, he said,
a direct blow at the vital element of
Brahmin1sm. Buddha taught self-re-
nunc1ation, while Brahminism was
founded upon the principle of selfishness
Then, in the sixteenth century, Ma
homedanism was introduced, and from
1900 to 1900 the British suffered serious
reverses at the hands of native princes
contendlng for supremacy in their prov
inces.
REVIEW OF INDIA's PROGRESS.
The first British Baptist missionary,
he said, went to India early in 1900 and
the British East India company wanted
to send him back to England as it was
reared that an attempt to introduce
Christianity into India at that time
would only cause worse confusion He
was man Of determination, however.
and stayed to do good work He found
ed the first newspaper in British India
and founded the English Baptist mission,
which has grown to be one of the
strongest missionary societies of the
world Instead of creating worse con-
fusion, this missionary work had har-
monized the conflicting interests
The speaker referred to the mutiny Of
1856, which resulted in the charter of the
East India company being revoked and
Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of
1Alo1e1' he bIIliSn, he Sdlu, ndQ done
a great work in India, but a still great
er work remained to be done The Brit
1sh government, he said, had established
schools, barbarous customs had been
abolished, law established, a police force
organized, sanitation introduced, geologi-
cal surveys made, mining operations
started and railway systems established
throughout the country. The railway,
he said, was one of the greatest agents
t-ttnf Of Lo
Prior to the establishment of the rail-
ways travel in India was by bullock cart
or on foot, and after the railways were
built those methods were the only al
terna1Yes, but for time the Brahmins
refused to ride on the railways because
the companies would not give them sep
arate cars for their caste. Gradually
they had to come to it, however, al
though it involved contamination which
could only be removed by ceremonies to
purify themselves after riding with
others not of their caste
CHRISTIANS NUMBER 2OOo,Oe0
Mr.. Hopkins said that the last census
showed 100000 Christian people in India,
but as the total population was 800 COO =
coo there still remained nine-tenths of
those people in the iron grasp of the
laws of caste. The number Of mission
aries he gave as LOCO and he dWeIt upon
the necessity of increasing that number
Taking up the topic of famine he ex
planned that there are but two rainy
seasons in India. The first is the sum
mer monsoon which usually continues
through June, July and August The
other is in September, October and the
early part of November and is really a.
return visitation of the monsoon. These
seasons must furnish all of the rain of
the year and the only system of irriga
ton for agricultural purposes is a crude
method Of surface storage by means of
large reservoirs, lakes, wells and drain
age canals The water storage CAPACITY
he said was totally insufficient, although
the British government had made great
improvements in that respect.
The famine of 1886, the speaker ex-
planned, was due to the failure Of the
monsoon and the fact that the wells
and reservoirs gave out. Again in
1873 there was only a partial monsoon
and last year, it was estimated, 100, 900, 900
people suffered from the effects of the
famine and 100000 died. He had learn
ed that the summer monsoon of this
year had also failed and if such was the
case the later monsoon would probably
fail also and the result would be worse
conditions that had ever yet been seen
in India.
Mr.. Hopkins said that In order that
he and his wife might take their trip
to this country a missionary field com
pr1slng zoo 600 souls, among whom were
300 Christians. had been left without
ministration. He wanted to raise ST.
to0 before October to send another mis-
sionary and hts wife to take up this
work and said that he would be glad to
receive contributions to a fund for that
purpose.