Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1904-07-08
.HTNDOO
BELIEVES
BIBLE
Strange People Never Com
nit Murder on Account
of Their Religion

Though there are 100000 900 of rco-
pie in India, murder is almost un-
known there. The condition is phe-
nomenal in contrast with other coun-
tries, in all of which murder and
murderers abound. The fact is as.
cribed by Mr.. Makurdji, a Hindoo
now in Corvallis, says the Times, to
the influence the Hindoo religion
wields on the people of India. Mr.,
Markudji is highly educated, speaks
English fluently and is an intelligent
young man of 2S or 80 years Of age.
Saturday night, he delivered an infor-
NAL lecture before the Ladies' Read.
ing club at the home of Miss Smell,
with the religion and literature of
India for a topic.
The Hirdoos, according to Mr.
Makurdji, are far more devout than
our own Christians. They believe
every man to be the son of God, and
accept Jesus Christ and believe in the
new testament. They believe man
after death is born again as a child
and he lives over and over again on
earth, being always unconscious of
his former life. The length of the
period between death and the new
birth is neither fixed nor understood.
Every Hindoo lives, not for his own
but for everybody's benefit. A Hin.
doc msrries. not for helping himself
or for fulfilling his own particular de-
sires, but with the idea of bringing
another worker into the household.
The new wife is brought into the
family, where the son remains to
help the parents until the father at
tains the age of fifty, when the lat
ter retires from work and spends
his time in thought and religious
meditation. Many Hindoos retire
from the world, and live In caves in
the Himalaya mountains, subsisting
mainly on the fruits that abound in
that tropical cline. Charity and
alms-giving is a national trait and
the beggar to whom a suit of clothes
and money is given at night, may
have bestowed 1t all on a fellow beg
gar by the morning. The main
thought of the people is their religion
and but little attention is paid
or interest taken in the accummula-
ton of property. Though in social
life there are castles to the number
of four, with lines of etiquette tight
ly drawn, there are no sects in their
religion, and they are amazed at the
number and variety of denominations
and churches in the Christian relig-
ion. They dislike the missionaries,
whom Mr.. Makurdji says undertake
to teach them about a Christ that
the Hindooos have already accepted
as He is, but whom the missionaries
undertake to give to them as the
American or European churchmen ac'
cept him. "They want to dress Christ
up in their kind OF necbtie, and hat
and coat, and give him to us that
way" said the Hindoo student.
The literature of the Hindoos CON
tains an epic, similar to Homer's
nliad, that tells a beautiful story which
narrated in the foreign accent and
graceful style of this Hindoo student,
far removed now from his native
land, was charming entertainment for
those who listened to It at Miss SHELLS
home.
Mr.. Makurdji is doing work in the
college laboratories, while he waits
for a friend who is to reach Corvallis
from Japan in two weeks OF a month,
after which both leave for the st.
Louis exposition. Mr. Malurdjl may
return to o. A. c., when school opens
in the fall.