The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1907-12-27

ages OF countless sorts, are wreathed
In flowers, showered with rice. COW
cred with holy water, and made obei-
sance to. A Hindu is not going to
take any chances; he worships what
ever Is likely to be sacred, from a
Buddhist statue to Christian church,
to speak only within my own knowl-
edge. AS one said, you never can
tell, and it Is best to be on the safe
SIDE" The tracts which I saw a mis-
sionary distributing among the pill
grims on the river bank were eagerly
sought for and read.
For theoretical Hinduism the reader
must be referred to the encyclopedia:
this Is not the place to attempt even
an outline of Its main features, much
less a description of the principal
members of its gallery of innumerable
gods. Woven into the religion is the
caste system, which hopelessly shuts
OF one for life in the caste into which
he was born, so that Brahman is
contaminated by the very shadow of
sweeper. Theoretically, there are
four grand divisions Of caste. actually,
there are thousands of castles, and
never heard Of European who at
tempted to understand all the caste
marks which Hindus paint upon their
faces. heads, arms and. chests.
One advantage of caste has been
mentioned to me by British army Off.
GERS: If it were not for the caste
system, which breaks the people up
into trreconciliable sections, England
would not be able to hold India for six
months"
Theosophy's FIourishins College.
Theosophy, which here claims to be,
practically, pure Hinduism. has estab.
lished great college at Benares, the
Central Hindu College," with 700 stu.
dents and fine equipment of build
ings. Mrs. Annie Besant, herself,
whom the late Col. Olcott nominated
at the direction of the "Mahatmas"
as president of the Theosophists
(although not all of the Theosophists
seem inclined to ratify this choice).
resides here and is the head of the COL
lege. The day of my visit to the COL
lege she was in Madras, the world
headquarters of theosophy, so my in
terview was with her assistant, an
Englishwoman dressed in a salmon
colored kimono, with a white philos-
opher's robe draped over it. She wore
the sacred Brahman cord about her
neck and her bare feet were thrust
into sandals. Mrs. Besant claims to
have been Brahman in previous
incarnation.
A revival of pure Hinduism is one
Of the objects, if not the chief OBJ
ject, of the college: which also gives
instruction in the western sciences.
1t was as surprising as it was disgust.
ing to find that this institution, with a
staff of European theosophists among
it's teachers, and supported in good
part by funds from Europe and Amer
lea should have as the one conspicu-
GUS figure on its campus. in heroic
size, the uncomfortable Shive symbol.
If Boston only knew!
Digging Up Buried City.
Although there are now only a few
hundred Buddhists in all India proper,
it was at Benares that Buddhism
really began. Buddha, after his en-
lightenment, began to teach at spot
a few miles from here, known as Sar-
nath, the original site of Benares. At
the present moment archaeological ex-
plorations of great Importance are
under way at Sarnath. The ruins
which have just been unearthed
are probably those of the very
monastery to which Buddha re-
tired, in the fifth century B. c. The
images dug up are in excellent condi-
ton, and quite as we'll carved as those
in modern temples. One of the
finds" Is a huge polished granite
pillar, erected by King Asoka, 'the
Constantine of Buddhism" 200 years
before the Christian era. The week
of my visit, finely built well, in
perfect condition, though now dry, had
been uncovered. These excavations
at Sarnath are probably the most i'm.
portant now under way anywhere in
the world.
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles.)