The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-17
THE EMPIRE OF INDIA
XIIi.-Many Gods and Many creeds'
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

Bombay Naturalization is the basis
OF an social and political life in the east
ana IN india It Is the controlling factor in
SFtI9 pfQDl9m OF the three hundred mil
mons OF people in the Indian empire, more
IMAM Two hundred millions are Hndus in
religion, subject to the Brahrnanical
piiSathOOG. MOhammedansm ranks next
Win over sixty million followers. There
are ABOUT ten million Buddhists in Burma
dlle assam, but none in India proper.
The Christians have three millions. the
SKIES Two millions, the jams q million
ana a half, while there are ninety thou
sand Parsees and less than twenty thou
sdhu Jews. In addition to the believers
IN these organized religions. there are
dcout nine millions of Indians who are
classeQ as Animists-psCple who worship
animals or plants, idolaters Of the most
primitive kind
The Hindu religion is a development of
an ancient faith which found expression
~ the Nedas, sacred hymns written prob
aoIy tHteen centuries before Christ. I'm
uel lle influence of Christian teaching
ana western civilization. there has been
a movement among the better educated
f1lnuus 70 return to the pure religion OF
the Nedas. but il has reached but very
rev OF the people. In theory the Hin
aus recognize supreme being repre-
SShted in a trinity of chief gOds-Brahma,
Nlsnnu and silva. Brahma is the chief OF
me gods but his worship has fallen into
ulSuse on account of the sectarian actiV-
tiles Of the followers Of the second and
third persons in the triad. There are only
tour temples in all India now dedicated to
me worship of the supreme god of the
Hindu theology.
Hinduism is essentially eclectic. and it
reserves the right to select and adopt any
feature from any religion. 1t is, there
IoIe- tolerant in theory and in fact to all
OLner beliefs. although this tolerance does
not prevent uncaasing hate and war be-
tween Hindus and Mosems Buddhism
mas disappeared from India, swallowed up
Dy the religion IL was intended to reform.
Yer Buddha remains and is WOrshippeO
as one of the thousand and eight incaTna-
tons of Nishnu.
The religion is divided into many
branches but the two greatest sects are
SiVaism and Nishnuism--the names given
the cults of silva and Vishnu. silva is the
god OF destruction and reproduction, and
MS worship in a thousand forms and un-
der many names, is most popular. He re-
QuireS little ceremonial, only . few flow
ers and Oblation of water while Vishnu
must be wOrshipped with a ritual of
great length and intriCaCy. silva repre-
sents the g1ver of life and the destroyer,
ne typiflcs the endless and pitiless sue
cessiOn of change which life presents to
the oriental mind. The Brahman philos-
Opher sees i'm him the supreme ALLEGED,
the worker of Brahmas viii and the
fountain Of the universe Of activity The
ignorant villager on the other hand, as
sociates silva with the mystery of repro
duction and makes his worship reYOltingly
obscene.
Vishnu is less mystical and more hui
man. He has come to earth as a man or
an animal many times, and he is assoc
Ciated with scores of demi-gods taken
from the Velhalla of ancient Hindu ira
ditiOns. Nishnu is repOseful silva is ac-
tive, Vishnu is kindly and indulgent.
silva is jealous and revengeful. Vishnu
rewards kindness and charity silva must
he prOptidted. These two great sects
are divided into numberless smaller divi-
hn fu foil rnrnd Nfarr~a
with the caste Of the worshiper.
Much may be said and much is said.
by educated Indians and learned English
speaking Yogis, or holy men. in favor of
the beautiful philosophy Of the unity of
God and the brotherhood of man, which
is taught by the few Of the higher orders
of HindUs, But for the great multitude,
for all but ten thousand of the two hun
dred millions Of Hindus, the religion is
degrading, immoral, obscene, cruel and
utterly repulsiVe.
Its temples are given over to the most
revolving immoral practices, its priests
ore leechss who suck the blood Of the
4eOple under them, its teachings have not
one ray Of light for the common man 1t
compels infant marriages that the BTah-
mans may be sure of the marriage fees
before the children die. And then It pro
hibits the remarriage of a widow because
it was her sin which brought about the
death of the husband. The millions of
degraded and outeast widows of India,
are a sufficient condemnation OF Hindu
ism and its filthy, greedy, "twice-born"
priests.
Mohamme danism in India is in decline,
just as it seems to be in other parts of
the world The erstwhile superiority of
the Moslem over the Hindu was credited
TO his better habits of life, but he e not
keeping pace in late years. The Mpbhm-
medan eats meat and Is not restricted
to narrow circle in selecting a wife,
so that as a class the MOslems are phys
ically much stronger than the Hindus.
But their religion is more conservative
when the matter of new doctrines and
new teaching is concerned. Therefore they
have failed to take advantage Of the ed
ucational opportunities offered by the
British government, and have been out
distanced by the high-Caste Hindus.
great MOslem college at Aligarh rep
resents tie most progressive party ID
modern Islam, and draws students even
from MOhammedan Europe It has wei
coined western science and is endeavor-
ing to bring Islam into touch with mod
ern learning. But the ruined astronomi-
cal observatOries OF the MOslem capitals
of the north of India, the magnificent
monuments of the MOguls, and the we'll
nigh deserted mosques of the large cities
testify to the decay of Islam Yet the