Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-04-14
CONTROLLED BY RELIGION
Striking Peculiarly Of Vast Empire
H.. OF India.
BELIEFS MANY, VARIED AND STRONG

BELIEFS MANY, VARIED NBB;ESSIROEt
More Mohammedans In This Country
. Than Any other-4Roman Catholic
Christians Largely In the. Majority
-How the srahgpjtns Hood~inksd
Buddha.
India and her problems and move
ments cannot be understood unless
something is known OF the tangled
threads Of numerous religions that are
entwined with every fibre Of her life,
says bulletin issued from the WASH
ington, D. c., headquarters Of the Ma
tional Geographic society. Religious
antagonism has heretofore, been the
rock upon which every proposed all
India movement has broken up, con-
tinues the bulletin, although the re-
Gently imprisoned leader, Ghandi, has
been able, in q measure, to enlist the
followers from some Of the most diver
gent of Indias Earring creeds."
Religion a Spice to the Indian.
Religion is the soul of Indian life,
the spice in an otherwise uncomfortable
existence. To the Hindu, Mohamme-
dan or Sikh, religion is by; no means
nominal, but is an actual force In eV-
eryday affairs. Religious festivals
mark the changes Of the year. The
temple grounds are the meeting places
of the people and the forums OF pub
iic opinion.
Asceticism is both subjectively and
effectively attractive and holy men
abound from the Himalayas, beloved
by Kim's guru, to the tropical sea be-
side which Drayidian temples raise
their gopurams and Christian'churches
show their spires.
!, Probably nowhere is religion used
with more profitable results by charla-
tans and impostors than in India. SO
great virtue is charity that the very
mountebank is considered public
benefactor. The Moslem mendicant
often lends real dignity to the digni-
fed word "fakir." But many "holy
men" are more faker than fakir.
Religion Coat Of Many colors.
Nowhere else have men, through re-
ligion, so detached themselves from the
passions and frivordes Of worldly life.
Nowhere has religion 80 seasoned un-
mitigated misery. Nowhere has re-
ligion been the cloak Of more blatant
beggary and disgusting deception No.
where is religion q more potent 'politi-
cal factor.
More than two thirds Of the people Of
India are Hindus. Modern Hinduism
grew out of Brahmanism, and Is still
called by that name. The earliest be-
lief was in one omnipotent but imper-
sonal Being, whose personal mankes-
tations were Brahma, the Creator;
Vishu, the Preserver; and silva. the
Destroyer and Reproducer. Brahma
has few followers. Vishnu is worship
ped by millions, upon Whose foreheads
Is painted q device called the namam
Of vertical red line inside
a U-shaped figure in white clay. But
the favorite god of many Hindus Is
silva.
Conquered Buddhism by compronnise.
When Buddha gained followers in
India, the Brahmins accepted Buddha
as the ninth incarnation OF Vishu,
and by this compromise they 80 emas-
culated the gentle faith of the Budd-
hists that they drove Buddhism into
Ceylon, Burma and the Far East, so
that the religion Of the Hindu, modi-
fed by the teachings Of Buddha, per-
vades India from Benares to Conjeeye-
ram and from Kumbakonam to ALA
habad
When the various Mohammedan
poured in over the north
ern passes they brought their religion
with them, so that India has more Mo-
than Turkey ever ruled,
and the assemblage Of "the Faithful
in the Great Mosque at Delhi forms
one Of the largest congregations of the
followers of Mohammed to be found
anywhere. The sensitiveness Of this
Moslem group over alleged insults Of
the khalif or sultan Of Turkey has
done much to complicate world poll
tics. With more than sixty-six mil
lion Mohammedans within its bounda-
ries, India ranks at the top Of the list
Of Moslem lands But Indian Moham-
mechanism is strongly tinged with Hin
du culture and has lost much Of the
militant quality which distinguished 1t
in the days of Baber and Akbar.
Sikhs an Offshoot. ... |
The Sikhs broke away from the or
thodox Hindu faith under the leader
ship of Nanak, who was born in the /
Punjab near Amritsar, the capital city
If the Sikhs, in 1869. Sikh means dis
ciples and these schismatics once wor- |
shipped their Gurus, or teachers, but
ater transferred their devotion to the |
Granth, or holy book which proclaims
heir faith and principles. The
Sikhs abolished caste, that curse and |
blessing of Hindu society, and their
militia nt q rdnr ba q ppiupp thapo a sfa nd