Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-04-14
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
INDIA AND HER PROBLEMS


India and her problems and
movements canno be understood
unless something is known of the
tangled threads of numerous religi-
ons that are entwined with every hb-
er of her life," says a bulletin issued
from the Washington. ID. C. head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society. Religious antagonism has
heretofore been the rock upon which
every proposed all-India movement
has broken up" continues the bull
letin. although the recently i'm.
prisoned leader. Ghandi, has been
able, in q measure, to enlist follow
ers from some of the most diver
gent of midas Earring creeds.'
Religion a Spice To the Indian
Religion is the soul of Indian
life, the spice in an otherwise I'M
endurable existence. To the Hindu,
Mohammedan or Sikh. religion is by
no means normal but is an actual
force in everyday affairs. Religious
festivals mark the changes of the
year.. The temple grounds are the
meeting places of the people and the
forums of public opinion.
"Asceticism is both subjective and
effectively attractive and holy men
abound from the Himalayas. beloved
by Kim's guru, to the tropical sea
beside which Dravidian temples
raise their gopurams and Christian
churches show their spires.
Probably nowhere is religion used
with more profitable results by
charlatans and imposters than in
India. So great a virtue is charity
that the very mountebank is con-
-sl--~ -,L1s~ L4-Afr nh "a
Moslem mendicant often lends real
dignity to the dignified word 'fakir.'
But many holy men are more IA
ker than fakir.
Religion a Coat of Many Colors
Nowhere else have men, through
religion, so detached themselves
from the passions and frivolities of
worldly life. Nowhere has religion
SO seasoned unmitigated misery
Nowhere has religion been the cloak
for more blatant beggary and dis
gushing deception. Nowhere is re
ligion a more potent political fac
tor.
More than two-thirds of the peo-
pie of India are Hindus. Modern
Hinduism grew out of Brahman-
ism, and is still called by that name.
The earlier belief was in n omnip-
otent but impersonal Being. whose
personal manifestations were Brah-
ma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preser-
yer: and silva. the Destroyer and
Reproducer. Brahma has few fol-
lowers. Vishnu is worshipped by
millions, upon whose foreheads is
painted a device called the namam
consisting of a vertical red line in
side a U-shaped figure in white clay.
But the favorite god of many Hin
dus is silva.
Conquered Buddhism by Compro-
mise
when Buddha gained followers
in India, the Brahmins accepted
Buddha as the ninth incarnation of
Vishnu and by this compromise they
so e~masculated the gentle faith of
the Buddhists that they drove Bud
dhism into Ceylon, Burma and the
Far East, SO that the religion of
the Hindu, modified by the teach
ings'of Buddha, pervades India from
Benares to C~onjeeveram and from
Kumbakonam to Allahabad.
when the various Mohammedan
conquerors poured in over the
northern passes they brought their
iNAiSAOAt with tiAtAAit 81 lAAh A
more Mohammedans than Turkey
ever ruled and the assemblage of
the Faithful in the Great Mosque of
Delhi forms one Of the largest con-
g%regations of the followers of Mo-
manned to be found anywhere. The
constituencies of this Moslem group
over alleged insults to the Khalif or
of Turkey has done much to
complicate world politics. With
more than sixty-six million Moham-
medans within its boundaries, India
ranks at the top OF the list of Mos
lands. But Indian Mohamme-
danism is strongly tinged with Hin
du culture and has lost much of the
militant quality which distinguished
it in the days of Baber and Akbar.
Sikhs an Ofshot
'"The Sikhs broke away from the
orthodox Hindu faith under the
of Nanak. who was born
in the Punjab, near Amritsar. n
capital city of the Sikhs in 1859.
Sikh means disciple and these
schismatics once worshipped then
Gurus, or teachers, but later trans
ferred their devotion to the Granth,
holy book which proclaims their
faith and principles. The Sikhs
abolished caste. that curse and
blessing of Hindu society. and their
militant ardor has given them a
standing out of all proportion to
their membership of three millions.
India has nearly four million
Christians, mostly Roman Catholics,
Anglicans and Baptists. but with
large numbers Of Syrian Christians.
whose patriarch lives in Antioch.
Most of the Christians are found in
Madras Presidency and on the Ira
vancore coast.
From Peshawar to Cape Como
rim, India contains many Animists
among the hill tribes and abort
ginal races and even the Buddhists
of Burma hold to some Animistic
beliefs, whose influence Is felt
throughout the land.
Homes for Descrepit Animals
Two of the most interesting but
numerically unimportant religious
groups are the jams and the Parsis-
The jams form a monastic group
rather than a religion, agree with
the Hindus in many principles, as
cribe q soul to every animal how
ever small, and seek to secure re-
lease from the bonds of transmit
grafton. According to their BELIEF,
only the monks a attain Nirvana.
Their homes for descrepit animals
are world famous and their temples
are noted for the intricacy of their
carvings and the wealth of ornament
which distinguishes them.
"The Parsis are descendants OF
fha fra worshinpers who were ak