Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-29
RELIGIONS KEEN
RIVALS IN INDIA.
Hindu, MosIem, Buddhist and.
Christian ProseIytists
Competing.

drawn 10 the growing cOmpetibfon De-
tween proselytists working for the
Hindu. MoSlsm. Buddhist and Christian
religions in India.
Twenty years ago the Christian
evanReiists had the field practically to
themselves Mohsmmedanism, once an
aggressive and vigorous religion. had
lost It's zeal to convert. Except for those
outcasts. or "untoucha bles" Of Hindu
ism, who voluntarily embraced Islam.
the Muslin numbers were not greatly
increasing
Buddhism, too, that formerly had
300 600 900 followers IN India, seemed
to have accepted It's period Of decadence
and did little to win back the masses
to the word of Gautama. Even as late
as Is years ago, Hinduism, with 200
00o, 00o believers, had not single mis-
sionary in the field. Indeed. the belief
Of Hindus for centuries had been that
a man could become a Hindu only in
one way-to be born of Hindu parents.
All this has changed rapidly since
the World War. The growth of intense
communal feeling in India appears to
have invigorated the ancient religions
and nowadays you find missionaries
working for every faith The Moslems
new have their Caliphate. the Hindus
their Mahasabha. Both Of these,
though they do not announce them
selves as such. are strongly aggressive
PROSECUTING forces. They have branches
all over India and their activities are
aimed at spreading the influence OF
their respective faiths.
SIT. Ja0rna's Views.
Not long ago the writer heard q talk
by SIT. Jaorna. one of the Indian dele
gates to the Round Table Conference
DE In, rryfaf( or ha
told of the conflict of Moslem and Hindu
efforts at conversion
There has not been such energetic
proselyting in India since the days OF
the Mussulman conquest four centuries
ago" he declared And it has all
sprung up comparatively recently.
81 think 1t began largely to couI1tsr-
act the Christian propaganda so
widely disseminated throughout India.
Parsis, Sikhs. all have lost men to the
Christian faith as propagatsd here by
| foreign egangelists. Their intelligent
leaders realize that efforts fer self
preservation are necessary Many OF
them have adopted the methods intro
i duced by the Christians.
Thus today you ind Moslem agents
| with their tracts of the Koran. Hindus
| with their Gitas. Buddhists with their
f., side by side with Christians distributing
texts of the Bible. You find Young
| MosIem Clubs Young Hindu Clubs,
| Young Buddhists, IN ell the big cities,
somewhat corresponding to the Young
Mems Christian Association. You md
J refugees for derelict MoSlem, Hindu,
/ Sikh and Psrsi girls in Bombay and
| Calcutta.
Hinduism Has Lost Most.
There are schools, hundreds Of them.
run on g strictly sectarian basis. We
| have hospitals that are founded as
| Moslem or Hindu institutions. just as
| the Christians have their hospitals.
Our great educational centers, such as
| the National MosIem University ct
| Delhi and the Hindu University at
Benares. which are now better equipped
| and better stated than most Christian
colleges in India, have had their re-
! markable growth entirely within the
| last seven or eight years"
Hinduism has lost more yotaTies than
any other religion. It continues to be
proved upon by both Christians and
Moslems. religious authority mas
stated that during the past two years,
J in the Bombay presidency alone, Hindus
/ forsook their faith at an average Of
IL per day.
The Hindu Mahasabha declares that
the great, ma jority of these converts
are won over solely because Of their
| ignorance Of their own religion They
accuse both Moslems and Christians OF
employing various tricks and deeep-
ti0ns In order to get new followers.
Recently an extraordinary case OF TINS
kind occurred In village near Delnl,
where about 300 Hindus lived Ia
d0minantly MoSlem community.
The village had two wells, one for
Moslems, enc for Hind1s. into the
| HindllS' well a mischievous MoSlem one
night lowered q large hunk OF beer.
After a week he returned fer 1t with
/! his friends In the presence Of a NUM-
Der OF Hindus he drew 1t out. Con-
sternation seized the Hindus when they
understood that they all unwittAngiy
/ had drunk polluted water for whole
week. The sin was monStrous. II
was the general opinion that not even
| q pilgrimage to the sacred Ganges
| would expiate It, As HinGus these
| folk were doomed for punishment to
| rebirth in the form of one Of the
| lower animals. There was no hope
for them-unless they became Mos
| lens! After some elaboration they
all accepted Islam.
Equality Appeals to Lew.
Most of the Hindu converts are
/ from the lower castles The caSte-free
equality ideas of both Christianity
| and Mohammedanism make strong
appeal. Frequently whole communal
ties of pariahs 60 over to one Of the
competitors of Hinduism. Only a few
days ago 500 Hindu untouchables OF
| Pardi. near Nagpur. renounced their
| faith and in body joined Islam. The
cause of the desertiun was that the
| hiph-caste Hindus of the village de-
4 MED the lower castles the right to
draw water from the wells.
In Bombay recently two Hindu
girls, strangers in the city, were es-
corted from the Victoria Station by
some MoSlems, who, after posing as
| their friends, abducted them TO a
| house where they forced them to
] change their religion. The alterpa-
tive was to have been the sacrifice
of their virtue.
Police investigation in this case re-
vealed that Moslems keep hired agents
at al railway stations. They meet un-
sophisticated young men and women.
| promising them shelter and food, entice
| them into their religious strongholds
and there forcibly make them change
their faith.
Now the Hindu Mahasabha has
placed its own paid representatives In
| various cities to meet and guide un-
/ friended Hindus and to protect them
from fanatical proselyters Of other
| faiths. :.
! India's religions. we have long been
| told. are moribund But all these
activities seem to belle 1t. They have
! lost their passive qualities as result
4 of their brush with Christianity. They
! have learned how to propagandize ca
modern aggressive lines taught By .;sS
Christian zealots themselves. In the
future, more and more, they may