The Pilgrim

The Quarterly Bulletin of the Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism

Editor: Rev. A.J. Appasamy, M. A, (Harvard) Ph.D. (Oxon.)

MANORAMA, PALAMCOTTAH

The Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism

Patron: The Metropolitan of India, Calcutta

President: Bishop BRENTON T. BADLEY, Delhi.

Vice-Presidents: Dr. A.J. APPASAMY, Palamcottah. Rev. G.H.C. ANGUS, Principal, Serampore College.

Secretary: Rev. H.H. PRESLER, Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur.

Convener, Benares Institute: Rev. R.C. DAS, Benares United City Mission, Ramkatora, Benares Cantonment.

Treasurer: Rev. S.R. HOLT, Benares United City Mission, Ramkatora, Benares Cantonment.

Committee: Mr. PAUL DAS, Dr. C.H. RICE,

A Tamil Christian Poet

BY THE EDITOR

The outstanding name in Tamil Christian Literature is that of H.A. Krishna Pillai. The English reader can read a vivid and intimate picture of the conversion of Krishna Pillai to Christianity in “a little pamphlet entitled H. A. Krishna Pillai by Amy Carmichael (C.L.S. Madras).” I may say here briefly that Krishna Pillai was an orthodox Vaishnavite, well-read in the Tamil classics. In his thirtieth year he became a Christian. Mr. Huckstable, the missionary whom Krishna Pillai taught led him to Christ by the love and beauty of his character. Krishna Pillai spent the greater part of his life working as a Tamil Pandit in different institutions. The last seven years of his life were devoted wholly to Christian literary work. He died in 1900 at the ripe age of seventy-three.

His Books

Rakshanya Samaya Nirnayam is a prose work of great learning in which, after the claims of the various religions in India are examined; Christianity is established as the supreme religion. Krishna Pillai was not a creative theologian. Neither by temperament nor by training was he able to suggest new lines along which Christian Theology in India might develop. He did not realise that, while the Gospel of Jesus Christ is essentially the same for all mankind, different aspects of this Gospel may well be emphasised. He accepted fully the doctrines of Evangelical Theology which had been taught to him by his missionary teachers. It may be said that he did not depart even a hair’s breadth from such doctrines. Because of this lack of striking originality Rakshanya Samaya Nirnayam has not been reprinted.

His religious poetry belongs to an entirely different category. It was his long-cherished ambition to write a book of Tamil Christian poetry which the world would not willingly let die He was fortunately able to devote himself to this great task for a period of fourteen years towards the end of his life. His life-long study of the Tamil classics and his mature Christian experience enabled him to write a truly great book entitled Rakshanya Yatrikum. As a young man he had been given a copy of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress in its Tamil translation. Bunyan’s immortal allegory seemed to reflect the struggles and experiences of his own soul-his deep sense of sin, his vision of Christ and of His redeeming sacrifice on the cross and the wonderful joy and peace which had flowed into his soul from his surrender to Christ. When, therefore, he took on hand the writing of a Christian classic in Tamil, he made the story of the Pilgrim’s Progress the framework into which he fitted his own understanding and experience of the Christian faith. ‘I have poured my life into that book’, he said once. “My heart’s deepest is in it.”¹

It is not possible for me to convey in English the sweet melodiousness of his verse, which has endeared him to hundreds of Tamil Christians; nor is it possible to give an effective idea of his rich and vivid poetic fancy.

Scattered through the Rakshanya Yatrikum there are many devotional lyrics of great value written in the style of the Tamil Bhakti lyrics. These and some additional hymns have been gathered together into a small volume bearing the title Rakshanya Manoharam. Some of the lyrics have already found their way into collections of Christian lyrics and are being constantly used in congregational worship. Most of these hymns, however, are best suited to private worship as their words and ideas are often too difficult for the reader whose education in Tamil is not advanced. I know people who have learnt these lyrics by heart and who use them regularly in their private worship to express their feeling of sin, their devotion to Christ and their experience of the joy wrought by His atoning death on the cross.

His Bhakti to Christ

The most striking element in the religious poetry of H.A. Krishna Pillai is his Bhakti to Christ. Again and again we find his love for Christ expressed in words of moving beauty. Miss Carmichael is quite right when she describes his passion for Christ thus: ‘Thought on thought and word on word came running up, eager to tell what cannot be told of the light like the light of the morning when the sun rises, of the fairness like the fairness of the green tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain, of the sky full of stars which all were suns that had suddenly opened above him. And he longed, for power to express to his people the beauty and dearness of Christ Jesus his Redeemer by whose stripes he was healed.’²

His devotion to Christ arose from genuine and deep religious experience. He was convinced that he was a very great sinner. There are many passages where this sense of sin and guilt is evident. I may refer here to a poem in Rakshanya Manoharam where he piles one upon another the various sins and shortcomings of which he was guilty:

    I have not loved thy Divine feet.
    I have not entered the fellowship of thy saints and learnt goodness.
    I have not praised thee, my Saviour, who has wrought salvation for me.
    I have not shed even a tear at the tears and the blood which thou
        hast shed for me.
    I have not melted at the sight of thy agony and death on the cross.
    I am full of evil desires.
    I have loved the deceitful life of the world.
    I have not taken even a care for my soul
    I do not weep, I do not fall prostrate at thy feet.
    Why was I ever born in this world?

³

Krishna Pillai had the genuine experience of forgiveness. He knew that he was redeemed by the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Meditation on the passion and death of Christ moved him to the depths of his soul. In some ways ‘Rakshanya Saritham’ may be regarded as the most beautiful and the most important canto of Rakshanya Yatrikum. In this canto he describes with deep feeling and rich poetic fancy the incidents which took place during the last days of our Lord’s life on earth.

Christ is the pole-star of his life. As the sailor in mid-ocean safely reaches the shore by following the pole-star, So the Christian reaches heavenly bliss by meditating constantly on the beautiful words and deeds of Christ and living according to them.⁴

Such is his devotion to Christ that he boldly says that he will not sing of anyone else under any circumstance.

    A sinner am I, worse than any dog.
    The Lord has redeemed me from the hands of Satan who leads me
        to the door of hell and makes me shake there with fright.
    Even forgetfully I shall not sing the praises of anyone else.
    I shall not bow my head to anyone else even if the alternative were death.

⁵

It is clear from this passage and from a great many other references that the fear of hell was very real to him. He fully believed that the terrors of hell were in store for all sinners. His love for Christ was partly determined by his realisation that Christ had redeemed him from all the awful penalties which awaited the sinner. His love for Christ was also due to the knowledge of the fact that He is the supreme way to heavenly bliss and that through Him the joyful Presence of the Lord would be reached.

While he was not a mystic in the sense that the realisation of the Presence of God was the dominant passion of his life, his devotion and love to Christ at times reached a definitely mystic fervour and depth. In the Rakshanya Manoharam there is a beautiful lyric in which he speaks of the Christian Church as the bride of Christ longing for a vision of Him. The longing for a glimpse of the Divine Christ made her lose her consciousness of her body. She refused all food. Her soul-was filled with the utmost agony. Her friends and companions thought that she was ill and gave her various medicines to make her well. What was really wrong was that she desired to meet her Lord and Lover. The pang of separation was too much for her to bear.⁶

In his poetry Krishna Pillai aims at the highest type of purity. There are no suggestive word-pictures; no undesirable associations of thought. Even some very devout Tamil Bhaktas like Ramalingaswami have used language which is questionable because of its sexual suggestiveness. The religious poetry of Krishna Pillai is quite free from such impure words and images.

His desire to behold Christ finds expression in still another poem. He says:

    The face of Jesus lovely as the moon,
    His mouth like a well-ripe red fruit,
    His eyes which pour forth love and grace,
    His glowing body and His feet like the pink lotus,
    The desire to see all these burns within me.
    Open wide the door of the Heavenly Jerusalem
    And let me behold Him.

⁷

He thought of Christ as not merely dwelling in the heavenly regions but as living within the depths of his own soul:

    Let my heart always think of Him,
    Let my head always bow down to Him,
    Let my hands always worship Him,
    Let my lips always sing His praise.
    Let my body always serve with love
    Jesus who is seated within my heart, fragrant like a flower.

⁸

His devotion to Christ was then the dominant fact of his religious experience. As he lived, so he wanted to die, absolutely devoted to Christ. In one of his poems he gives expression to that longing of his soul:

    O Lord of grace, immense like a mountain peak of goodness!
    Do thou forgive my Sins!
    When my spirit leaves the body
    Let me behold thy Divine face, radiant like the lotus even
        from the cross on which thy enemies nailed thee.
    And let my heart rejoice in the mantra of thy sacred name.
    Do thou grant this boon to me, O Lord!

⁹

It is interesting to note that in an unexpected way this longing of his soul was really fulfilled. Let Miss Carmichael describe the last moments of his life: ‘He was dying; unconscious, it was thought. I had taken a card with “Jesus” written large in Tamil. ’He will not know you; he cannot read now, said the watchers sadly. But he opened his eyes, and saw the word, and it was as if a great light passed over his face. Never shall I forget that light and the smile that looked out of those loving old eyes as they lingered over the word. Then we saw he was trying to lift his hand. Someone helped him, and the finger traced it as if writing it, character by character. No one spoke. He could not speak, but the trembling finger still traced the word over and over. Then the lips moved, and the dark eyes, dim with death’s dimness, shone. We knew he was speaking to Jesus. Then with a satisfied, rested look, like the look of a little tired child that finds itself in its mother’s arms, and is so glad just to go to sleep, the old man turned, and fell asleep; his hand still touching caressing the dear word “JESUS.”’¹⁰

His Passion for Souls

Krishna Pillai was a keen personal worker. He was quite anxious to share with others the deepest of his Christian experiences. There were at least eight men from the higher castes who were baptised as a result of his personal work. There seem to have been a great many others who were influenced for good by him though they never joined the Christian Church. His nephew, Sir David Devadoss, a Judge of the Madras High Court for some years, has written of him thus: ‘Mr. Krishna Pillai was the means of converting many men to the Christian faith. His life and teaching influenced hundreds of young men who for family or other considerations could not openly make a declaration of their faith. About i878 the then Metropolitan of India (Bishop E.R. Johnson) paid a visit to the Tinnevelly District. A beautiful service was held in the Trinity Church, Palamcottah and the Metropolitan in the midst of his sermon suddenly turned towards, Mr. Krishna Pillai and said. “I know you have brought many to the feet of Jesus, may God spare you to bring many more.”’¹¹

My father, Dewan Bahadur A.S. Appasamy, who afterwards became a distinguished lawyer, was never tired of saying that he was led to Christ by H.A. Krishna Pillai. My father was a young man and aspired to learn English. He went to the Mission School at Sawyerpuram where alone in that locality he could learn English. At that time Krishna Pillai was the Tamil Pandit in that School. My father had walked several miles and reached the school as it was getting dark. He was a complete stranger. He called on Krishna Pillai and explained to him the purpose of his visit. The poet immediately began taking the utmost personal interest in the stranger. When he found that my father, on account of caste scruples, could not eat anything in the village he provided him with the necessary materials for cooking and himself taught him to cook. This made a great impression on my father. He was struck by the depth of the love which Krishna Pillai showed to an utter stranger. It was the poet’s habit every day after the school hours were over to speak to the boys about Christ, though his own work in the school was that of a Tamil Pandit. His love for Christ was so compelling that daily he spent considerable time after school hours speaking to the boys privately about Him. He tried to speak to my father too. My father resented this very much as he had given a promise to his parents that he would never become a Christian. Gradually he was drawn to Krishna Pillai by the beauty of his character-his utter selflessness, his profound love and his complete integrity. Slowly my father began to love the Christ who had done so much for his teacher. There were still many doubts and hesitations. He was of an inquiring type of mind He did not readily accept the Christian teaching which he received. He had long talks with the teacher who, with his profound knowledge of Hinduism and his true Christian experience, was able to convince my father that Christ alone is the Saviour of the world. The extensive knowledge of the Hindu religion which the poet possessed enabled him to clear many of the doubts and difficulties which my father felt.

Krishna Pillai’s passion for souls is evident in many passages in his books. It is specially evident in the canto called ‘Rakshanga Navanitam’ where in eighty-five verses glowing with missionary fervour, he summons all the people of the world to accept Christ as their Saviour.

Rakshanya Yatrikum and Rakshanya Manoharam will live as long as the Tamil language is spoken and understood and will be a boon of incalculable value to the Tamil Christian Church for generations to come.

The Idea of Sin in the Rigveda

REV. HENRY LEFEVER, Ph.D.

London Mission, Trivandrum Travancore.

We have much pleasure in publishing this paper by Dr. Lefever. Those who are interested in the subject may be informed that Dr. Lefever has published a book entitled The Vedic Idea of Sin which was originally prepared in the University of Tubingen for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. A few copies of the book are available from the author at Rs. 1/4 per copy.

The Editor

Max Muller once stigmatised the Vedic religion as being nothing but “priestcraft and greed for guerdon.” Bergaigne, the French Orientalist, also maintained that the fundamental fact of this religion was “an exchange of gifts of strength for strength.” If this view were correct, then the religious value of the Vedas would be open to grave question, and it would be a fruitless task to search in them for any real sense of sin or any regard for the moral law. I hope, however to indicate in this paper the nature of the fallacy on which this view is based.

It is an incontestable fact that in the hymns of the Rigveda, the desire for worldly wealth plays an exceedingly important role. The hymns abound with prayers for earthly goods, progeny, a safe dwelling, cattle and horses, food, fame-in short, for “riches fair in form, of all good things.” But at the same time, these “sweets of life” are looked upon all through the Rigveda as the rewards of the righteous man and of him alone. “The well-doer, O Agni” it is said in one hymn, “gaineth horses, sons, heroes, kine and abundant wealth” (V.4. 11). Conversely, misfortune is regarded as the divine punishment for evil conduct. When Vasishtha is stricken with an almost mortal sickness, his friends, like Job’s, tell him God is angry with him. “What, O Varuna, hath been my most dreadful sin, that thou wouldst slay the friend who praises thee?” he cries (VII. 86. 4). Where the plea for forgiveness is not actually prompted by adversity, as in this case, it is almost invariably accompanied by a petition that adversity be kept far off Agni is implored to “remove the sin which causes us to walk crookedly” and this request is followed by one for happiness, freedom from danger and prosperity upon offspring. Hopkins, in his Ethics of India, has pointed out that the Sanskrit word “mrila”, which is usually translated into English as “have mercy upon us”, really means simply “be gentle” or “be kind” “Where sin is really confessed,” says this writer, “the expression may, by implication, be taken in the sense of ‘have mercy’ or ‘forgive us’ but these cases are rare compared with the number where the suppliant merely prays the God to be good to him.” So Hopkins concludes, “The translators have injected into the Rigveda more consciousness of sin than really attaches to it.”

I do not think, however, that this conclusion is strictly justified. In the first place, the fact that prosperity should be regarded as the reward of right doing does not imply a mercenary or materialistic outlook. There is no evidence to show that the poets of the Rigveda were aware of any distinction between “material” and “spiritual” benefits. Had such a distinction been made and, in spite of that, the poets had continued to be unduly pre-occupied with material benefit, they might well have been charged with a mercenary outlook. As it was, they accepted with perhaps a childlike naivety, worldly prosperity as a sign of God’s friendship and adversity as a sign of his displeasure. Secondly, a pre-occupation with rewards and punishments does not necessarily imply a shallow consciousness of sin. When the poet prays for God to be kind to him, he is not praying merely for material goods; he realises that the favour of God is absolutely conditioned by his own righteousness. To regard adversity as the inevitable consequence of sin is to display, not a weak, but an exceedingly vivid sense of the gravity of sin. In a recent article on “The Conception of Sin in the Vedas” an Indian writer, R. Shamasastry, has said, “the constant thought of sin and its consequences was a terror to the people of the Vedic times.”

Further, there is no lack of evidence in the Rigveda to show that sin was regarded as something in itself grave, apart from its consequences in the sphere of material prosperity. “They call it papa, evil, when one comes near his sister.” (X. 10) Incest is not only “against the law of Mitra and Varuna”, it is in itself something heinous and impure. Similarly, in V. 85. Verses 7-8, there is a keen sense of the sinfulness of sin. “If we have sinned against the man who loves us, have ever wronged a brother, friend comrade, a neighbour or a stranger, free us, Varuna, from that sin.” Men of evil conduct are “like young women without brothers to protect them, like women who hate their husbands, full of sin, untrue, unfaithful” (IV. 5.5). Indeed, so vividly is the gravity and power of sin realised that evil is regarded as an objective force in the world, capable of leading men astray or of rebounding upon the sinner, to his own hurt.

If, as I have indicated, the prominence of the thought of rewards and punishments does not prove a shallow consciousness of sin, it is, however, not without significance. It is of vital significance for the sinners’ attitude to the gods. The gravity of sin and its consequences are realised keenly enough, but the hymns reveal a marked lack of real contrition in the sinner’s attitude towards the gods. With rare and questionable exceptions, it is not sin as such that is regarded as being against the god, but only sins against a particular god’s own personal dignity. Let us take a typical confession; “Whatever statutes of thine, O. Varuna, we, men that we are, daily violate, give us not up to death or to thy fierce wrath when angered. To gain thy mercy, with hymns we bind thy disposition, as a charioteer his tethered horse.” (I. 25. 1-3). There is in this passage a full consciousness of guilt and a realisation of the consequences, unless the god’s mercy is obtained. But there is no personal sense of shame before a god who is himself wronged by every sinful act of man. The relation between god and man which is disturbed by sin is not, we may say, an intimately personal one, like that between father and son. It is rather that of king-subject The confession is that made by a criminal before a king or judge who is the custodian of the law that has been infringed. The attitude expressed in the words. “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight” is lacking. Instead, we have an excuse based on human frailty coupled with a plea for mercy which, in this instance, it is believed the hymn itself will be sufficient to procure. Nor is the attitude different in the group of hymns by the poet Vasishtha - VII. 86. 88, 89, Despite the deep consciousness of the gravity of sin which is found in these hymns, the poet’s chief concern before Varuna is to excuse himself for any sin he may have committed that the God’s anger may be appeased. “Not our own will betrayed us, but seduction, thoughtlessness, wine, dice or anger. The old lead astray the younger. Even sleep does not remove ill-doing.” The lack of deep contrition towards Varuna himself is most evident in VII. 86. 4: “What O Varuna, hath been my most dreadful sin? Tell me, thou self-ruling one, and quickly sinless I will approach thee with my homage.”

There are in the Rigveda, therefore, two sets of phenomena that demand explanation On the one hand, we find a genuine regard for moral and religious obligations as being sacred and categorical. On the other hand, when sin is confessed to the gods, the fear of punishment and desire for reward are the predominant thoughts. I would suggest that the explanation lies in the fact that sin, in the Rigveda, is not so much a personal offence against the gods as a violation of the transcendent cosmic law which the gods protect - namely, rita. The moral religious imperative is grounded not in the will of the gods but in cosmic law which stands behind the gods and is the source of their power.

This conception of rita is all important, not only for the religion of the Rigveda, but for the whole subsequent course of Vedic religion. It is one of the oldest conceptions in the religion of the Aryan people. There is little doubt that the term originally signified the ordered course of Nature, especially of the heavenly bodies and the seasons. The nomadic Aryan tribes in prehistoric times, watching the never altering course of the celestial bodies and of the seasons, were conscious of a mighty power which was in and over all things, being at once their source and their guide In the hymns of the Rigveda, rita is most frequently used in connection with the sacrifice. It is the power and the law by which the sacrifice reaches the gods and by which the gods respond with appropriate blessings to man. Elsewhere, it is used in connection with natural phenomena and human conduct. Wallis, in his Cosmology of the Rigveda has well said: “Everything in the universe which can be conceived of as showing regularity, of action may be said to have the rita as its principle.” Yet rita is no mere “principle.” It is more than a mental construction, it is a figment of the universe, a world-embracing power. In some passages it is invoked alongside of the gods and in others it appears independent of the gods.

Rita is real, and yet in a sense it is “ideal”. It is ideal in the sense that as far as the world of space, time and will is concerned, it is not always manifest. Man, in particular, is placed before the alternatives to act in accordance with rita or not Rita in the natural world is only a manifestation and never complete manifestation of the transcendent reality. The chief task of gods and men, as well as the chief motive of the sacrificial system generally, was to actualise the transcendent reality in the natural world. “May your rita be actual” is a prayer to Heaven and Earth (III. 54. 3). The responsibility for seeing that rita is made actual in this world falls to the gods, who are thus called the charioteers of rita, its guardians and Lords. The gods “bind rita to the work as an ox to the sacrificial pole” (T. 51.4). Rita is not to be identified with the statutes of the gods. It is the transcendent law which the gods find already existent as a figment of the universe and in accordance with which they make their statutes. Therefore, the breach of such statutes is not so much a personal offence against the gods as a violation of the rita. The sole duty of the gods, as guardians of the law, is to punish the violation or to reward the keeping of rita. It is in relation to this office that the attitude of the sinner towards the gods must be understood. We must not, that is to say, judge this attitude from the standpoint of a religious tradition which has an entirely different starting point from that of the Rigveda. Such a judgement is bound to be false. Either we shall seek to read into the Rigveda what is not really there or, not finding what belongs to the different tradition, we shall be tempted to regard the lack as a default in the Rigveda. This fallacy, it seems to me, lies at the root of many misconceptions held by Western Orientalists as to the nature of Rigvedic religion. Varuna, for example, has an exalted position in this religion, but it is altogether misleading to say with a modern writer, that “Varuna is not a god, but God.” He was never intended to be the Supreme Being, like the God of the Old Testament, and he must therefore not be judged from the standpoint of monotheism.

Rita, therefore, the cosmic and dynamic principle of law and order, is the ultimate moral and religious imperative and the source of the divine statutes. This view receives striking confirmation from the fact that it is to just those gods who are most intimately connected with rita that sin is ordinarily confessed. Foremost among the gods in question are the Adityas. They are pre-eminently the charioteers of rita and, with few exceptions, it is in close connection with this function that they are addressed as the punishers of sin. “True to rita, they exact the debts” (II. 27. 4). The Adityas are the haters of all falsehood (anita) and have waxen in the home of rita (VIl. 60.5). “Loose me from sin as from a bond, let me promote thy spring of rita” is a prayer found in II 28. A special characteristic of the Adityas is their power to behold every action of men. “Pathfinders even better than the eye, even when they close their eyelids they perceive” (VIII. 25. 9). This is no mere piece of “theological etiquette.” It is based upon the fact of human experience, that every action, conscious or unconscious, produces its inevitable effect, upon the whole world-order, rita.

At the same time, though this office is pre-eminently that of the Adityas, any god who is faithful to rita can, according to the Rigveda, occupy the same office and theoretically at any rate, hold as exalted a position “Thou (Agni) art the eye and the guard of mighty rita - and Varuna when thou takest up the work of rita” (X 8.5) We have here an explanation (if not the explanation) of the “kathenotheism” which Max Muller noted in the Rigveda. It is because the function is more important than the character of the god that there is a tendency for the god addressed at any one moment to be regarded as the highest god, endowed with qualities that belong strictly to other gods. Max Muller was right, but he did not go far enough. He did not see clearly enough that the ground of the “kathenotheism” was the transcendent world-order, rita.

Furthermore, I would suggest that not only the sinner’s attitude to the gods but his whole view of the nature of sin needs to be understood from this same standpoint.

There are in the Rigveda three pairs of contrary terms by which the distinction between right and wrong is normally expressed. The distinction is viewed as one between “straight and crooked,” “single and double” and “true and false.” These are simply three different modes of expressing the distinction between action in accordance with the “straight path of rita” and action opposed to that path. Each of the terms for crooked, double and false (vrijina dvaya and anrita) is found opposed to rita in the texts.

Sin is often looked upon as a debt (rina) which the gods must collect. This is because sin disturbs the rita which is a real figment of the Universe and therefore the gods, as guardians of rita, must see that the disturbance is put right. Every sin disturbs rita, whether conscious or unconscious. Further, when rita is disturbed, the results affect not only the sinner himself, but all men, for the disturbance is a cosmic one. Hence, the frequent prayer that the gods may not punish the sinner for another man’s trespass.

Here the greatness and the weakness of the Rigvedic idea of sin become at once apparent. The conception of the universal world-order checked an excessive individualism. It emphasised the responsibility of the whole human race for sin as well as the world-wide effect of sin. Further; it placed due emphasis on the part played by the “unconscious.” These important factors may tend to be overlooked in a religion in which the individual has a unique, personal relation to a God who is Himself the ultimate source of the moral-religious imperative. On the other hand, just because of the lack of this ultimate individual relation to the ground of the imperative, there is the danger in the religion of the Rigveda that sin may be regarded in too external a fashion. Though not the normal view of sin in the Rigveda, there is a tendency to regard sin as a substance, endowed with a kind of vertu propre, which attacks and clings to a man like a disease and which can be removed by much the same methods as those employed in the case of a disease.

I have endeavoured to point out that the religion and morality of the Rigveda are founded, not upon the god, but upon the transcendent and objective law of the universe, rita. All wrong-doing, whether against gods or men, is a breach of this law and herein lies the peculiar character of the Rigvedic idea of sin.

A Course of Study in Hinduism at Allahabad

During Kumbh Mela in January 1942

This study is being arranged by the Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism. The chief attraction of this course arises from the fact that during the month of January to February the Kumbh (one of the greatest events in the life of Hinduism coming round each twelve year) will be in full swing on the sands at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna. Allahabad possesses enough piety and scholarship to offer facilities for a brief course of study. All prospective students will arrive by the evening of Saturday the 10th January 1942. The course will be run for two weeks in the first instance but may be extended for another week or so if found feasible later on.

Staff and Work

A. The following Christian teachers will give regular lectures on their special subjects and assist students in all possible ways:

1. “Village Hinduism”: 8 to 10 lectures; partly illustrated by lantern slides. By the Rev. M.P. Davis, D.D. of American Evangelical Mission, C.P.
2. “Special Experiences of Pilgrimages in India”: A few lantern lectures; by Mr. G.W. Maw of the Friends’ Service Council, Itarsi, C. P.
3. “The Vedanta in relation to Christianity”: 5 lectures; by Prof. V.B. Dutt, M.A.B.D., Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion, Serampore College.
4. “Scriptural Hinduism”: at least 5 lectures; by the Rev. A.V. Chakravarthy. B.Th., B.D., of M.E. Church, Brindaban Ashram.
5. “Hinduism and Rural Development”: by the Rev. H.H. Presler, B.S., S.T.B., of M.E. Church, Jabalpur.
6. “Popular Hinduism”: by R.C. Das, M.A. of the Benares United City Mission.

B. Lectures on particular aspects of Hinduism are expected from the following local scholars

1. Prof. R: D. Ranade, M.A. Head of the Department of Philosophy, Allahabad University
2. Prof. N.C. Mukerjee, M.A. (Philosophy, Allahabad University) will give two addresses on “Hinduism in Politics Today.”
3. Prof. R.N. Deb, M.A. of the University will give one or two talks on “Indian Art.”
4. Pandit, K.O. Chattopadhyaya, M.A. the Sanskrit Department of the University will speak on “Vedic Religion.”
5. Mr. G.N. Banerjee (Retired Civil Judge) will speak on “The Brahmo Samaj of the New Dispensation.”

Institutions and Places of Cultural and Religious Interest in Allahabad

1. The Sangam,
2. The Kumbh Mela,
3. Underground temple in Fort,
4. Jhusi-centre of Sadhus - across the Ganges,
5. The University
6. Prayag Sangit Samity,
7. Daraganj along the Ganges,
8. Agricultural Farm across the Jumna,
9. Holland Hall,
10. Ewing Christian College,
11. Anglican Cathedral,
12. Roman. Catholic institution,
13. Bible & Tract Societies,
14. Harijan Colony,
15. Anand Bhawan (Headquarters - Indian National Congress) etc.

Accommodation

Students and guests will be put up in the Y.M.C.A, and meetings will be held in the nearby Bible House - 12 Thornhill Road, Allahabad.

Expenses

1. Board and Lodge (inclusive charges) European style Rs. 2/8 per day Indian style Rs. 1/- per day

2. Tuition fees: for salaries under Rs. 100/, Five Rupees; for salaries under Rs. 200/-, Ten Rupees; upwards, Fifteen Rupees.

United City Mission, Ramkatora, BENARES CANTONMENT

R.C. DAS, (Convener)

Printed at the Hilal Press, Tirunelveli 12-1941