The Pilgrim

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

Editor: Dr. R.D. IMMANUEL, 203 Civil Lanes South Jabalpur 1, Madhya Pradesh, India

Announcement

This issue of THE PILGRIM resumes publication of a magazine dedicated to the study of Indian cultures. Dr. R.D. Immanuel, professor of Indian Philosophy, Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur, M.P., continues as editor.

The sponsor for this magazine is THE INDIAN CULTURES SOCIETY. The following statement may be made here as to this Society:

Aim

• To promote scholarly study of the cultures of India.
• To prepare and hear papers embodying the results of research efforts in this connection.
• To publish a quarterly magazine devoted to the same.

Membership

By invitation extended to persons, who love the peoples of India, and who desire to come by a wider factual knowledge of their patterns of ideas, customs, relationships and artefacts.

Editorial Rules for the Pilgrim Follow

1. The editorial board shall contain members of the faculty of Leonard Theological College, appointed by its principal. The editor shall be a member of this board, ex-officio.

2. The editor shall function as directed by the editorial board.

3. The editor reserves the right to delay or to decline publication of any articles submitted to him, and without assigning any reason. Unpublished manuscripts will be returned to authors provided the writer sends self-addressed, stamped envelope with the manuscript itself.

4. This quarterly shall for the present contain approximately 32 pages on crown octavo, issued in January, April, July and October.

5. The editorial board reserves the right to develop or change its editorial rules and policies at any time, without notice.

Subscriptions

The annual subscription fee shall be Rs. 4/- for salaries of two hundred or more rupees per month; and Rs. 2/- for salaries less than that amount. Membership in the Indian Cultures Society automatically entitles a person to receive THE PILGRIM.

Aims

1. To promote harmonious and healthy relationships between different cultures by welcoming from adherents expositions describing their own ideological and behavioural patterns.

2. To publish reviews of pertinent books.

3. To promote unbiased scholarly study and field work, and to publicise findings,

4. To include in each issue of THE PILGRIM a feature section describing various aspects of the cultures in urban Jabalpur. Dr. Henry H. Presler shall prepare this section for the Department of Organised Research of the Leonard Theological College. The said department assumes no responsibility for any statements in this magazine that may occur outside its own section.

5. Request: Readers who recognise the need for a more adequate understanding of the peoples of India among whom they work, are requested to attempt to secure subscribers, advising them to mail their annual fee to the editor.

The Renaissance of Hinduism

The vigour and vitality of an organism is gauged by its ability to make adjustments to its changing environments. Any inability to make such adjustments means not only decay and despair but actual death.

If one studies the history of Hindu culture, for the last one hundred years he will note the tremendous changes or adjustments that have been made there to suit modern conditions. The changes have been so radical that one can say that a new life or renaissance has come. This renaissance can be seen clearly in the social, religious and economic order of Hindu society.

To understand the Hindu Renaissance in its social aspect, one has only to compare the society of 1857 with the society of 1957 in Hindu India. Today Sati is an unbelievable feature of a dark past. Women are not only educated now, but they claim equal rights in citizenship and legislatures. They are sent as ambassadors to other countries. They are appointed as ministers with portfolios. Child marriages are illegal. Public opinion is against polygamy. Widow marriages are made possible. The ban against inter-dining has been lifted. The Caste system has lost its force. The demon of untouchability has been exorcised, and a Hindu of any caste can enter into temples like the Meenakshiamman’s. Some Hindu leaders think that the example of Christian missions and the self-sacrificing ministry of the followers of Jesus Christ have been a potent factor in this renaissance of Hinduism.

National figures like Tagore and Mahatma Gandhijii have pointed out that spirituality means fighting poverty and ignorance, misery and disease. Theoretically this has not affected the Hindu doctrine of Karma and transmigration. However, a new line of departure has been made. That is, Hindu culture has found that it is good to absorb and assimilate the good in other religions. So, the Ramakrishna mission hospitals, and schools, and welfare centres, and similar societies have been established to do social work, to abolish illiteracy, to promote the health and welfare of people.

The Renaissance of Hinduism is adjusting the teaching of its religion to the scientific thought and social philosophy of the West. Dr. Radhakrishnan is among the leaders of those that reinterpret Hindu culture. In his hands, the Upanishads and the Gita become entirely new books. He uses the principles found in these books to find clues to the solution of modern problems. The popularity of such reinterpretation is enormous. The results attained are also equally significant. The following are a few that come to one’s mind as foremost.

1. It has raised the estimate of Hindu religion in general throughout the country.
2. It has asserted that all religions are equally true.
3. It has strengthened the bonds between Hinduism and Buddhism.
4. It has tried to separate the eternal from the temporal and in doing so, has relegated the ritual and the myth to the latter, and philosophy poetry and reason to the former.
5. It has given a theological basis for social reform.
6. It has helped to make Hinduism a missionary religion.
7. It has helped to foster a spirit of unity in Hindu society by saying, “Live and let live.”

One very interesting feature of this neo-Hinduism is the change in the attitude of Hindu culture towards other religions. The following quotation from DuS. Sarma speaks for itself:

“It is obvious one cannot absorb Christianity as we once absorbed Buddhism. Our Kabirs and Keshubs must remain isolated phenomena, and, at best could give rise only to small sects. Therefore, our policy should be not one of absorption but fraternisation. In this great country all of us must live and work together. Islam and Christianity will no doubt insist on their rights of propaganda and conversion. We cannot quarrel with them on that ground so long as they do not employ force or unfair means to compass their object. We must of course claim the same rights and freely take into our fold not only those who once belonged to our faith but also those who are born in other faiths, but want to embrace Hinduism.” (p. 643).

Another very important feature is the transformation of Hinduism from an ethnic religion into a creedal religion. The last sentence quoted from Dr, Sarma in the previous paragraph means nothing less than this. Neo-Hindu leaders want their creed to be as flexible as possible and such a creed is really being formed. As one gleans through current literature the following seem to be more or less assumed:

1. The law of Karma or the moral law which rewards or punishes each action of man according to its merits or demerits.
2. The law of transmigration, as a corollary to the law of Karma.
3. Respect for authority - especially the authority of the vedas - but also for saints and sages.
4. Respect for truth, this would include the truth found in any religion.
5. Respect for life in general. This is a corollary of the doctrine of the law of transmigration and would involve respect for the life of the sub human species.
6. Respect for personality. The implication is all persons are divine.
7. The doctrine of salvation, to mean among other things, release from the cycle of births and deaths (Samsana):
8. The doctrine of the degrees of religious truth. That is, the Hindu who worships idols experiences and expresses one degree of truth, and the philosopher who has no use for idols expresses another religious truth.
9. The doctrine of four ideals - namely Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksa. Of these Artha is wealth that is acquired in a righteous way. Kama literally means desire. Here it is used in the sense of prosperity applied righteously to bring about happiness. Dharma is duty or the categorical imperative. Moksa is release specially used in the sense of emancipation from the bonds of births and re-births.
10. The doctrine of the reasonableness of religion. This implies, that amenability to human reason is the only criterion for testing the validity of doctrinal statements.

Similes in Hindu Religious Literature

Comparisons are very helpful. They help the hearers to progress from the known to the unknown. Abstract truths are hard to follow. They are like ghosts frightening us by their elusiveness. Similes and comparisons clothe these elusive ideas in flesh and blood, and they become lovable and understandable figures.

Good illustrations help us to remember facts for a long time. If we ask any old man the things he remembers from a sermon he had heard fifty years ago, usually a story given as an illustration in that sermon comes as his reply in that sermon that comes as his reply.

These two features (helping to understand and helping to remember) are made full use of in Hindu literature for teaching theological truths. This is specially so in Bhakti Literature where it is the ordinary man who is asked to love his God for His mercy, grace and love.

Some of these similes are used so often, that one does not know who started them first, and they are now the possessions of this community. Aristotle said that it requires the flash of a genius to make apt comparisons. However, once a simile has been discovered, it becomes the common property of the community and any ordinary Tom, Dick or Harry can use it. In this respect similes are like gadgets. To invent and produce for the first time, a gadget requires the brains of an inventor. But the use of these gadgets and the enjoyment of their benefits, is for all people. Bhakti theology can easily be framed by the similes used by the devotees. Here are a few taken at random. The grace of God, and the unshakeable devotion of the worshipper are beautifully brought out by these similes:

1. The grace of God brightens the devotees hearts.
   1. As a lamp seems like a mass of light when it receives oil and wick.
   2. As grass grows when a great cloud rains upon the earth.
   3. As a miser is filled with joy when he finds some hidden wealth.
   4. As when the sun rises in the East, the lotus flowers open their petals and bloom joyously.
   5. As the heart of a loving wife rejoices when her husband returns to her after serving the country in a dangerous war.
2. The grace of God enables the devotee to do all things.
   1. As the poor man who has the Kamadenu (the wish cow) is no longer despondent.
   2. As a sick man who drinks the nectar is freed from all pain and disease and death.
   3. As when Saraswati (goddess of speech) gives her blessing to the dumb man, he is able to speak.
   4. As easy as science is to a man to whom Ganpati has shown his favour.
   5. As easy as sight is to a blind man to whom the sun God has shown his favour.
3. Satisfaction of the saint in God’s grace, and His dissatisfaction in worldly ways.
   1. As when a cobra escapes from a magician’s basket, and it creeps into an ant hole in the forest.
   2. As when a parrot escapes from a cage and flies to a tree top.
   3. As when a deer runs away and escapes the clutches of a tiger.
   4. As when a dutiful wife runs away secretly from a house of prostitutes.
   5. As a saint rushes from the city of revilers of God to the sacred city where the Almighty is always worshipped.
4. His grace is enough. So the devotee is unmoved.
   1. As when the clouds rain and wash away the mountains and yet the mountains remain unchanged.
   2. As an elephant marches majestically and cares not for the dog that barks at it frantically.
   3. As the eagle is not in the least afraid when it sees the coiling poisonous serpent.
   4. As when the sun sees a fire-fly with its eye and is not troubled.
   5. As the moon in the heaven is not disturbed when its reflection in the breeze blown lake seems to move violently.
5. The bliss of God’s grace.
   1. As ravishing music on a moonlit summer night on the bank of a beautiful lake when a cool breeze gently flows.
   2. Like the brilliant gold on which is the artistic setting of sparkling diamonds.
   3. As the dainty food prepared from the richest grain in order to give to the tongue the most pleasurable taste.
   4. Like the brightly shining full moon that rains down nectar for the chakor bird that will not drink water from ordinary streams.

One can go on adding instances, but we shall close with one quotation from Mahipati (Dr. Abbott’s translation) in his work Bhaktavijaya, where he describes the supremacy of Vishnu in the following terms:

No one sees a planet in the sky as brilliant as the moon? What metal is superior to gold? Whose praise is greater than that given to Vishnu? One may search as one will and not find a diamond as brilliant as the Kaustubh. What bull is superior to the Nandi of Shiva? What performer of austerities equals Shiva? What shastra is superior to the Bhagavadgita?

Sriman Ramanujachariar

In the annals of history, certain peoples lives shine with lustre, because they set for themselves one particular ideal, for the cause of which they spend all that they have, their time and talent’s, their wealth and their influence. Sriman Ramanujachariar, who died last November at the age of 81, was such a great person. It was his great ambition to gather literally hundreds of poor boys, and give them education.

Ramanujachariar was born in the year 1875 at Kullatur, a place about twenty-five miles south of Madras. His father’s name was Duttachariar. Because there was no high school at his native place, young Ramanujachariar was sent to Madras for his education. Here he was greatly influenced by his aunt, at whose house he was staying during the most impressionable years of his adolescence. She taught him the value and the need of education and the grandeur and nobility of selfless service. Soon after he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Madras, he was able to secure a clerk’s post in the secretariat to the government of Madras. His pay was only 25 rupees per month (about 5 dollars). However, he stuck to the job and rose to the position of “under-secretary to the Government.”

Ramanuja had a first cousin by the name of Ramasamy Iyengar. From childhood both the cousins lived together bound by ties of the most intimate friendship. When. Shri Vivekananda came to Madras in 1893, Ramanuja was a young lad of eighteen. The fiery speeches of Sadhu touched the heart of Ramanujachariar. So the idea of service and a life of helpfulness to both became his one all consuming passion.

In 1905, Ramkrishna Mission started an orphanage. So for the last fifty-one years with commendable zeal and singular devotion he worked hard for his cause. He was adept in getting money for the poor and friendless boys. Many gave him money, when they saw his sincerity. Others, he won by his patience and persistence. His dramatic talents were commendable and these he dedicated to the cause of his orphanage. He was able to get about Rs. 600,000 for his orphanage by drama alone. His old age did not dampen his ardour, nor his advancing years lessen his untiring efforts. Because he was successful in his financial campaigns, the orphanage is able to maintain over 250 needy students.

Ramanujachariar’s bhakti is well illustrated by the following anecdote. When the drama of Ramayana was to be staged, he chose to take the part of Dasarath, the father of the hero Ram. But Ramanuja by his talents was fit to take the part of the hero himself, instead of a comparatively less important figure. When his friends asked him why he chose the part of Rama’s father, his reply was, “Choosing Dasarath will give me more opportunities to pronounce with feelings of love, the name of my God Rama.”

R.D.I.

Notes on the Code of Manu

DR. H.H. PRESLER

Foreword

In the writer’s experience, the Laws of Manu are ideologically accepted by the Mid-India masses. This book therefore becomes important to a serious student of Indian cultures in these parts.

Definition

The well-known law-book, Code of Manu, or Institutes of Manu, is the first and chief of the works classified as Smriti, and a collection or digest of current laws and creeds, rather than a planned systematic code. It is the foundation of Hindu Law, and was current among the Manayas, a class or school of Brahmans who were followers of the Black-Yajur-Veda; but it deals with many subjects besides law, and is a most important record of old Hindu society. Dawson’s Dictionary, p. 202.

Significance

A great authority has declared that the Laws of Manu are the most interesting of all post-Vedic writings, both as presenting a picture of the institutions, usages, manners, and intellectual condition of an important part of the Hindu race at a remote period, and as revealing the exaggerated nature of the rules by which the Brahmans sought to secure their own ascendancy and to perpetuate an organised caste system in subordination to themselves. - The Laws of Manu, J.M. Macfie, The C.L.A. Madras, undated.

Date

Acc to the Hindus

It is attributed to the first Manu, Swayam-bhuva, who existed nearly thirty million years ago. The name Manu belongs to fourteen mythological progenitors of mankind and rulers of the earth, each of whom holds sway for the period called a Manwantara (manu-antra), the age of a Manu, i.e., a period of no less than 4,320,000 years. The first of these Manus was Swayam bhava, who sprang from Swayam-bhu, the self existent. The self existent, as identified with Brahma, the creator, divided himself into two persons, male and female. From this pair was produced the male Viraj, and from him sprang the Manu Swayam-bhuva. As the acting creator, this Manu produced the ten Prajapatis or progenitors of mankind, called also Maharishis (maha-rishis). According to another account Brahma created himself Manu, “born of and identical with his original self, and the female portion of himself he constituted Sata pupa,” whom Manu took to wife.

The law book bearing this name is ascribed to this Manu, and so also is a Sutra work on ritual bearing the same name.

“Higher and lower criticism” of the text disagrees, with the foregoing view. First, because there is no evidence that writing existed much before 4000 B.C., if then. Second, internal evidence shows it to have been a compilation, whose editor or editors were content to place various documents side by side, either because they were so associated previously in other books, or because all were commonly accepted at the time of the editors. Third, late date is attested by the considerations that:

1. The book contains the names of persons as late as the Ramayana and Mahabharata;
2. It speaks of the Greeks, Scythians and Persians;
3. It quotes from the Veda, and mentions other Puranas, legends, tales, etc.
4. It contains contradictions within its own teachings.

Acc to Western Scholars

Monier Williams, to some extent on the ground that apart from Brahma it mentions only Vedic deities (if we except the one reference to Vishnu and Hara, in the last chapter), argues that the compilation of the Code must have taken place not later than the fifth century B.C.

Sir William Jones, its first English translator, put it as early as 1280 B.C.

Max Muller, suggests a period so late as the fifth century A.D.

Contents: It is said to have consisted originally of 100,000 verses, arranged in twenty-four chapters, that Narada shortened the work to 12,000 verses; and that Sumati made a second abridgement, reducing it to 4,000, but only 2685 are extant.

Author: This is generally considered to be, by Westerners, unknown. Bubler thinks that the compilers of the Mahabharata and the author of our existing law book both made use of earlier materials. When the question is asked what these earlier materials were, the answer is given that they were the Dharma Sutras, or aphoristic rules “current among a particular tribe, or rather school of Brahmans, called Manavas,” which devoted itself to the study of the Sacred Law. As time passed such schools found it necessary for the purpose of instruction and for their own benefit, either to remodel the old existing works or compose entirely new ones. They preferred to adopt the former alternative and Manu’s book, the Manava Dharma Sastra, was one of those produced.

Contents:

1. Three accounts of creation, which cannot be reconciled; these seem to be an attempt, which is manifested in other chapters also, at combining the theories held by the later Samkhya and Vedanta schools of philosophy.

2. The four ages of mortals are:

   Age	Years
   Kra Yuga, with its mornings and evenings	4,800
   Treta Yuga	3,000
   Pyapara Yuga	2,400
   Kali Yuga	present day

   A year of the gods is equal to 360 years of men; therefore the length of each age is 1,728,000; 1,296,000; 864,000 and man-years0 man-years respectively.

   This total of four mortal ages equals one age of the gods: 1000 ages of the gods equals one day of Brahma; so one day of Brahma equals 4,320,000,000 years, and one night equals another same total.

   At the end of each night of Brahma the god awakes, and a period of creation begins.

   We are said to be living in the Kali Yuga or fourth age of the universe, but the Vishnu Purana declares that there will be seven other Manus like the one that created the last age, and that only one half of the day of Brahma has expired.

   In the first age men lived for 400 years, free from disease and obtained all that they desired. In each succeeding age life is reduced by one fourth, so that in the present age its limit is 100 years.

   The greatest virtue in the first age, was the practice of austerities, in the second is the acquirement of knowledge, in the third is the performance of sacrifices; in the last, the making of gifts alone has power.

3. The four castes.

   The Brahman who sprang from the mouth of Brahma, should teach and study the Vedas, give and receive alms, offer sacrifice for the benefit of himself and others. These are the Brahman’s six acts.

   The duty of the Katya, who came from the breast of Brahma, is to protect the people, offer gifts and sacrifices, study the Vedas and abstain from sensuality, The business of the Vaisya is to care for cattle, plough the land, buy and sell, lend money and offer sacrifice.

   The Sudra has one duty only, that is to serve with meekness the other three castes.

   The Brahman is the lord of all; sprang from the mouth of Brahma. By means of a Brahman’s mouth the gods consume the sacrificial food; by means of a Brahman’s mouth the spirits of the dead consume the offerings made to them.

4. The four stages of life for a Brahman with duties, rules, procedures.

   1. The Student.

      A Brahman’s duty is to study the sacred laws. Anybody who carries out the duties set forth in Manu and does so in the right way, will not only get his desires fulfilled in this life, but will achieve endless bliss hereafter. THIS IS SALVATION BY LAW. The primary source of the sacred law is the Veda. Next in importance comes the Tradition or Smriti, then the virtuous conduct of those who know the Veda and also the customs of holy men.

      Fourthly, when no other authorities exist to guide him, or in matters where an option is allowed, a man may do as best pleases himself.

      He must beg for food, and feed his teacher. He must care for the rites and customs, and the sacred fire. He must sip water before reading the Veda, put on clean clothes and bring all members under proper control. At the beginning and end of each lecture he should clasp his teacher’s feet. He should also pronounce the sacred syllable, OM, before and after his lesson. Begging must not be done from one person only. A student must always remain standing in the presence of his teacher, until given permission to sit down. His body must be well covered, except his right arm. He must, always sit on a lower seat than his teacher. He must never tarry when criticism of his teacher occurs, even if true. A STUDENT WHO CRITICISES HIS OWN TEACHER WILL IN his next birth be born as an ass. If he falsely accuses him he will be born as a dog. Should he live at his master’s expense, he will become a worm. He must be wary of all women. He should not sleep at sunrise or sunset.

      The Brahman who passes his whole life as a student never breaks his vow, will at death pass to the most exalted regions and never be reborn among men.

      The life of a student should be continued for 36 years, during which he should study the three Vedas.

   2. The Householder or Secular Stage.

      Should a Brahman master the three Vedas before the age of 36, he is free to marry before then. Thereafter, he should perform the ceremony of absolution and make a present to a teacher.

      Then he should marry a woman of his own caste, and who knows the Veda.

      A woman must be in subjection to her husband, and live with him only. She should be cheerful, wise and diligent. No matter how contemptible a man, his wife must treat him as a god.

   3. The Hermit Stage.

After a man’s hair has turned white and grandsons have been born to him. He should take only the sacred fire and instruments for sacrifices. His clothing should be the skin of animals or bark. He must bathe either morning or evening, but never clip his hair or nails. The five great sacrifices must be regularly performed. He should eat herbs, root and fruits. If he does not want his wife along, let him consign her to the care of her sons. Let him cheerfully endure hardships. Once a day only may he eat. The lunar penance is recommended when a man daily increases his amount of food for fifteen days and then daily decreases it with the waxing and waning of the moon. As to the ascetic posture, he may roll about on the ground, stand on tiptoe, stand and sit alternately, in summer expose himself to the elements, in winter wear only wet clothes. In this way, ever-increasing his austerities, let the hermit exhaust his body, without a dwelling or a fire, never speaking a word to anyone, eating what nature affords, sleeping on the ground and devoid of all affection. Such hardships the hermit must be willing to endure, if he would obtain union with the Supreme Soul, studying the sacred texts that are set forth in the Upanishads and other sacred books. It is also declared that a Brahman, if he is fully determined, may go on walking in a north-easterly direction, living on water and air, walking till he drops? In one of these ways he will be lifted to the world of the Supreme Brahma, and be forever freed from all pain and sorrow.”

The Mid-India Region

Dr. HENRY H. PRESLER

This and subsequent issues of THE PILGRIM will feature a section entitled, The Mid-India Region, drawing upon some reports assembled by the director of the Department of Organised Research of Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur, M.P.

This department was organised on July 1, 1949 for the purpose of conducting empirical studies of Indian cultures in an urban context. Its theory, concepts and methods are derived from the social sciences, particularly ecology, sociology, cultural anthropology and the psychology of religion.

This department is an adjunct of the Post Graduate School, but undergraduates assist in minor phases of its activities.

The problems before the workers may be classified, for the purpose of this introductory statement, as individual and departmental. Individual investigations are those undertaken by single students, working alone, but under the guidance of the director and with the counsel of the Research Seminar. These problems are reported in the form of postgraduate theses, such as those mentioned below, Departmental problems are those in the solution of which several or all persons in the department co-operate. The major inquiry of this type is as to the spatial distribution of cultures in Jabalpur and environs, with special reference to their institutions.

It is the policy of this department not to release its findings until they are sufficiently verified with empirical evidence to justify hypotheses. From time to time, however, descriptions of the cultures or aspects thereof are brought to the notice of interested readers, and such may be expected in this regular feature of THE PILGRIM.

The New Curriculum at the Post Graduate School

LEONARD THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE.

The post-graduate curriculum at Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur, India, plans that each advanced student may attempt a contribution to our knowledge of the religions and cultures of India, as related to orthodox Christianity. This expectation is probably shared by other seminaries in India having postgraduate divisions. The feature of our curriculum commended by sister seminaries, by the February 1956 issue of THE WORLD OUTLOOK (in Dr. Abraham’s article), by the report of the committee interested in a centre for studies in Hindu religion and culture, and by others, is our insistence upon field work, as disciplined by the social sciences. That is, we expect post-graduate students to engage in social or cultural research.

But before we send them to the field, we ask our students to become familiar with the monumental work of our predecessors, in philology and theology, in ignorance of which their efforts would be shallow. Then they go to the field with a frame of reference compounded of the psychology of religion, the sociology of religion and cultural anthropology. The Department of Organised Research is an adjunct of the Post-Graduate School and guides the serious student in his endeavours.

The meaning of what has just been said may be reviewed by examining the results.

Student Interest

Each post-graduate student devotes about twenty hours per week to this endeavour. About one-third of the undergraduate or B.D. students give their spare time to it, voluntarily.

Parish Analysis

These students have begun to analyse the ideological and social content of a parish, and to write about it. The best of their contributions to knowledge have been published in our Student Research Monograph series, as demonstrations of how future ministers understand a parish. We do not allow them to rehash what they have read, and eschew bibliographies, insisting that the monograph itself shall demonstrate whether they have been able to transform their reading into the acquisition of hitherto unrecorded information. The first book is entitled RURAL SWEEPERS IN THE CITY by. Rev. Samuel Jayakar, now of the Hyderabad Annual Conference. His is a study of the social and ideological confusion in a community of rural migrants from South India. The third book we published is by Rev. G.J. Job of the Madhya Pradesh Annual Conference, entitled FOLKWAYS AFFECTING DISEASE, being a study of the resistance offered by custom, magic and native medicines to scientific medicine. The fourth one is by Rev. J. Thangiah of the Church of South India entitled ACCULTURATION OF JABALPUR TAMILS, or a study of how the culture (with religion) of Tamil Hindus has been transformed by their thirty-five-year residence in mid-India, so that the Tamil variety of Hinduism has changed into the mid-India brand of Hinduism. Another book awaiting publication is by Rev. C. Selvamoney, now on the faculty of another seminary in South India, which manuscript is entitled, IRRELIGION. The study of the loss of their religion by Malayali Hindus due to mobility, and the retention of their religion by Malayali Christians under the same circumstances. Yet another that should be published is by Rev. N. Minz of the German Lutheran Church of Bihar, entitled INDUSTRIALISATION OF JABALPUR KOLS, being an analysis of what prolonged transplantation into an industrial situation did to the culture of one of our mid-India castes tribes. The listing of these books and manuscripts written by post-graduate students of Leonard Theological College, illustrates not only the content of our efforts, but several conclusions:

1. These students have come to grips with the religious and cultural problems of their parishes.
2. They have had the experience of initiating, formulating, conducting and concluding a study of the Indian people and their religions. Something has been done towards developing indigenous scholars.
3. They have received post-graduate training in India, among the “people with whom they will be working. We want them to fall in love with India in a scholastic sense and to become fascinated by the treasures of knowledge in their native land. We want an intellectually stimulated ministry, grateful for the privilege of living in the most varied country on earth, culturally speaking.

Religions of the Masses

A third result of the new curriculum of the Post-Graduate School of Leonard Theological College (besides the attraction it seems to have for students, and besides the training in parish analysis), is an increasing knowledge of the religions of the common people. The field work required for a contribution to knowledge, as acceptable to this School, places the ministerial candidate in prolonged interaction with the masses.

In the past, advance in our understanding of the non-Christian religions has been based upon written scriptures, and traditions, directing attention to the views of the upper classes and intellectuals. Our predecessors have concentrated on the elevated forms, passing over the “lower”. Thus, Sidney Cave in his book Redemption Hindu and Christian¹ says: “It is with this Higher Hinduism that we are chiefly concerned.”. Our post-graduate curriculum is also interested in what Mr. Cave calls “Higher Hinduism”; in fact, it insists that all must know such. But our main study is with the so-called “Lower Hinduism”, with the religions of average men, women and children. We want to know what the man in the street believes and does, religiously speaking. But what we consider more important, Mr. Cave described with a few uncomplimentary phrases. Yet, he admits that “even today in India it is the lower forms of Hinduism that are most in evidence.” In contrast to this predecessor, whose book is certainly an interesting treatment of his subject, we do not permit ourselves to use the word “superstition”, and do not tolerate his devaluating adjectives with reference to beliefs of the Indian masses. Rather, we are trying to find out what they believe, why they believe it and how they exercise it. In other words, we are forced by our curriculum to concern ourselves with the oral scriptures of Hinduism. (sic) These hitherto undiscovered (to Westerners) oral scriptures are repeated by thousands of our informants with little variation, and contain the unsystematised theology, and the real religious experiences of the common man.

To illustrate this interest in the Islam, Jainism and Hinduism of the masses, refer to studies by our post-graduates. The first one is a manuscript prepared by Rev. Daniel Massey of the North India Annual Conference. It is a study of saint worship in contemporary mid-India Islam, and has opened up an unexplored religious ideology embodied in the Cult of the Dead. This local cult attracts both Hindus and Mohamadans, and occasional Christians, to the same graves, in extraordinary religious behaviour. A second manuscript is by the Rev. Samuel Peters of the Delhi Annual Conference, entitled “Jabalpur Akharas.” Although the akhara is the truly active and numerically prevalent youth institution of Hinduism, there is absolutely nothing in print about it. Yet another manuscript is by the Rev. G.J. Job of the Madhya Pradesh Annual Conference, called, “A Case Study of the Terepanthi Jains in Hindi Town.” On the basis of two years experience with these people, and sojourns in their places of pilgrimage, this postgraduate gave us the first statement in English of the beliefs and practices of a major denomination within Jainism.

Another monograph illustrating our concern with the religion of the masses is my Landour Language School Lectures for 1954, published under the title, “Introducing Foreigners to Hinduism”. This fragment of a projected work may serve to point up the difference between our approach and that of our predecessors, although I wish to repeat that we are completely dependent upon their foundation. My first chapter is called Hindu Mythology, contrasting with the customary first chapter of an older text dealing with the Vedas (whereas in Jabalpur, at least, not one in a hundred knows the Vedas, but ninety-nine know the mythologies.) My second chapter deals with Hindu Magic, in contrast to the total absence of this subject in the previous works. The third essay is concerned with Hindu Rituals and the Sixteen Sacraments, whereas older texts generally dismiss the Brahmanas as unimportant. The fourth chapter presents the Hindu trinity and its branches, whereas older books usually deal with Brahman, Vishnu, and Siva as the titles of separate philosophic systems. The fifth has to do with the Five Daily Sacrifices of the Hindu, usually ignored elsewhere. The last chapter arranges the Hindu Festivals, and tries to understand them, there being only two books on this topic by previous Christian authors. My intention is to go on to examine the vital religion of Sacred Botany (worship of trees and shrubs), the Constellation of Symbols at the mid-India shrine, the Function of Religion in Solidifying Caste loyalties, and so forth. In other words, I aim to describe the religions of common men, like ourselves.

Story Section

The story given here might seem to be crude. However, one can see in it, the naive but strong conviction that God expects from His devotees some special offering. This story of Raka, Banka, and Vanka comes to us from the Marathi area, and they say that among the Maharastrians, this story is repeated with great emotion, and those who hear it are moved to tears.

There lived in the town of Pandhari a Gujarati potter by the name of Raka. He was a great worshipper of Shri Hari, which is another name for the God Vishnu. Most of Raka’s time was spent in pronouncing the name of his God. In his home life too Raka was happy. His wife Banka was an ideal helpmate for her husband. His will was hers, and her inclinations were always excellent, and so they had no difficulty at all. They were blessed with a beautiful daughter whom they named Vanka.

It was his custom to store in the central flat of his house the unbaked clay jars and leave them there till they were quite ready to be put into a kiln for baking. Once it so happened that a cat that had a litter of kittens, put them in one of these jars. One day, when the cat had gone outside, Raka took all the unbaked jars and put them into the furnace, not knowing that one of these jars had a litter of kittens. When the cat returned to the house of the potter she could not find either the jars or her kittens. So, mewing with great distress, she rushed to the kiln. Only after that, Raka found out his mistake. When he realised what he had done, he beat his forehead, fell upon the ground and cried. Then he rushed to his wife and told her what had happened. The furnace was blazing hot, and he was quite helpless. Both Raka and Banka prayed earnestly to the Lord of Pandhari. The following is the (translation by Dr. Justin E. Abbott, of Mahipati’s) text of the prayer (page 279. Bhakta Vijaya). Oh, Lord of Pandhari, rush to our help. Just as thou didst preserve the sons of Pandu in the lacquer house, so protect us. A little frog once fell in a frying pan and underneath was kindled a hot fire. Thou, the husband of Rukmini, didst come to its help and the water refused to be heated, In the same way, “Oh! Lord of Pandhari, come here at this time of distress. Oh Mother (God)” we have put thee into an extraordinary difficulty but what is there thou canst not do? Thou didst protect Prahlad when thrown into the fire, as he remembered Thy feet. The cat species has an evil propensity, and it will never think of Thee. But thou art an ocean of mercy and a cloud of intelligence, preserve the life of these kittens.”

When he had finished praying, he did not find any peace at all. Then it was that his wife Banka told him, that he should vow to God something from his heart. So, Raka vowed willingly and gladly, that he would never again enter into any worldly business.

The furnace was blazing hot for three long days. On the fourth day, when the fire went out and the kiln was not hot, they removed the jars. To the great joy of all, Raka, Banka, Vanka and the cat, the kittens in the baked jar came out joyously, and without the least hurt. Great, was their thankfulness to God; that these kittens were saved miraculously.

But their difficulties had just begun. True to his vow, Raka, refused to sell the jars or to do any other work. So, the family had to go to the forest and live there, eating only fruits and leaves. When they went to the forest, he asked the Brahmins to go to his house and take whatever they wanted there.

It was not so easy to get clothes. They had to collect rags that were cast away, and it was very difficult to get enough rags for the three of them. One day as Raka was trying to find something to cover himself, a tailor came and asked him, “You say that you undertake no business dealings. Then why can’t you give me the rags you are wearing?” Raka took up the challenge and gave all the rags he had, using only cast away leaves as a substitute for the rags he was wearing.

A Christian Reader’s Meditations on the Upanishad Isavsya

DR. ANJILVEL V. MATTHEW, M.Ed., Ph.D.

Whatever is in the world; all this, is covered by the presence of the Lord. Enjoy it in that spirit of renunciation. Covet not anyone’s wealth. Isaiah 1.

It is difficult to believe that these words were written several hundred years before Christ, they sound so modern. Most of the Upanishads do not speak of the Lord (Isha) as a personal Being, but of the Brahma with whom or with which we have to realise oneness, which is the summum bonum of life. The Rishi of this Upanishad speaks of the whole world as presided over by the Lord. Again, the ethical note is more implied than expressed in the Upanishads generally, but this Upanishad begins with a direct precept. This is one of several indications that the ancient seers of India did not lose sight of the moral order of the world, though they believed evidently that the basis of the good life is not so much maintenance of right relations with our neighbours as the realisation of our oneness with Spirit.

This did not make them irresponsible, a morally irresponsible people could never produce the Upanishads. We have in verses like the one given above an insight into their attitude towards ethical problems. Enjoy, but covet not. This was the ideal of the Upanishadic seers. Enjoy all beings, as all things are yours, but you are God’s. All this world and all the things of this world have the Real Presence of the Lord, and when you enjoy it in the spirit of Him who gives himself to the world, you do the right thing. The things given to us by the Lord should be enjoyed in the name of the Lord. The Upanishad seers were many of them not sanyasi, they were householders living with wives and children. But their homes were ashramas - places of simple living, generous rural hospitality and high thoughts. In modern times Mahatmaji in India and Kagawa in Japan have so lived that they have shown by their life that we can be in the world without being of it. They were sanyasi at heart, people who along with thousands of others in many parts of the world, most of them living and working in obscure places, have proved that the Upanishadic ideal need not be a mere dream, but a practicable proposition.

‘Kasyaswidhanam’ - another translation of this expression is “Whose is wealth?” That is the question they ask themselves and others. In the early days of the Christian Church “The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common - and great grace was upon them all. For neither was there among them any that lacked.” Acts 4:32-34.

Doing deeds, a man should desire to live here (in this world) a hundred years. Thus, you may live and in no other way. Karma clings not to such a man. Isaiah 2.

Love of life is inborn in all beings, without which the world would come to a premature end. The will to live makes life possible even in the most adverse circumstances. In dreary deserts, in dark recesses of snow-clad mountains, and in the bottom of the deep sea, we find traces of life. And nowhere do we see this struggle for existence, this will to live, more clearly than in the case of man.

The traditional goal of all popular religion is life ever-lasting. Man wants to live and hopes to live even after that apparent negation of life called death, and religion helps him not to dread death. Again, man wants not only to live after death, he also wants to postpone death as much as possible. Here again religion comes to the aid of man’s inborn, will-to-live. It has always taught him to believe that conditions of life are not only physical and environmental, but also moral and spiritual in nature.

Religion does not attempt to give a scientific account of the relationship between the physical and the spiritual, but impresses upon its followers the necessity of believing that even length of life is dependent on spiritual conditions. Physiology and psychology explain how the physical and the spiritual are interconnected, but they do not tell us why (though to some extent it has thrown light on how) these correlations take place. Religion insists that man must first seek the kingdom of God, and that these other things will be added to him. The old Mosaic law said: “Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God give thee”. Today’s Upanishadic verse says that if one lives thus, he may desire to live for a hundred years, not otherwise. When a man enjoys what has been given on the understanding that he is not its absolute owner but only a steward, and that he has to enjoy it in the spirit of renunciation (thyena thaktena bhinjeethna), then such a man will be free from the evil effects of action. Though Christian theology does not believe in Karma in the way that Hinduism or Buddhism or Jainism does, we too admit that any act leaves its mark on the doer. But when a man acts in a disinterested and unselfish manner, he needs to have no fear about his future. For he who wisely dispenses the fortunes of man is pleased with those who, having all, live as though they had none. “Let those that weep (be), as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not; and those that use the world, as not using it to the full”. (1 Corinthians 7:30-31).

The world of the asuras is covered over with blinding darkness. Those people who kill the self enter into this world after their death. Isaiah 3.

Our life is a splendid opportunity to do noble deeds and to enter into life eternal. But life may also be spent in evil things. We are to at least a certain extent the architects of our own future we may make or mar it. “Our deeds determine us,” as George Eliot puts it, as much as we determine our deeds. There is a terrible coercion in our deeds which may first turn the honest man into a deceiver, and then reconcile him to the change, for this reason, that the second wrong presents itself to him in the guise of the only practical right. The action which before commission has been seen with that blended common sense and fresh, untarnished feeling which is the healthy eye of the soul, is looked at afterwards with the lens of apologetic ingenuity through which all things that men call beautiful and ugly are seen to be made up of textures very much alike. No man can escape this vitiating effect of an offence against his own self. And when these offences against the self are again and again repeated by a man, he in effect kills himself. Such a man lives in utter darkness. Though he may live under the rays of the sun which cheers other people they cannot dispel the gloom and the darkness from this man’s world. When we die, our life does not end. If we do well, we enter into an enlightened world, if we sin against our own conscience, we enter into the world of darkness. Sadhu Sunder Singh used to say that God does not judge any man, but that it is his own conscience that judges a man; that if a sinful man were to be put in heaven he would find the atmosphere so uncongenial that he would try to escape from there.

Many shall come into the kingdom of God, from the east and the west. They will come, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. There the righteous shall shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father. But the children of this world, who did not care to know Him who.is light, and life, will enter into the world of utter darkness, where it shall be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. To them “the blackness of darkness hath been reserved forever.” (Jude 13. See also 2 Peter 2:17.):

Where Canst Thou Go?

It is stated that at Peniel, “Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” (Genesis 32:28) Evidently here is given to us the spiritual experience of a great soul whose faith was triumphant. Man can never triumph over God - but man’s faith in God can be so unshakeable as to prevail over apparently impossible circumstances of life.

Manikka Vasaha the Tamil poet claims such an experience. Here is an account of the same in three stanzas, taken from the translation by Kingsbury and Phillips (Hymns of the Tamil Salvaite Saints: Page 123):

King of the heavenly ones! All-filling Excellence! Even to vile me Thou Thy wonders hast shown; Balm of true bliss, ending false earthly bliss of sense, Thou my whole household did take for Thine own. Meaning holy writ! Wondrous Thy glory! True wealth, our Siva, to Thee, Lord, I cling. Never to lose my hold, firmly. I cling to Thee; Where canst Thou go, leaving me sorrowing? King of celestial ones, ever with bull for steed, Evil am I, yet my riches art Thou; Lest I should rot in my foul flesh, and die indeed, Thou hast preserved me, and Thine am I now, Thou art our God; Thou of grace art a boundless sea, Saved from my flesh, now to Thee, Lord, I cling. Never to let Thee loose, firmly I cling to Thee; Where can thou go, leaving me sorrowing? Thou did come into my vile fleshly body, Even as there into some great golden shrine; Softening and melting it all, Thou hast saved me, Lord condescending, Thou gem all divine! Sorrow and birth; death, all ties that deceived me, Thou did remove, all my bonds severing; True bliss, our kindly Light, firmly I cling to Thee; Where canst Thou go leaving me sorrowing?

Book Reviews

The Gita in Life

By Dorothea Stephen (Madras C.L.S, 1954) pp. 98.

Here is a good translation of, introduction to, and notes on the Bhagavad Gita. The author has taken great pains to be accurate and authoritative. This she has done, by repeating almost, verbatim her conversation with Hindu pandits on important points that require elucidation. Because the author is a Christian, she understands the difficulties of Christians, especially those that do not have an acquaintance with the Hindu religion or Sanskrit language. The introduction is excellent. It is short-but clear, and comprehensive. When historical facts are described, the author takes pains to correlate the dates with the parallel periods in Biblical history. The commentary is both exegetical and critical. Delightful and sometimes unsuspected points of similarities are brought out. What is more helpful is the fact that the author takes pains to show differences between the Hindu and Christian view points. Religion is a seamless dress. One can only note the points of difference between various religions. That is exactly what the author has done.

She shows here, that the study of the Gita is not a matter of mere archaeology or of the selection of apt quotations. It is a matter of vital importance. The Gita (the commonly accepted New Testament of the Hindus) teaches an Ultimate Reality beyond all distinctions, and Christianity a living God, infinitely righteous.

The publishers are to be congratulated for the attractive cover, clear type, and faultless printing.

North Indian Saints

(Madras: Natesan & Co. 1947), pp. 239, price Rs. 2.

The author’s name is not stated. But this seems to be an attractive and popular book. Its popularity is evidenced by the fact that this is the second edition. The subtitle of the book is Ramand to Ram Tirath, lives of the saints of Northern India including Sikh Gurus”. Twelve Saints lives are described here - five of these are saints of Sikhism. A definite pattern is followed. First a short introduction is given, in which the reader is given information about the time and place, the political, religious and social environment of the saint. This is followed by a short sketch of his life. His religion, philosophy, and literary works are given greater emphasis. The author’s aim seems to be rather to show the reforms effected in Hinduism by these saints.

In his preface he says, “the reformation in Hindu beliefs and rituals effected by these great saints of India may be fairly compared with the great Protestant movement of Europe. But the Indian reformers like Kabir and Mira Bai were in no sense militant theologians like Luther and Zwingli. They did not attempt to overturn existing religious institutions nor overthrow the established government. The preachings of great Vaishnavite reformers, the Ramanandis and the Ravidasis, were mostly directed to the freeing of religion from caste superstition. These saints are the sources from which the different ascetic orders of Northern India take their origin. The influence of the Kabir-Panthis and the Ramanandis is felt even at the present time. Some of the rapturous songs and hymns of the Vernaculars are to be found in the ecstatic utterances of Mira Bai, of Nanak and Kabir. The sketches contain ample quotations, from these hymns as well as from the sayings and teachings of these saints.” This book is full of reliable information and the study of abstruse philosophy is made comparatively easy through the biography of these saints. We wish the publishers had used better paper.

Indian Cultures Society

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