Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXII. Heathenism and Christianity—The Religion of the Hindoos—Caste—The Brahmins—Their Tyranny—Superstition—The Influence of Christianity—Keshub-Chunder-Sen, the Indian Reformer—His faith and Influence
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220
Story of ax Emigraxt.
well as on forty regular holidays every year; during
smallpox or cholera ravages he is called to ward off the plague;
the farmer cannot reap his grain, the fisherman cannot go to
sea, the merchant cannot make a bargain unless he has
bought the blessing of the Brahmin and paid for the same.
"And still the Hindoos possess a high culture, and their
civilization is one of the oldest in the world. They are endowed
with a strong religious feeling. They are profound,
peaceful, diligent, economical and law abiding; many of them
have become distinguished in learning, art atid science; thev
have been the teachers of the philosophers and scholars of
other nations, and for thousands of years they have
pondered deeply 011 questions pertaining to the human soul,
immortality and the life to come, and endeavored to satisfv
their craving and yearning for a closer union with the
infinite by a devotion and self sacrifices which can well be
compared with the sufferings of the Christian martyrs.
Accordingly if any people could attain a higher development and a
happy condition by other means than the influence of the
Christian religion, that people ought to be the Hindoos.
Yet, after all their struggles, we now find them 011 a lower
level than they were thousands of years ago. What a
picture! All these millions of civilized, peaceful, diligent,
sensible people bend their knees before thirty-three millions of
disgusting images and pictures, and among all this people, in
all their thirty thousand citics there was not a hospital for
the sick, not an asylum for the blind or deaf, not a home for
lepers 01* insane, not one voice saying to the lowly and the
poor: "Thou art my brother."
Then came Buddha, the great reformer, preaching the
religion of self denial and human love. The old-petrified social
fabric and religion were shaken to their foundation, and the
system of caste was 011 the verge of dissolution. Under the
first wave of enthusiasm caused bv the teachings of Buddha,
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