rhododendron woods, the sough of the breeze in deodar and pine, the glittering snows, the verdure of the "rains," the rich brown and emerald of the mountain-sides in drier seasons, the bright sunshine over all, or the poetry of winter evenings by the glowing oak-log on the open hearth above all, if they awaken in the mind of any who may chance to read them an abiding interest in our great Indian Empire, its people and their deeper needs his pleasant task will be amply rewarded.
The purpose of the work is far from being wholly a controversial one, yet I shall be very glad if it helps to prove that India needs a better faith. I have tried, in describing the forms of religion current in this part of India, to keep well within the bounds of sober truth, and to state nothing that does not admit of the fullest verification. It is easy to paint lurid pictures of the lower types of idol worship and demonism, but every religion may justly claim to be judged by its best, or at any rate its average, level. Those who have lived among the Hindus on familiar terms and studied their literature in a sympathetic spirit would be the last to deny that there is much that is amiable and worthy of respect in the life and character of the people; but I think most will confess that such better features are little due to the prevailing types of their religion. Moral precepts abound, and religious books like the popular Ramayan of Tulsi Das are full of the spirit of faith and devotion; but when one comes to examine the actual forms of religious belief and worship, the wonder grows that the people are half so estimable as they are. As regards India, at any rate, the conviction appears to be forced on one's mind that the outward symbols of religious belief have less influence on the daily life of individuals than the social standards that exist independently of the strange and often very unedifying religious cults professed by the people. Yet what a sad confession it is, that the very influence which should be most elevating and inspiring falls here below the common level of moral feeling, and has to be ingeniously explained and interpreted before it can be made to accord with ordinary notions of right! It is this, more than anything else, that keeps back the Hindus from attaining the place in the world that their intelligence and ability fit them to occupy. They need a high and inspiring ideal, a hopeful and energising faith that will lift them out of the slough of fatalism which their religious creed, under all its manifold forms, has inculcated. A consciousness of this need has made itself felt of late years, giving rise to a desperate and forlorn attempt to revive the belief in Hinduism, with all its ancient practices, among the educated classes. While acknowledging the zeal and self-denial which have led modern workers like Mrs. Besant to aim at the regeneration of the Hindus by a revival of their old religion, one cannot but regard such efforts as a very questionable service to young India.
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