ART. II.-THE REFORMATORY MOVEMENTS IN THE LATER HINDUISM.

DURING the last half century there has sprung up in India an important departure from the old Brahmic faith. The Hindus have never claimed that their system is such a fixed thing that it admits of no enlargement or adaptation to new conditions. On the contrary, Hinduism holds to the idea of new light and great changes, answering to the development of the times and the growth of the race. The presence of Christianity in India, and of its growing power over the native mind, has been the great factor in causing a discontent with the Brahmic faith in its old and stagnant form. The new reformatory movement within the Hindu fold has a theistic, rather than a polytheistic, basis. It has already undergone serious changes. But every change has only proven the dissatisfaction of the educated native minds with the old idolatry. Down to the present time there have been four distinct Associations, each with its literature, apostles, churches, and zealous adherents.

I.—THE ADI BRAHMA SAMAJ.

This is the original society. It originated with the Rajah Ram Mohun Roy, who was born in 1780 and died in 1833. He formally inaugurated his movement by opening a prayer hall in Calcutta, where he welcomed men of all creeds to worship the one true God. He gave a certain theological direction to the movement. But the first practical form for a permanent society was given by his successor, Debendra Nath Tagore, who in 1843 presented to the friends of the movement a solemn covenant, which was signed first by himself and then by the remaining adherents. By this they bound themselves to cultivate the habit of daily prayer, and to give up idolatry. In 1858 the Adi Samaj received its first great impulse. A young man, Keshab Chandra Sen, then in his twenty-first year, joined the society in 1859. His brilliant and fertile mind, his gift of eloquent speech, his boundless enthusiasm, his rich acquirements of western knowledge, fitted him for this new position. He soon rose to great influence, and imparted to the Samaj an enthusiasm which it had not possessed. Up to this time the Adi Samaj

had no missionaries. But Sen gave up his position in the Bank of Bengal, and others united with him, and they devoted their energies to advancing the new faith.* In 1861 he made a journey to Krishnaghar, and later created a great sensation in Madras and Bombay. In 1862 he was formally acknowledged as an Achargi, or minister, of the Samaj. Tagore was more conservative than his young companion, and though he was induced to throw off some of the accompaniments of the strict Brahma faith, he would not go the full length to which the brilliant and radical Sen was rapidly hastening. Embarrassments and differences arose. Finally, Sen presented the following ultimatum, as a condition of remaining in the Adi Brahma Samaj: That the external signs of caste distinctions, such as the Brahmanic thread, should no longer be used; that none but Brahmas of sufficient ability and good moral character, who lived consistently with their profession, should conduct the services of the Samaj; and that nothing should be said in the Samaj expressive of hatred or contempt for other religions. The ultimatum was rejected. The result was that Sen and his friends seceded, and laid the foundation of a new society—the Brahma Samaj of India.

The theology and philosophy of the Adi Samaj underlie all the new systems. The founder, Ram Mohun Roy, was a diligent student of theology, and mastered the English, Bengali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Greek, and Hebrew languages, with a view to study the sacred writings of Hindus, Mohammedans, and Christians, in the original. He arrived at the belief that a union of all religions could be effected under a form of monotheism. He established and endowed a prayer house in Calcutta, from which he excluded all idolatry, and with the purpose of "promoting the contemplation of the Author and Preserver of the universe," and strengthening the bonds of union between all religious persuasions and creeds. "His creed was simple rationalism." "He strove to please every body, and succeeded in pleasing no one." He claimed adherence to Jesus "as the sole Guide to peace and happiness;" as "the

* Article on Brahmaism, "The Progressive Samaj," by Ram Chandra Bose, in The Indian Evangelical Review, July, 1883.

+ Ram Chandra Bose, article on Brahmaism, "The Adi Samaj," in Indian Evangelical Review, Calcutta, 1883.

Founder of truth and of true religion;" and as "the spiritual Lord and King of Jews and Gentiles." But he did not admit the divinity of Jesus in the scriptural sense. He was a unitarian, and constituted the Upanishads, and not the New Testament, the canonical Scriptures of his association. His faith was a sad mixture of pantheism and monotheisin. In attempting to reconcile all religions, he failed to see unity anywhere. His successor, Debendra Nath Tagore, made little improvement on the frail foundation which he found. Mr. Dall reports this:

On first visiting Debendra Nath Tagore, in 1855, I asked him whether he ever allowed the name of Jesus to be heard in his church.

"No, never," he replied.

"And why not?” I said.

"Because some people call him God.”

When Debendra Nath Tagore organized his church in Calcutta there was a formal announcement of the abandonment of polytheism. This is the covenant which he and his twenty friends signed:

1. I will live devoted to the worship of that one supreme Brahma who is the creator, preserver, and destroyer (of the universe), the cause of deliverance; all wise; all pervading; full of joy; the good; and without form. I will worship him with love, and by doing things that will give him pleasure.

2. I will worship no created thing as the supreme Brahma, the creator of all.

3. Except on days of sickness or calamity, I will every day, when my mind shall be at rest, in faith and love, fix my thoughts in contemplation on the Supreme.

4. I will live earnest in the practice of good deeds.

5. I will endeavor to live free from evil deeds.

6. If, overcome by temptation, I perchance do any thing evil, I will surely desire to be free from it and be careful for the future.

7. Every year, and in all my worldly prosperity, I will offer gifts to the Brahma Samaj.

8. O God! grant unto me that I may entirely observe this excellent religion.

The creed is beautiful enough, but it is one only of high morality. When Sen proposed to advance upon it, and make important approaches to positive Christianity, his overtures were rejected, and he left the Adi Brahma Samaj and founded the

Brahma Samaj of India, or, as often designated, "The New Dispensation." The present president of the Adi Brahma Samaj is Rajirarain Bose, and Debendra Nath Tagore, Jr., is a member of the managing committee. This society is constantly declining. Its aggressive character disappeared with the departure of Sen. In both members and teaching it is losing its hold. Many of the persons who were its members and signed its covenant have disappeared as protestants against the Brahma faith, and lapsed into idolatry or indifference. The four fundamental principles to which the few followers still adhere are the following:

That God alone existed from the beginning and created the universe; that he is omnipotent, omniscient, immutable, benevolent, and supreme; that by the worship of him alone can the greatest good in this life and the life to come be obtained; and that to love him and do the works he loves constitute his worship

II. THE BRAHMA SAMAJ OF INDIA.

This association was organized in 1866, and went forth before the world as the Bharatvarsya Brama Samaj-the Brahma Samaj of India. Sen became its secretary and the practical administrator of its affairs. There was no president, God alone being recognized as head.* A selection of theistic texts was published, taken from the sacred writing of the Hindus, Mohammedans, Parsis, Jews, and Christians. These, with the Brahma Sangit and Sankistan, or hymns and choruses, were used in the Samaj services. The following motto, from the Bhagavadgita, accompanied the texts: "As the bee gathereth honey from flowers great and small, so does the really wise man gather substantial truth from the chaff of all scriptures, great and small." Two religious newspapers existing before the schism-the fortnightly Dharma Tattva (Religious Truth), and the weekly Indian Mirror, which Chandra Sen was allowed to take possession of—were utilized industriously by the new Samaj. The society now addressed itself to great reforms, and, going far beyond the philosophical limits of the Adi Samaj, boldly invaded the sphere of religion. It made relentless war on the social evils of the Hindu system. Pamphlets of progressive character in Bengali and English were published and circulated widely. Female *Slater, Keshab Chandra Sen and the Brahma Samaj, Madras, 1884, pp. 48, ƒfƒ. 32-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. V.

education was advanced, child marriages were condemned, widow re-marriage was advocated; and, directly through Chandra Sen's labors, in 1872 the government passed an act legalizing Brahma and civil marriages. This last was the great social reform of Chandra Sen's remarkable career. As an evidence of the prompt invasion of the rigid caste system by the Brahma Samaj, during nineteen months of 1876 and 1877 there were eighteen Brahma marriages of which ten were intermarriages between persons of different castes, and four were widow marriages. The bridegrooms' ages ranged from nineteen to thirty-seven, and the brides' from fourteen to twenty-six; while eleven of the eighteen brides were specified as "educated." From July, 1861, to August, 1879, there were ninety-three marriages, thirty-five of the brides being widows.*

With the public appearance of Chandra Sen the reformatory or theistic movement passed from the narrow limits of the Bengali into the English language. Chandra Sen was very active with his pen. In 1866 he published his True Faith, a devotional book, somewhat after the manner of Kempis's Imitation of Christ. In 1873 he published his Essays, Theological and Ethical, and in 1872 and 1873 his Brahma Pocket Diary, after the style of the birthday text-books in England and America. His lectures were attended by large numbers of interested persons. So soon as they were printed they went far beyond the audiences of India, and found their way to England and the United States. Christ was prominent in them. Every year Sen delivered a lecture in the town-hall of Calcutta, on the anniversary of the founding of the Brahma Samaj. The interest of both Europeans and natives was intense and wide-spread. Sen's first lecture was delivered in 1866, in the theater of the Calcutta Medical College, on "Jesus Christ-Europe and Asia." It was an attempt to reconcile India to the Gospel and person of Christ. Debendra Nath had said:

Theism is free. Popery was the first that robbed Christianity of its freedom, and, owing to its freedom, Protestantism has also lost its freedom. Let not the name of Christ enter into the Adi Samaj. Three hundred and thirty-three millions of gods and goddesses have been defeated by Brahmaism. Let us not be intimidated by another finite God.

*Brahma Year Books, for 1877-79, edited by S. D. Collet, London.