Page images
PDF
EPUB

the Quran; that no distinctions exist in race, color or station between the followers of Mohammed, who among themselves constitute a "spiritual democracy." The one wholesome effect of the Mohammedan religion has been the assertion of the dignity of manhood.

The unity of God has always been emphasized by the many paths of Hinduism. But sometimes the element of mysticism and the speculations of philosophy obscure that cardinal principle. Hence the prominence given by Islam to the unity of God could not escape influencing Hindu thought and establishing new schools. The most famous of those noble souls who drank at the fountains of both Hinduism and Mohammedism are Ramanand (fourteenth century); Kabir, his follower and the founder of Kabirpanth* ("the way of Kabir"); and Nanak who established Sikhism in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Both Hindus and Mohammedans were spiritually fraternized-what is more the new thought destroyed caste distinctions and fostered the spirit of unity. In the midst of political turmoils and confusion, when this spiritual renascence was dawning upon the land, a new light began to penetrate from afar-the light of Christ:

IV. CHRISTIANITY

The western world still treads the path trodden more than two thousand years ago by the Hellenic paganism which produced, among others, such rare thinkers and creative geniuses as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Phidias and Homer. True enough that the Greeks were subdued by the prowess of the rising Roman Empire, but that only prepared the way for the peaceful penetration and conquest of Rome by the Greek civilization. And paganism, with its worship of the beautiful, would have today been the creed of the Western world, had it not been for the Roman Em

"The Songs of Kabir" by Tagore is very illuminating.-H. M.

peror Constantine the Great, who after his conversion in the beginning of the fourth century, became the staunchest champion of Christianity. Thenceforth was European life consecrated to the Vision of the Flaming Cross instead of the Olympian Zeus of Phidias.

With the crucifixion of the gentle yet mighty Jesus was born Christianity, and the message of healing and salvation was being spread over Palestine, Egypt and Europe. But the way of non-resistance, the gospel of good-will among men, the glad tidings of the coming Kingdom of God on earth, did not meet with the approbation of the Western mind which had developed a strong sense of material enjoyment—was it not rather enslavement? Thus was enacted the greatest farce of history—namely, Bible in hand, humility in preaching, non-resistance on their lips, the professors of Christianity, whenever they came in contact one with another, or with the followers of other religions, heartily took up the sword and settled disputes by arson, murder and reprisals. That the propagation and periodic reformations of a religion denying the utility of force and the wisdom of violence, should have involved warfare and bloodshed is a sad commentary indeed-a commentary not on the religion, however, but on the people who professed it.

For the Christianity of Christ is indeed the most beautiful conception on earth. Born in a lowly manger, the carpenter of Nazareth after the assumption of his ministry as the Christ, the "Anointed," began to wield far-reaching influence on the course of human events. "The gospel of Christianity, therefore, as derived from Jesus, consists, not in obedience to an external standard, but in what may be called spiritual righteousness, or the morality of the spirit.

According to this, each human being is a child of God, endowed with power to come into perfect harmony with Him, and the single-hearted desire for that harmony is the supreme motive for doing what is right. To become truly children of their heavenly Father, to

become worthy of their divine kinship, this, he held, is the highest reason why men and women should do what is right. Hence, the ideal life, according to Jesus, is the life of the spirit, the life of union with the Eternal Life, the life of self-dedication to supreme holiness. Note that the concern of Jesus is exclusively with individual men and women and their reproduction of the divine love. He came refine men's hearts, to quicken in each human soul he addressed the sense of its divine origin, and its infinite possibilities and to show forth the real moral worth of human actions."*

[ocr errors]

to

Paul of Tarsus, the Apostles, Constantine, St. Francis of Assissi, Savonarola, Martin Luther, Ignatius Loyola, Calvin, Menno Simons, John Knox, George Fox, John Wesley, Swenborg, Tolstoy-with the deeds of such-like souls is the history of Christendom deeply saturated. Lofty motives and high ideals inspired the leaders of Christianity to establish new groups, sects and denominations. This diverstiy has been at once the strength and weakness of Christianity -it has acted both as an accelerant and as a deterrent to progress. Among other things it brought into play sectarian bigotry and religious intolerance, the inquisition, the burnings at the stake and other things which are inhuman, not to speak un-Christian. Thus an intrinsically sound and beautiful gospel has been ill used and abused.

Ever since its inception, the Church of Christ has been divided against itself. These divisions and wranglings became acute by the fifteenth century. Not only was Europe divided religiously but now it also found a cause for further dissensions and feuds in the economic field. The Arabs having an uninterrupted access to Europe from the mainland of India acted as middlemen in the Indo-European business transactions. Venice and Genoa were the great trading centers of Europe in those days. And the Euro

"Great Religious Teachers of the East," by A. W. Martin.

pean nations now became seized with lust for the gold of India. In search for a sea-route to India, Columbus in 1492 came upon and discovered the New World. Vasco da Gama was the first European to reach India by a sea-route; he landed at Calicut in 1498, and since that day despite the Arab merchants' efforts the Portugese trade of India increased. For a whole century the Portuguese retained their supremacy of Indian trade in spices, fabrics, perfumes and other merchandise. But in the beginning of the seventeenth century the Dutch and the English began simultaneously to contest Portuguese monopoly of Indian trade and very soon destroyed it. Now the Dutch and the English trading companies became rivals, but by 1650, the Dutch power was all but destroyed. And now came into the field another rival with perhaps greater mettle and audacity than the English, namely the French. Though the French Trading Company was started in 1664, that is, 64 years later than the English East India Company, yet by the year 1750 the French proved to be the most formidable rivals the English had as yet met. Dupleix and La Bourdonnais, however, were well matched on the English side by Robert Clive and Stringer Lawrence. The Treaty of Paris which brought to a close the Seven Years' War (1757-63), during which period the English and the French were busy fighting each other all over the globe, decided the issue in favor of England and against France.

The Mogul Empire was tottering; its governors in the far-flung parts of India were constituting themselves into independent sovereigns; the Mahratta power was rising in the south; an adventurous soldier named Hyder Ali was establishing a Kingdom for himself there was political chaos in the country. Now that the last European rival had been eliminated from the field, the English began very effectively to play the imperialist game of "Divide and Rule." There followed days of upstart unscrupulous brigandage— the Clives and the Hastingses are glorified by British

historians as great empire-builders; but it was these very empire-builders who "bled India white," both literally and metaphorically. Indigenous institutions and industries were ruthlessly trampled underfootthe race of the beautiful muslin weavers of Dacca was wiped out so that the machine-made goods of England might be forced on the people of India. Clive, Hastings, Wellesley, Hardinge, Dalhousie, Curzon and other empire-builders who are considered great men by the English are looked upon in another light by the Indians.

From 1757 to 1857, for a full hundred years the affairs of India were managed by a trading company -yes, by a business corporation. Discontent of the masses, resentment of alien domination, hard knocks of poverty, pangs of hunger-all these were made manifest in the revolt of the Indian princes, princesses and soldiers against the British Raj (Rule). The rebellion was suppressed and order was restored by the famous Proclamation of Queen Victoria (1858). The development of constitutional political life along Western lines we shall trace later on. But it will be interesting at this stage to turn to the work done by the Christian missionaries and the reaction made by Christianity upon India.

The Jesuit missions were well received at the court of Akber, but his very tolerance of all religions was disliked by the Jesuits who had already set up an Inquisition Court at Goa, which port was—and still is-in Portguese hands. "An Englishman named John Mildenhall, who bore a letter from Queen Elizabeth asking for trade facilities equal to those granted to the Portuguese, visited Akber in the last year of his life (1605), and did his best to oppose the Jesuits with their own weapons of intrigue and bribery."* At one time the Jesuits entertained hopes of converting the whole of India, but neither the Hindus, particularly the high-caste, nor the Mohammedans were anxious

*Oxford History of India-V. A. Smith, pp. 362.

« PreviousContinue »