Hinduism: Ancient and Modern. AS TAUGHT IN 9.808 ORIGINAL SOURCES AND ILLUSTRA- COMPRISING AMONG OTHERS Two Papers contributed to the International Oriental BY RAI BAHADUR LALA BAIJ NATH, B, A., of the N-W. P. Judicial Service, and Fellow of the University AND Author of Legal Maxims in Urdu Austrated from British Indian Law, MEERUT: PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE VAISHYA HITKARI. 1899 ALL RIGHts reseRVED. 1000 COPIES. .. Some Problems of Social Reform in Hindu Society, 80 pages .. 1 England and India (English), 235 pages ... 2 1 * The Urdu Edition of England and India has been patronized by the Governments of the Punjab and the North-Western Provinces and has been recommended by the Text-book Committee of the latter as a prize book, Το THE VENERABLE The Late Swami Bhaskaranand OF BENARES. THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY ONE OF HIS LOVING DISCIPLES AS A TOKEN OF LOVE AND REVERENCE. PREFACE. THIS is partly a reprint and partly an enlarged and amended version of some papers contributed by me to the National Oriental Congresses of Paris in 1897, and of Rome in 1899. The first section now headed "Social and Personal," is in part a reprint of a paper contributed to the Oriental Congress of Rome under the title of "The religious situation of the Hindu Society in India," while the second section is an enlarged version of the concluding portion of that paper. The third section, headed "Philosophy," is partly a reprint, with some additions and alterations, of a paper contributed to the Oriental Congress of Paris in September 1897, and published in their report, while its second portion is an elaboration of the concluding section of that paper. Section IV is an entirely new section. The object of the publication is to present the teachings of Hinduism, as gathered from its most authentic and recognized sources, on all important phases of the social, religious and philosophic life of the Hindus, in a simple manner, free from unnecessary details, technicality, and all controversial matter, in order to induce modern Indians to approach their religion in a more appreciative and reverent spirit, and foreign thinkers to study it in a spirit of greater love and sympathy. The treatment is in no sense full or exhaustive but I hope that with the present revival of Hinduism so noticeable in India, others possessing greater knowledge and wider opportunities for observation, will take up each of the subjects treated of in these pages in greater detail and do fuller justice to them than I have been able to do. My studies of the Hindu S'astras in the original, my visits to many of the chief places of India and Europe, and my observation of the daily life of the Hindus, have left upon me the deep impression that the future of this country lies neither with the out-and-out revivalist, nor with the out-and-out iconoclast who would entirely alienate himself from the past, and would have Hindu Society remodelled according to methods of present Western culture. The latter mistake has been made in France with the result that the French are now less prosperous as a nation than they were before. On the other hand I also feel that the Hindus cannot, like any other nation of the world, wait and let their social and religous institutions take care of themselves, nor claim perfection for all that is taught in the S'astras, ancient or modern. The only course therefore open to them, is to adapt ancient institutions to modern circumstances, retain so much of the old as is suited to modern times, and gradually make the necessary changes in the remainder. These, I believe, are the lines on which the best and most thoughtful of Indian reformers have moved in the past and are moving at present. I do not advocate the doctrines oí any sect or cult of Hinduism, ancient or modern, but have only ventured to give a brief outline of Hinduism in its most catholic spirit, and feel that in spite of all differences of caste or sect, there is still |