that exalts sensuality and the degrading elements of sex relationship. The story of the incarnation of Rama reads in parts almost like our gospel, and the whole trend of his life runs on a comparatively high plane. The tales of his life and adventures are gathered together in the Ramayana, which has become in a sense the Bible of millions of the common people.

Elsewhere in the Caves of Elephanta we find representation of other gods, among whom we mention Indra, the god of the firmament who ranked as king in the old Vedic pantheon. He rides on a celestial elephant, Airavati, out of whose trunk comes the rain that waters the earth. Near the Trimurti also is a representation of Arddhanari, a figure half male and half female. In still another group we find Ganesh, sometimes called Ganpati, the elephant-headed son of Shiva. He is the god of good luck and is constantly growing in popular favor throughout India. Hanuman is the monkey-headed god representing faithful friendship. He figures in the Ramayana and is also one of the most popular gods of the land. We might continue thus to enumerate and characterize the multitude of deities, their wives and sons and the hosts of minor incarnations, but the ones already mentioned constitute the major members of the Hindu pantheon. It is apparent even in so brief a review of these strange personalities that there are strong traces of animism in this faith and that most of the gods, in Vedic times at least, were

personifications of the phenomena of nature. Lofty moral ideals and definite ethical distinctions either are entirely absent or subordinated to the manifestations of power on the part of these beings, though, as we have seen in the cases of Rama and Hanuman, there are some hints at nobler things.

THE CEREMONY OF FIRE

But Hinduism is more than an interesting group of gods blindly worshiped, it is also a philosophy with more or less definite theories as to the meaning and purpose of life. Thousands of years ago in the age of the Vedas, the gods were comparatively few and the worship simple, although animism with the personification of nature's powers, magic, and myth had already begun to modify this early stage of development. But with the passing of the years upon this ancient polytheism was imposed an ever-deepening philosophic interpretation and ever-increasing domination by the Brahmans or priests. During this period, nearly a thousand years before the birth of Christ, the Brahmanas and Upanishads were added to the sacred Vedas to become a part of holy literature of India. The natures of the older gods were also modified and numerous new ones added to the list. In the year B.C. 563 the great teacher Gotama Buddha was born, and there began the great reform movement bearing his name. Jainism marked another revolt. These

two movements are typical of numerous other attempts characterizing the last twenty-five hundred years to define and reform the ancient faith, until to-day, under the influence of Mohammedanism and Christianity, there is a decided tendency toward monotheism on the side of theory and toward social helpfulness and reform on the side of practice. During these long ages the subtle and peculiar beliefs of this country were gradually taking definite form and becoming the accepted faith and conviction of the common people, until in this present time Hindu mysticism is fully developed and marvelously controls the everyday life of India.

We cannot do better in a brief discussion of some of these doctrines than to describe the ceremony of fire on one of the sacred rivers. At Muttra every evening, rain or shine, just at sundown the people gather for this picturesque fire-worship on the banks of the sacred Jumna. Here homage is done to Krishna, and Jumna, the river god, in most solemn and spectacular fashion. On a January evening, accompanied by a native missionary and his children, we arrived at the Fire Ghat just in time to secure a raft on which we floated out on the river to an advantageous position from which to witness the weird ceremony. Along the river bank hundreds of people were busy launching miniature straw rafts, on each of which were several tiny dish lamps to light the souls of their departed relatives on the dark journey into eternity. The