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India of today. In many ways he was a nobler figure than Clive. The battles which he fought were just as hard and they demanded a higher kind of courage. His successes were not so spectacular as those of Clive, but they probably had a larger influence on the inner life of India.

This great pioneer of the new India was the first of a notable group of brave and able reformers. Many of them graduated from mission schools and colleges. Almost all of them felt the influence of Christ. They attacked Indian idolatry, sometimes at the risk of their lives. They denounced India's treatment of its women, saying that little girls had a right to their childhood and must not be married until they were at least fourteen. They supported schools for girls which were generally under the care of women missionaries. They even dared to break the rules of the great sacred system of caste. A few of these reformers were killed, especially those who were bold enough to become Christian. Almost all of them were persecuted by orthodox Hindus. But every year Indians in increasing numbers were educated in English schools and were getting ideas of liberty and democracy. More and more Indian students and leaders were following Ram Mohan Roy by honoring Christ and His teaching of brotherhood. Gradually reform and progress gained ground.

During this period more Christian missionaries were establishing their schools and hospitals and churches. Western railways were introduced, and on their trains Indians of all castes travelled together. In the new schools that were springing up, children of many different castes studied and played together. Old India was

[graphic]

(1) The humble ekka brings a new student to the gate of a Christian college. One sixth of all the students of India are enrolled in mission colleges.

(2) A game of atia-patia. The students realize that India must have men of strong bodies and fearless spirits, men able to play the game as a team and take failure with a smile.

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gradually being changed. The terrible wrongs of Indian women and girls, of the outcastes, and of all unfortunates were very slowly but very surely growing less, and the spirit of public service was increasing.

Then came the great Indian mutiny of 1857 in which many regiments of Indian sepoys shot their British officers, killed white women and children and native Christians, captured the old capital city of Delhi and several other cities, and, with the help of some of the people, attempted to set up again the old Mogul Empire. This crisis was really like the Boxer Uprising in China. It was the last violent attempt of the old East to keep out the new West.

When the mutiny failed and, by proclamation of Queen Victoria, the Crown took over from the East India Company the control of India, most educated Indians accepted the new order. Railway travel grew popular and increased immensely. Factories began to spring up. High schools and colleges were crowded with eager students. Hundreds and thousands of Indians defied Hindu prejudice by crossing the "black water” to finish their education in England and America. The West seemed to be gradually dominating India.

In 1905, little Japan's victory over great Russia sent a thrill of new hope throughout Asia. Educated Indians began to ask, "Why cannot India become free and strong like Japan?" Many ardent young men answered, "We can and we will." A well-known missionary tells of a typical young Indian who, before the Russo-Japanese War, had rarely thought of India as a whole; his ambitions had centered in his family and

caste. But the night when he heard of the defeat of the Russian fleet, a clear vision of his country came to him. India appeared as a desolate mother claiming his love, and the vision was so vivid that for months afterwards he could shut his eyes and see it again. Like Paul, he set out at once to obey his vision. Because he saw that until the Mohammedans and Hindus came together there could be no united India, he began by seeking to win the friendship of the Mohammedans. From this he went on in his service of his country, risking his life in work in a plague camp, then going into relief work in a famine stricken district. Japan's victory had changed his whole life.3

Thousands of young Indians went through experiences like this, and a new spirit came over the land. Since 1905, agitation and patriotic movements have been going on all the time in India.

Mr. Gokhale, the strongest Indian social and political leader of the last generation, founded the Servants of India Society. This is a little group of highly educated Indians, most of them Brahmans, who dedicate their lives to the service of those in need. When they enter the Society, even though they could earn many times as much elsewhere, they are given a salary of twentyfive dollars a month, only enough for a bare living. Whenever famines have come, the members of this Society have organized very effective relief. They have gone into the factory districts of Bombay and have tried to brighten and improve the hard life of the millhands by forming clubs, by helping them to keep clear of drink and to save money, and by showing their & The Renaissance in India, Andrews, p. 19.

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