Part 9 (1/2)
And it should not be forgotten that this same Swami, in the very act of crossing the oceans to visit the West, violates one of the most prominent commands of his faith.
II
_What, then, is Popular Hinduism?_
I shall endeavour to a.n.a.lyze it and present some of its outstanding features, such as are witnessed all over the land.
1. That which obtrudes itself upon all sides and which is, perhaps, its most determining factor is its caste system. In other lands, mean social distinctions obtain and divide the people. In India only, Caste is a religious inst.i.tution, founded by the authority of Heaven, penetrating every department and entering into every detail of life, and enforced by strictly religious penalties. One has well said that Hinduism and caste are convertible terms.
2. Another outstanding feature of popular Hinduism is its Polytheism.
While pantheism is the essential philosophy of the land,--a pantheism which denies the existence of all beings and everything save Brahm (the Supreme Soul),--nevertheless this pantheism has, in the popular mind, degenerated into the greatest pantheon the world has ever known.
Even ten centuries ago its G.o.ds were said to number three hundred and thirty millions! And this army of deities has been multiplying ever since. Even twenty-five centuries ago, the fertile imagination of the Brahman had so peopled this world with G.o.ds and G.o.dlets of all grades that the stern and sensible mind of the great Buddha became disgusted with the whole pantheon; and he established his new faith as a reaction from the old to the extent of ignoring _any_ Divine Being.
If, in these earlier days, such a man was unable to endure this manifestation of human folly, what can we not say in these days, when, in addition to the acknowledged host of well-known Hindu deities, every family has its G.o.d, and every hamlet its protecting demons; and when trees, rivers, mountains, and a thousand other objects represent to the popular mind separate G.o.dlets? One can well say that India has gone mad in its pa.s.sion for populating the world with G.o.ds.
3. Moreover, this pantheon has been incarnated. It has descended into a wild and hideous idolatry. There is no other land on earth where idolatry is so rampant as it is in India. Images are found everywhere.
If the G.o.ds are numberless, how much more the idols which represent them, and which are found in every hamlet and house and upon roadsides!
In addition to those idols which are made for regular and permanent wors.h.i.+p, there are myriad others which are made of clay and other perishable substances, to be used for the time only, and then to be thrown into the river or to be washed away by the rain.
And what hideous objects these idols of India are! The images of the G.o.ds of the ancient Greeks were beautiful, and one feels sometimes almost inclined to excuse an image-wors.h.i.+p where ignorance weds art to religion and combines beauty with devotion.
But there is no such excuse for the idolatry of India. In all my travels through this great land I have hardly seen an image, or an idol, which is what may be called an artistically beautiful object. On the other hand, many of them are peculiarly gross and revolting in appearance. The most universally wors.h.i.+pped G.o.d in all India is Ganesh. His idols are found all over the land, not only in temples and shrines, but on roadsides, and in all places where people a.s.semble.
And this Ganesh, the son of Siva, is represented by the grossest and most hideous idol. This ”pot-bellied G.o.d” has his body crowned with an elephant head!
Of course, Hindu taste cannot be judged by western standards. One cannot fail to recognize this fact in trying to judge types of human beauty in this land. But even Hindu types of beauty are not at all realized in their idols. It would often seem as if that which was most revolting in appearance is that which appeals most strongly to the Hindu, as an outward expression of the divine. In any case, it is true that the idolatry of India is farthest removed from the chaste, the beautiful, and the elevating.
And this evil is intensified by the fact that all wors.h.i.+pped idols are bathed with oil, and therefore attract all the dust, dirt, and grime of the immediate vicinity.
Educated Hindus, though they tell you that these idols are only for the ignorant ma.s.ses, rarely decline to unite with their families in bringing their offerings to, and in wors.h.i.+pping, the same.
Some will tell us that in idolatry people do not wors.h.i.+p the idol itself, but the G.o.d who is supposed to reside within it. Even if this were true, one could not admire such a wors.h.i.+p did he know the character of the G.o.d which is supposed to reside therein. But their statement regarding this is not true. I have personally inquired of many of the common people who are idolaters, and I have never yet found a man whose mind, in wors.h.i.+p, pa.s.ses beyond the idol itself. I admit that the educated mind may leap in thought behind the image; but the ma.s.ses of the people do not. It is, at best, a debasing wors.h.i.+p, and drags the people down to the level of the hideous objects before which they prostrate themselves.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TWO HINDU IDOLS, SOUTH INDIA]
A well-known Hindu writer said recently, in the _Christian College Magazine_:--
”I do urge most emphatically that, whatever may have been the original intention, and whatever may be the esoteric meaning, the millions that perform idolatrous practice in this country see nothing symbolic behind the image and take the whole show quite literally. And can anything be more degrading to an intelligent human being? We know that all religions are necessarily more or less anthropomorphic. But our popular Hinduism surpa.s.ses everything else in this respect, too.
There is a famous shrine in this Presidency where the deity's _chota hazri_ [early meal] begins with bread and b.u.t.ter, and he goes on eating without respite till midnight, when he appropriately takes a decoction of dried ginger to help his digestion before he retires to his bedroom with his consorts; there is another famous shrine where a cigar is left in the bedroom every night for his G.o.ds.h.i.+p to smoke; in another shrine, under the management of a nominal ascetic, fetters are applied to the G.o.d's feet whenever the temple's exchequer runs low, to extort money offerings from the devotees and pilgrims; in numerous other shrines the deity is taken out in procession and whipped publicly for having committed petty thefts; in one shrine the whole process of a high-way robbery is acted out in detail during the annual festival; births, marriages, deaths, and similar occurrences are, of course, as common and frequent in our temples as in our homes.
Gentlemen, can any amount of esoteric whitewas.h.i.+ng justify these disgraceful and fairly incredible practices? Then there are the _deva dasies_, our 'vestal virgins,' of whom even small and poor temples have one or two to boast. They are the recognized prost.i.tutes of the country, and many sociologists are of opinion that no 'civilized'
human society can completely get rid of such a cla.s.s. Is that any reason why we should a.s.sociate them with our religion and tempt the devil himself with their presence in our holiest places and shrines?”
4. Another marked feature of modern Hinduism is its devil-wors.h.i.+p.
This is peculiarly manifest in South India. In the Madras Presidency, whose fifty million population is mostly Dravidian, nine-tenths of the people follow the faith of their ancestors, which is Demonolatry.
When Brahmanism came to South India, many centuries ago, it found intrenched among the people, everywhere and universally, this ancient cult. The Brahmans, recognizing this, did what they have always done; they said to the people: ”We have not come to destroy your religion; we will take your demons and demonesses, marry them to our G.o.ds, and give them shrines and wors.h.i.+p in our temples. Come with them and be a part of our religion. We will give to you the privileges, and confer upon you the dignity and blessing, of our great religion.” The people were impressed by this offer, accepted the situation, and were absorbed, with their religion, into the Brahmanical faith. From that time forward they have been recognized as Hindus, and have, after a fas.h.i.+on, been loyal members of that faith.