.Chinese,HindusL I CHALDEANS^EOYPriANS^ Greeks & Romans? GIVI,NG-A-I=PPULAR- ACCOUNT • ofthe F^ELIGIONS of ^ • Uncivilised" Peoples AND B U DDHISM l^OROAS f R 1 AN 1 SM I 'MOHAMMEDAN 1 5 mI GHRISTIANITY ^■m, m^- Yj. CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY '^>-' THE WASON CHINESE COLLECTION Cornell University Library BL 80.B56 3 1924 022 994 051 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022994051 THE BETTANY. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. A Companio^iEl^^mmm^o tWs WorV. THE WORLD'S INHABITANTS; Or, Mankind, Animals, and Plants. A Popular Description of tlie Kaces and Peoples now inhabiting the Grlobe. "With 900 Engravings. LONDON: WARD, LOCK & CO. THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF BELIGIONS ANCIENT AND MODERN INCLUDING THOSE OF UNCIVILISED EACES, CHALDEANS, GEEEKS, EGYPTIANS, EOMANS; CONFUCIANISM, TAOISM, HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, ZOEOASTEIANISM, MOHAMMEDANISM, AND A SKETCH OF THE HISTOEY OP JUDAISM AND CHEISTIANITY. BY G. T. BETTANY, M.A., B.Sc, Autlwr of " The World's InTiobitants," etc., and Editor of the Minerva LiWary of Famous Boots. Wi'ii^ Jfitll IP age anb oi^tx ^ngrafarngs. WARD, LOCK & CO., LONDON, NEW YORK, AND MELBOURNE. 1890. f • f P f ( r [All rirjUs reserved.] *' '^ '^ & *" t^ Yl^^W PEEFAOE. THE aim of this work is to give an account of tlie principal religions or religious systems of mankind, past and present. Historic fact is followed as far as it can be ascertained, and tkeorising has little place. The author's endeavour has been to state simply and impartially what is the faith professed by various peoples ■ or associations, what are the objects of their worship, what are their practices, their ceremonies, their institutions. Where they have religious books, some account of them is given, together with the history of and main doctrines taught by their principal founders. It has seemed unnecessary to discuss the various opinions held as to the origin of religion ; whether it arose from a divinely implanted instinct given to all mankind, or from distinct verbal revelation to particular men, or from the worship of natural forces f«]t to be superior to man, or from the honour paid to chiefs and ancestors, and the propitiation of their ghosts as seen in dreams. It has been the author's desire to produce a work useful and interesting to persons of all shades of opinion, and one tending to make them better acquainted with each other. A disposition to recognise the human nature in all man's ways and thoughts — a human nature capable of error, yet having good impulses — ■& human nature which, in the main, progresses, in spite of all drawbacks — a human nature which in many ways has sought, has prayed to, has worshipped the Power which created and maintains the universe — a disposition towards toleration will, it is believed, be found pervading these pages. The intention has been to give such an account of various religions as their own adherents can acquiesce in, and their critics allow to be just ; a difficult task, confessedly ; but imperfection in the attainment of such an aim is better than a distinctively partial or prejudiced account. The author believes that others have -an equal right with ourselves to respect and fair treatment as to their religious opinions, and that we may be as blameworthy or faulty in our conceptions of others as they in their conceptions of us. He promises what Keshub Chunder Sen, the founder of the Brahmo Somaj, declared as principles ,of his Church, "No created being or object that has been worshipped by any sect shall be ridiculed ; no book which has been acknowledged by any sect to be infalli- ble shall be ridiculed or contemned ; no sect shall be vilified, ridiculed, or hated." On the contrary, the study of religions is here taken up with a sympathetic interest in all. "With Max Mtiller,^ "if we will but listen ^Introduction to the. Science of Religion, 1882, p. 14. VI t PREFACE. attentively, we can hear in all religions a groaning of the spirit, a struggle to conceive the inconceivable, to utter the unutterable, a longing after the Infinite, a love of God." And if in many cases the struggle takes strange forms and grotesque attitudes, and the religion enforces absurd beliefs and superstitious observances, we are compelled to own that man is as much characterised by his proneness to religion as by his being a tool-using or a reasoning creature. , If a man is a reasoning creature, it is certainly to be expected that he should bring his reason to bear upon his religion; and St. Paul recognised this, and asked foj a " service of the reason " (Eom. xii. 1). The use of the reason in studying religion, its doctrines, its observances, its benefits, or its variations in different ages, is not to be given up or blamed because the name "Rationalism" has been attached to it. To seek to explain, to under- stand, is a necessary condition of the growth of that which can understand. Much use has been made of the invaluable " Sacred Books of the East," and the learned introductions prefixed to them. Many other works which have been consulted are mentioned throughout the book. Some of these have been named simply as the most generally accessible, but by no means as the only or the chief authorities on the subject. Many other books have been consulted ; but it has been thought undesirable to overload the text with references. In several departments living specialists have been re- ferred to ; and the author desires to acknowledge their valuable aid, while he refrains from naming those to whom he is under obligation, from a desire not to identify them with any opinions or representations in which they may not concur, or for which the author ought to be solely responsible. The history of Christianity' has been sketched more fully than that of the other religions, partly because Christianity, as now understood, has very largely resulted from a long process of development ; and partly because the various branches into which it is now divided can be best understood by studying each in relation to the period when it originated. At best such a sketch can be but imperfect, and many things have been necessarily omitted which would throw much light on difficulties and obscurities. The author's personal opinions have been obtruded as little as possible, impartiality and fairness being aimed at. No doctrine is sought to be enforced, no creed to be dictated. Every reader is left to draw his or her own conclusions. But it is hoped that in return the author may not have imputed to him any beliefs or opinions which he does not clearly avow. G. T. B. DuTvWiCH, 10<7i November, 1890. CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction 1 BOOK I. RELIGIONS OF UNCIVILISED PEOPLES. OHAPTKa I. Eacbs without a Eeligion 23 II. Eeligious Beliefs and Practices in Australasia, Polynesia, and Melanesia - 25 ^-III. Aboriginal Ebligions of Africa .43 IV. Aboriginal Eeligions of America 61 V. Aboriginal Eeligions of India and other Parts of Asia ... 83 BOOK II. RELIGIONS OF CHINA AND JAPAN. I. Life of Confucius . 102 II. The Chinese Sacred Books 115 III. The Chinese Modern State Ebligion, and Confucianism . . . 132 IV. Lao-tze . 144 V. Development and Present Condition op Taoism 150 VI. Shin-toism' (Japan) . 167 BOOK III. BRAHMANISM, BUDDHISM, AND PARSEEISM. I. The Early Vedic Ebligion 176 II. The Bkahmanism of the Codes 196 III. Modern Hinduism. I. . .■ 213 IV. Modern Hinduism. II 231 V. Life of Buddha 255 VI. The Buddhist Doctrines, Order, and Sacked Books .... 274 VII. Modern Buddhism. 1 293 VIII. Modern Buddhism. II 813 IX. Jainism 337 X. Zoroaster and the Zend-Avesta 343 XI. The Zoroastrian Books — Mithraism 356 XII. Modern Parsebism . . 866 vii \ Vlll CONTENTS. BOOK IV. EUROPEAN ARYAN RELIGIONS. CHAPTBK ^ PAGE I. The Ancient Greek Religion: The Gobs 371 II. Greek Sacrifices, Priests, Temples and Festivals, and Morals . . 387 III. Socrates, Plato, and other Greek Philosophers 407 IV. The Eoman Eeligion 418 ' V. The Religion of the Teutons (including Scandinavians) . . . 439 VI. The Religion op the Slavonians 451 VII. Celtic Religion 456 BOOK V. EGYPTIAN AND SEMITIC RELIGIONS. I. The Egyptian Religion II. The Babylonian, Assyrian, and Phcenician Religions III. Life op Mahomet. Part I. . rv. Life op Mahomet. Part II. . V. The Koran and its Teachings VI. Modern Islam. Part I. . VII. Modern Islam. Part II. . 462 483 500 515 527 539 565 I. II. ni. IV. V. VI. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. vn. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. BOOK VI., THE JEWISH RELIGION. Early History — Moses 585 The Jewish Religion: Legislation, Festivals, Morals .... 601 The Jewish Priesthood and Temples; the Psalms and Philosophical Wisdom 621 The Prophets of Israel 687 Judaism after the Prophets 649 Modern Jewish Ritual. — The Karaites and Samaritans . . . 670 BOOK VII. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. The Founder of Christianity 687 The New Testament 705 The Apostolic Times 717 Christianity Persecuted : Second and Third Centuries . . . 730 Christianity as a State Church : Fourth Century .... 755 The Church in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries 766 Christianity to the Separation between East and West (Seventh to Tenth Centuries) 784 The Eastern Church— Russian and Greek 797 The Roman Church in the Middle Ages 813 Religious Persecutions and the Reformation .... 835 The Council of Trent and Modern Romanism 849 The Lutheran, Reformed, and Presbyterian Churches . . . 865 The Church op England and the Nonconformists 881 VIEW OF THE COMPARATIVE HEIGHTS OF THE PIIINCIPAL RELIGIOUS AND OTHER BUILDINGS OF THE WORLD. 1 Cologne Catheiral 2 Old St. Paul's, Londou 3 Great Tyramid 4 Bouen Cattiedral 5 St. Martin, Laudsliut 6 St. Peter's, Rome 7 Strasburg Cathedral 8 2Qd Pyramid (GrhizeU) 9 St. Stephen's Catheiral, Vienna 10 St. Stephen's Abbey, Gaeu ... 11 Amiens Cathedral 12 Antwerp Cathedral 13 Salisbury Cathedral 14, 15 St- Mary's, Lube^k 16 Toraz^o of Cremona 17 Victoria Tower, Westminster Fept. 510 1» .503 10 4 SO 20 460 21 460 22 448 23 4fiS ^4 447 25 441 26 400 27 .S83 28 403 29 404 30 400 31 .SOS 32 331 33 Feet. Malines Githedral 310 Chartres Cathedral 403 St. Peter's, Hamburg, about ... ... 380 Freiburg Cathedral ... ... ... 385 The Duomo, Florence ... ... 376 Hotel de Ville, Brussels 374 Torre AsineUi, Bologna ... ... 370 St. Paul's, London 360_ Frankfort Cathedral 326 St. Isaac's Church, St. Petersburg ... 336 Boll Tower, St. Mark's, Venice ... 323 St. Theobald's, Thaun 320 Norwich Cathedral 309 Hotel des luTalides, Pans ... ... 310 Pantheon, Paris '274 Bell Tower, Florence 266 34 Tower of Ivan Veliki, Moscow 36 Boston Church, Lincolnshire 35 Chichester Cathedral 37 Central Spire, Lichfield Cathedral 38 Taj Mahal, Agra 39 Bell Harry Tower, Canterbury 40 Porcelain Tower (late). Nankin 41 Bow Church, London 4i Pyramid of Myceriuus 43 Central 'Transept, Crystal Palace 44 The Mooumeat, London 4.D Mosrjue of St. Sophia, Constantinople 46 St. Nicholas', Newoastle-on-Tyne 48 York Cathedral 49 Albert Memorial, Hyde Park 50 The Baptistery, Pisa ... ... Feet . 2 SO 51 . 292 54 . 271 55 . 252 56 . 220 57 . 235 58 . 200 50 .. -235 60 .. 218 .. 198 61 .. iOi 62 e 182 63 .. 201 61 .. 198 65 .. 180 66 .. 190 67 Feet 188 154 157 154 143 154 Leaning Tower, Pisa Column of July, Paris Part of Coliseum, Rome Alexandrian Colmn., St. Petersbur Pantheon, Rome Royal Albert Hall, London Part of Taj Mahal (38) Obelisk in Piazza St. John of Lateran, Rome Trajan's Column, Rome Science Schools, South Kensington 110 Temple of the Giants, Agrigentum 116 Temple of the Sun, Baalbec ... 120 St. George s Hall, Liverpool ... 85 Temple of Jupiter Stator, Rome ... 98 Pompey'a Pillar, Alexandria ... 100 153 1.34 Feet. 75 70 63 55 70 66 54 68 Obelisk, Luxor 69 Propylon, Luxor 70 Cleopatra's Needle 71 Temple of Vesta, Tivoli 72 Arch of Constantine, Rome... 73 Parthenon, Athens 74 Tomb of Absalom, Jerusalem 75 Tomb of Theodoric, Ravenna, about 50 76 Eleanor Cross, Waltham 50 77 Tomb at Mylasa, Caria ... about 50 78 Temple of Bacchus, Teos 50 79 Tower of the Winds, Athens ... 45 80 Chapel of St. Peter, Montorio, Rome 40 81 Choragio Mon. of Lysiorates, Athens 34 82 Erechtheum, Athens about 35 83 Temple on the Ilisgus, Athens, about 25 BEGINNINd OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL : WIOLIF's VERSION, 1380. THE WORLD'S RELIGIOIfS. Introduction. Man a religious being— Definitions of religion— Need of impartial study— Development in all re- ligions—Facts OUT object— A book for all classes— A very modem study— Human interest in all religions — Relation to missionary effort— Animism— Spirits in natural farces— Spirits of deceased human beings— Conclusions from dreams— Continued existence of the dead— Angels and demons — Ancestor-worship- Nature-worship —Anthropomorphism— Idolatry — Fetishism — Totemism— Omens— Totem ceremonies — The taboo — Demonology- Witchcraft— Divination — Shamanism— Friesthoods-Temples-Sacrifices-Gifts— Animal and human sacrifices— Substitu- tion and expiation — Sacramental mysteries — Theism — Deism — Monotheism — Panthelem— Atheism— Theology— Science of religion — Theosophy— Classification of religions — Personal founders— Universal or missionary religions— From nature religions to monotheism —Groups of religions. THA.T man in his present condition is essentially a godfearing and god- worsKipping creature, is certain in spite of many contradictory appear- ances. That he has been largely the same in the past is assured ; Man a re- that he will be so in the future is most highly probable. The "^""^ •'e™s rapt devotion of the my'stic, the mortification of the ascetic, the zealous benevolence of the philanthropist, the ceremonial of the ritualist, the sublime flights of the theologian, the intense cry of the penitent, and the confident trust of the most abject in a benevolent Ruler of the universe, all declare that in modern times man believes, man trusts, that somehow good shall be the final goal of ill, that there is one Almighty Ruler who also cares for His creatures. Nay, we venture to claim that the doubt of 1 B THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. the sceptic, the disbelief of the atheist, the suspense of the agnostic, are in themselves noteworthy signs that the subject is one of great importance, not to be passed over with neglect, and that the human soul feels un- easy about the matter and is not content without some attitude towards the great questions : "■ What am I ? "Whither am I going ? Does any Providence care for me ? " The more true that it ever is, that man can- not by searching find out Grod, the more persistently does he inquire, saying, " "Who will show me any good thing? " And so, in the evolution of things, the human heart puts forth all the varieties of thought and feel- ing of which it is capable, "varies in every direction," to use Darwin's phrase, and beneficent forms are perpetuated. So large a space, so important an influence has the religious attitude of man, that it is safe to say that it constitutes one of the most important factors, perhaps the most important, in his progress. "We may define religion broadly as man's attitude towards the unseen, and whatever consequences his belief or attitude produces on his conduct or Definitions of on his relations to fellow-men. It has been otherwise defined as religion, ^j^g outer form and embodiment of an inward devotion, and as a system of doctrine and worship which its adherents regard as having divine authority ; but these are definitions too limited for our purpose. Darwin, in the " Descent of Man," Part I., chap, iii., describes the feeling of religious devotion as a highly complex one, consisting of love, complete submission to an exalted and mysterious superior, a strong sense of dependence, fear, reverence, gratitude, hope for the future, and perhaps other elements ; and he says that no being could experience so complex an emotion untU con- siderably advanced in his intellectual and moral faculties. Consequently this view, including only the higher types of religion, is not sufficiently comprehensive for our purpose. "We must include not only beliefs in un- seen spiritual agencies, fetishism, polytheism, monotheism, etc., but num- erous superstitions and customs and practices associated with such beliefs — human sacrifices, trials by ordeal, witchcraft and sorcery. Although it was long the fashion to condemn unsparingly aU these beliefs and practices, to leave them unstudied and term them worthless and degrading, yet we would suggest that even superstitions should be tenderly handled in dis- cussion (although vigorously opposed or discouraged in practice) by a lover of his kind ; for in most cases they may be considered to be based upon some genuine experience of mankind, some fear, calamity, or uprising of soul, some correspondence with felt want, some desire or possibility of improving man's position in the present or in a future state. Of course there has been much practising upon human credulity, much quackery and humbug in connection with superstitions. But we would seek to view religions, not fi-om the standpoint of a party or a sect, but rather from that Need of ^^ friends of all mankind, who would fain find some good in impartial everything ; and if no positive good be discoverable in a particular ^ "^ ^' instance, let it, if possible, be the negative good of representing an efibrt or a desire after better things. There is need of all the charity, INTRODUCTION. all the impartiality we can summon to our aid in this survey, for it is tmdoubtedly true that too much of the history of religion is a history of prejudice, of narrowness, of quarrelling, of passion, of evil in many forms. Yet, hoping all things, we would hope that even from these evils a better state arises than could have arisen otherwise. As in the general affairs of human life, so in religion, there is needed movement, circulation, some kind of change or progress, if life is to continue. Religions stereotyped, kept rigid and undeveloping by some worldly force or for some supposed con- servative rightness, have become baneful in many of their influences, lead- ing ultimately to death by inanition or revolt. Thus at the outset we must note that development marks more or less all religions that live or have lived. Just as mankind has grown and developed in other directions, the mental and emotional Acuities jj^^^j^pj^^gj^j becoming developed have led to corresponding religious develop- in au ments. It cannot be otherwise. The Christian religion is not exempt from this law, which is recognised by the greatest teachers in all ages of the Church. Granting^ of course, that the documents of Christianity are the same that they have been for very many centuries, the conceptions derived from them are continually developing and expanding ; and it is this expansion and expansibility which many recognise as the peculiar glory of Christianity. That this development takes different directions in different Churches may be seen by the modern doctrines of the immaculate concep- tion of the Virgin Mary, and of the infallibility of the Pope, and by the assertion of the right of private judgment and of refusal to swear before courts of justice in Protestantism. The sooner people recognise that re- ligion develops, like everything else, the sooner improvement wUl be pos- sible in many backward communities. How often, like ostriches burying their heads in the sand, religious bodies have died out because they ceased to discern the march of events, and never realised that there might be other true things in religion besides their special creed. Thus, while endeavouring to stick rigidly to facts, we may be per- mitted in some measure to study them as examples of the development of ideas and practices. It is true that for a full study of religious development we should need many volumes, and must include all extinct as well as exist- ing religions. The former would be impossible, for it can hardly be doubted that there have been forms of religion which have left no records. But even those which survive in records, or in actual existence, are so numerous and include so much that only a brief review of some of them is possible. It is not the mission or aim of this book to account for the religions which it describes. Its aim is to give information— to describe what is seen or known about their external phenomena, their present influence, Facts our their doctrines, their ordinances, their ritual, with a brief summary *'''^^''*- of their history. It may be thought that the study of the religions of the world for the purpose of giving an account of them, should lead to some explanation of them. No doubt the explanations of some facts are so obvious that they cannot but occur to an observer. But we disclaim any obligation THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. to furnisli an explanation of the manifold forms of religion, and leave the task to those -who may be more confident or more in-seeing. The time during which religions have been studied in any comparative sense is too short as yet to afford grounds for sound general reasoning on the subject. The best histpry available is the best explanation ; and in so far as the history becomes perfect and accurate may the explanation be approximately true. But be- hind all human history, as behind the mystery of life, is that other side, that infinite unknown, which we shall none of us know in this life, which would most probably alter so many of our notions. A further remark must be addressed to those who look for their own views in these pages. This book is intended to be read by all classes of A book for readers, of all schools of religious thought; It cannot therefore au classes. £^iy ^3 '^^ vehicle of any special school; it cannot take up the rationalist's parable, and say every religion is a human or a natural product, or the view that one religion is exclusively divine and true, and all others are false and born of evil, or the other view, that one religion is as good as another. As far as possible we shall deal with facts, and leave them to teach their own lesson. It is only in the present century that the comparative study of religions can be said to have come into existence, it being previously considered useless to study " false religions," or forms of idolatry. These were very curious facts noticed by travellers, but they remained merely A very ^^^^'ious marks of the savage or pagan or heathen condition of the modem countries or peoples concerned. Studies of anatomy, of language, " ^' and of civilisation, and the doctrines of evolution or development as applied to mental phenomena, have all contributed to lead up to the comparative study of religions. The belief that man forms a single species, that his mental constitution is fundamentally the same everywhere, and that there may have been one original common language has suggested the study of the common elements in man's religions all over the world. Indeed, to obtain a view of man's development from a primitive condition, it is necessary to obtain a classification of his religions, and to find out what part they have played in his history. In this age we cannot rest content with Human ^^owing our own race, and its social and religious history. Our interest in sympathies have expanded, our inquisitiveness has grown, till we take in all mankind, and want to explain as we want to sym- pathise with all. And to justify such an interest, such a curiosity, it is not necessary to prove that there is good in everything and in every form of religion. The belief that there is much that is bad everywhere, and even that some forms of belief or practice are wholly bad, is not inconsistent with a keen interest in knowing what our fellow-men have thought and done in matters pertaining to religion. Eather should we say with the old Eoman, "I am a man; I consider nothing human is outside my sympathy and ■ interest." But in a higher sense even than knowledge, classification, scientific ex- planation, we may claim that the study of religions is essential in reference to all efforts at evangelisation of non-Christian peoples. How often missionaries INTROD UCTION. have found that their efforts have been fruitless because of their not under- standing the religious state of mind already existing in the people to whom they have preached. How often they have denounced mission^ a people as utterly given to barbarism, as having no rehgion but ®*^°'"'- the grossest idolatry, when the fact was, that they never succeeded in gaining any admission to their religious rites, or in learning from the people themselves what their behefs were. Let us imagine the attitude which many Christians would assume if a foreign missionary of some unknown religion should advance some totally different conception of the Deity from that which they and many generations of ancestors had believed in and reverenced, with which their most cherished hopes and aspirations were bound up, and which was ingrained in their moral and spiritual nature. SI. PEIBB'S, home, and castle of ST. ANOELO. We can reahse this to some extent by recollecting the excitement created in modern times by the pubhcation of the works of Strauss, Eenan, Matthew Arnold, Oolenso, and others. How then can we expect that unlearned, prejudiced, uncivilised savages should patiently listen to and accept what a foreigner teaches, if he proves that he knows nothing about their own belief, and does not appreciate any part of it? Especially is this important in dealing with the rehgious views of old and highly-civihsed peoples like the Chinese, the Hindus, and others. "We believe that it is now almost universaKy recognised that missionaries ought to begin by learning all they can about the religious beliefs or superstitions of the peoples to whom they are sent, and showing as much tolerance as possible to their views, and every encouragement to what is correct or beneficial in them. Not less THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. important is it for English-speaking people, who are in- contact with men of- many religions all over the globe, to have a knowledge, tolerance, and even respect for the religious convictions of other races. Those who send out missionaries are equally bound to study the conditions under which they are expecting these devoted men to work, and to have correct views of the difficulties they may experience. Finally, it may be claimed that we rise in the scale of reasonable beings in proportion as we take larger and more comprehensive views of our whole species, and especially of the atti- tude of mankind towards religion ; and this can only be fully done after a rational study of the forms under which they reverence or regard the powers above and about them, seen or unseen. Before proceeding to give a rough classification of religions, there are a number of terms which it is desirable to explain or define, and which are of importance in our study. The first we will take is " animism " (Lat. anima^ soul), which has been brought into its present use by one of our greatest anthropologists. Dr. E. B. Tylor, and which represents in a convenient way the part played by the doctrine of souls and spiritual beings. No other term includes the same ideas without some other special reference : thus, " spiritualism " has acquired quite a pecuhar meaning in reference to the doctrine of spirits, indicating a belief in the possibility and actual occTirrence of direct communications between human beings and the spirits of the dead or other spirits. Some kind of animism is found to be almost if not quite universal, being believed to have two main sides — the idea of spirits being in natural objects or working in natural phenomena or forces, and the idea natural of a spirit or soul being in human beings when living, and orces. becoming separate from them at death. It is the most natural reflection for mankind to make when viewing the dead body of a relative or friend, that something has departed from it which was the animating principle. When, firom whatever cause, unconsciousness has occurred in Spirits of any individual, and after a more or less prolonged period, the hlm^*^ consciousness has returned, it is equally natural to conclude that beings, the spirit had for a time departed ; and if any operations have been resorted to, be they prayers, incantations, divinations, or sacrifices, during the interval, it is natural to believe that these processes have been the cause of the return of the spirit. Then, when death has really taken place, there is a tendency to repeat the same performances, in hope of bringing back the spirit ; and thus a very simple origin of worship (from the natural point of view) is given, and one not inconsistent with the view of those who see in worship the result of a Divinely implanted instinct. The phenomena of dreams must here be considered, for these must from the first have had a powerful influence. The absolute reality of Conclusions *^™g^ ®®®^ ^^ dreams is never doubted by many savage races ; from and the fact that the figures of themselves and other human dreams, ^gij^gg^ ^nd also those of animals and plants, can be seen in dreams, taking part in natural or in extraordinary actions, strengthens INTRODUCTION. tlie belief in a spirit world. The belief in a gbostly semblance of itself being separable from the body may be inferred from appearances in dreams being coincident with the absence of a person at a great distance, or taking place when the' body is dead, buried, or even wholly disintegrated. Thus the ghost or spirit is imagined to be an image of the human or other being, unsubstantial but real ; and it would be very natural to imagine such a spirit for all animals ; it is even transferted to weapons and objects of luxury, or food and drink, for these are sacrificed to the dead in order that their " spirits " may be bestowed upon the dead. The bearing of this conception of spirits upon the idea of ghosts is evident, though we will here express no opinion as to the reality or nature of such phenomena as apparitions of the dead. It is obvious that if animals and plants can be conceived to have souls or spirits, it is possible to transfer the same conception to grand material objects, especially such as perform or take part in visible changes on the earth or in the sky. Thus rivers, seas, clouds, sun, moon, and stars are imagined to have, or be inhabited by, spirits ; and the basis is afforded for all kinds of religious developments. From this soul-belief has arisen a whole series of beliefs about the dead, the state of existence of the departed, their relation to the living, and a future existence. We must be understood, of course, here continued to prejudge no question, and to imply nothing as to this having existence of arisen by "inspiration" of the Creator. But in this connection we may mention the ideas of the spirits of the dead remaining in the neigh- bourhood of the survivors, or being removed to a distance, to some region where they continue to live a life much like the present, or a life either much more happy or much more miserable, according to their conduct or merit here. So that much of all moral teaching' has come to be connected with the doctrine of a future life. Then further, from such an idea of souls, the imagination has risen to the conception of a number of spirits of more or less power, but distinct from any being represented on earth or in the material heavens. So Angels and we get angels and demons and varied subordinate deities. Thus "demons, every phenomenon could be accounted for as the work of some deity or spirit, without any belief having necessarily arisen in a supreme Deity, Storms, floods, lightning, diseases, and aU calamities came to be laid to the charge of special spirits ; and the desire to expel these spirits has given rise to many forms of sorcery, divination, exorcism, etc. Many of these - spirits are,— for what reason it is difficult to say,— held to be those of human beings, living or deceased ; and thus the appeasing of their anger or se- curing of their propitious action has been combined with rites for or in connection with death. And here we have one of the springs, though probably not the only one, of the widely-extended ancestor-worship, es- pecially that of powerful men or leaders of tribes. These men Ancestor- were conspicuous for their qualities while alive ; and their souls ^ ■"^orsmp- are judged to possess the same great or powerful qualities (sometimes ma- THE WO ELD'S RELIGIONS. lignant) after death. Thus they must be revered and propitiated, or appeased, in the manner judged most desirable or successful. Nature worship in its infinite variety of forms arises from the belief in spirits animating everything, or from a reverence for the inexplicable Nature, powers at work in the world. A flood bearing away with irre- worsMp.' sistible force the works of man, the fire which in torrid climates burns up vegetation and devours man and beast, the lightning which kills in the twinkling of an eye, the sun which prostrates at noonday, all these were mysteries which we cannot be surprised that man in a low state of civilisation should worship. Nor is it astonishing to find that these spirits are classified into good and evil, favourable and malignant, or that the phenomena of the universe are attributed to great antagonistic powers of good and evil deities. By whatever influence it arises, we shall see how, in communities worshipping many gods, some one has gained pre-eminence, while in others, it may be, one of the tribal gods or the single god wor- shipped by the tribe has later been conceived as the universal God. Anthropomorphism (Greek, anthropos, man, morphe, form) is in religion the representation of the Deity as having the form and performing the Anthropo- actions of a man, or in a similar way to a man. And it may be morpsism. extended to every case where a spirit, more than human or other than human, is represented as like a man or as acting like a man in any way. The term is in philosophy extended still more widely, but we need not concern ourselves with this further development. It is evident that man being man, it is impossible for him to conceive God except through human faculties ; and even the purest and best representation of the Godhead which . he can have, must be tinctured by his own human qualities. Consequently attempts to entirely do away with anthropomorphism have resulted in the idea of God being reduced to an impalpable imagining which is ill-calculated to produce reverence or worship, such as the late Mr. Matthew Arnold's " the eternal not-ourselves which makes for righteousness." Here a middle course seems pointed out. Being human, it is impossible to keep ourselves from anthropomorphism to some extent ; but we must remember, while dis- cussing or thinking about the Deity, that our best ideas must be faint shadows of the truth, and cannot reach the full truth. The term idolatry originally designated all worship such as is forbidden in the Second Commandment, " Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven Id lat iiiiage ; to no visible shape in heaven above, or in the earth be- neath, or in the water under the earth, shalt thou bow down or render service." Such a prohibition could have had no meaning, apart from the fact that such worship and service were frequent and prevalent in the world in which the Israelites moved. That it has existed, and does still exist, may be taken as an axiom in the study of religions. An " idol " included every object of reverence or worship among the people with whom the Israelites came in contact ; and "idolatry" came to be used among the early Christians to designate all the practices^ connected with the forms of religion which they found existing around them, and antagonistic to THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Christianity. Thus the term idol, according to many, includes not merely images, or representations made by human workmen, whether in the form of pictures or sculpture, of any person. Divine or otherwise, taken from actual life or derived from the imagination, and made use of in religious services ; but also any natural objects, living or dead, either worshipped or revered, though (it may be) only as signs of something not seen. , It may be said with truth, that in most cases it is not the idol or image at all which is worshipped, for it is believed in merely as the representation of an absent god, or as the symbol of an idea, or as the dwelling-place, temporary or permanent, of a god, without being supposed to possess any supernatural quality itself. Nevertheless the more ignorant and degraded people have largely regarded the idol as itself embodying power of some sort, generally supernatural. We thus come by a natural transition to fetishism, which is generally understood to signify a belief in peculiar or supernatural powers residing in certain ordinary material objects, which are consequently wor- shipped. This idea is specially connected in European minds with the alleged casual selection by West African negroes of any kind of object for adoration, prayer and sacrifice being made to it, while, if any calamity befall the worshipper, the fetish is accused of having brought it about, and may be deposed, and even beaten or destroyed. Now the word "fetish " was not a negro but a Portuguese word, feitiqo^ an amulet or charm ; and the early Portuguese voyagers to Western Africa, finding small objects reverenced or worshipped by the negroes, somewhat resembling those so well known as amulets among themselves, spoke of them as the feitigos of the natives. Thus the word is properly restricted to inanimate objects, wooden figures, stones, etc., and is only improperly used to designate local nature- spirits or animals held in reverence. The fetishes of West Africa are, in fact, believed to be the ordinary abode of the deities either of village com- panies or of individuals. The local gods are believed, through the priests, to present those who require tutelary deities with certain objects (fetishes) in which they usually abide. These may be wooden figures, stones, calabashes, earthen pots, or even the most insignificant objects. The fetishes of village companies are deposited in some accessible place, and protected with branches as fences, which, when grown, constitute so-called fetish trees, which become sacred to the deity. Offerings of food, drink, and other things are regularly made to the fetishes. Families may obtain their fetishes as the result of dreams, but always through priests ; if persistent ill-luck attends the family, the fetish may be burnt ; the fact that it will bum or become injured by fire, being taken as proof that it is no longer the abode of a spirit. Individuals may also obtain, make, or select fetishes for themselves, and call upon a spirit to enter the object, which is then re- verenced if good luck follows ; these fetishes may work various ills upon enemies through the intervention of other objects, as charms. " Totemism "is a term which has in recent years become important both in the study of religions and in that of tribal organisation and social life INTRODUCTION. among uncivilised peoples. A totem is defined as a class of material ob- jects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that it protects him ; he in return never kills it if an animal, or injures or gathers it if a plant. The more usual form of totem is a species of animal or plant, but sometimes a kind of non-living object. Totems are either common to a whole tribe or clan, the male or female sex of a tribe, or belong especially to an individual. As regards the clan, it is found that there is a belief that all members are descended from a common ancestor, more frequently the totem itself, by whose name they designate themselves in common. All of the same totem recognise certain obhgations to one another and to the totem. Sometimes, in addition to not killing or injuring the totem, it is forbidden to touch it or look at it. In consequence of these ideas we frequently find that injurious or troublesome animals are allowed to multiply to an enormous extent, and are even fed and protected. "When dead, they are mourned for as if they were human beings belonging to the tribe. Various penalties are incurred by disrespect to the totem, such as diseases and death. Correspondingly, if proper respect is shown to the totem, it will protect and refrain from injuring the members of the tribe. Sometimes if the totem (for example, a snake) injures a man, he is supposed to have offended it, and is put out of the tribe. In many cases signs given by or derived from the totem are made use of as omens ; and in various ways they may be pressed to give favourable indications, or even punished for not doing so. Frequently the savage dresses himself ^^^^^ in the skin, feathers, tusks, etc., of the totem animal, or imitates it in various ways, scarring, painting, or tattooing himself with this object. The totem sign is also used as a signature to treaties or agreements, and it is carved upon dwellings, canoes, weapons, and other possessions. Birth, marriage, and death ceremonies are largely tinctured by totemism, the different ceremonies being chiefly explicable by a desire to secure pro- tection from dangers which cannot otherwise be guarded against. Totem and are supposed to be supernatural. At death the idea is, to ceremonies, become one with ;the totem. Similarly, to celebrate the coming of age of a youth, he is formally and fully admitted intb the totem. Sometimes attempts are made to recall a dead man to life by pronouncing his totem name ; and other ceremonies may occur in which the totem is supposed to die and be restored. In some cases this ceremony is elevated into something which suggests that the totem becomes a god, dies for his people, and is revived again. When a totem is adopted by one sex only, it is said to be still more sacred than the totem of the tribe ; for it will be ferociously defended against injury by the opposite sex, even though the same people may tolerate the kilHng of the clan totem. A special individual totem is frequently the first animal dreamt of during the fasts and solitudes marking the coming of age : in some tribes a man may not kill or eat his personal totem. Totemism is very widely distributed, but it is not a system ; rather, it is an indefinite growth, founded in certain natural or primitive notions of 12 ' THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. uncivilised man. As a subject it is the creation of students who have found in practices of mankind all over the globe common features, -which may possibly, in many cases, have their root in a common origin of race, and have been developed in different directions owing to the migration and intermingling of tribes. But many of its characteristics are peculiar to isolated tribes. It is certainly largely connected with terror of or reverence for natural objects, and is believed in with a superstitious fear. It is best to regard it as a subject pertaining to religions, though not to be definitely classed as a religion. The word taboo refers to the system of religious prohibitions formerly so largely in force in Polynesia ; it means primarily, " sacred," separate from ordinary use. It was an essentially rehgious observance, imposed by a priest or chief, and might be temporary or per- manent, general or ,special. Thus idols, temples, chiefs and priests, and their property, were " taboo," or sacred ; many things were specially tabooed to women. The penalties for disobedience were diseases or various punish- ments by the rulers. It became in practice a method by which the priests and chiefs took advantage of animistic beliefs to secure their power or their own ends. Extensive traces of similar practices have been found all over the world. Even the Nazarites' vow and the prohibitions of work or special actions on the Sabbath have been identified with taboo rules ; and the Latin word " sacer " (meaning either sacred or accursed) is regarded as having essentially the same meaning as taboo. Demonology may be separated as a subject of study in relation to religions, and has many curious facts and practices within its province. The Greek word daimon originally meant a spirit or deity, with- ■ out reference to good or evil quahties. Then it was applied to the spirits of the deceased, who become guardians of the living ; next they were regarded as good and evil beings occupying a position laetween gods and men. It is almost special to Christianity to regard demons as exclusively evil. Among savage races it is common to regard diseases, especially of the hysterical, epileptic, and maniacal kind, as caused by the entry of some other spirit into the sufferer. Convulsions appear to be due to the possession of the body by some other spirit ; again, wasting diseases are readily accounted for by the action of some intruding or some malevo- lent spirit ; and it is a simple transition to consider such calamities as brought about by the spirits of deceased enemies^ or spirits which are to punish some evU- conduct of the sufferer ; and in such cases the particular . spirit concerned may be identified by the conscience-stricken one. Thus many ideas of demonology are derived from beliefs about human departed spirits. In some cases this goes so far that the possessed one speaks in the character of the deceased person who is supposed to possess him. The way in which possessing demons are in many tribes talked to, threatened, cajoled, enticed, driven away by blows, etc., shows that they are regarded as spirits of human beings, still capable of being influenced by similar motives to the survivors. Consequently exorcism, or the expulsion of devils or spirits, has 14 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. its place in nearly all savage systems. It is only the progress of medicine which has disclosed the real nature of many of the cases formerly attributed ,, to demoniacal possession ; and the belief in the latter lasts to our own times not only in many foreign countries, but also among the less intelligent rural folk in our own country. As late as 1788, a solemn exorcism of seven devils out of an epileptic, by seven clergymen, was performed at the Temple Church, Bristol. Among adjuncts of demonology, sorcery and witchcraft claim a place, though we cannot here enlarge upon them. All the practices included m Sorcery and these terms spring from the belief that spirits influence mortal witchcraft, affairs and can in turn be influenced by mortals who possess the right method. Special ceremonies at regular intervals are frequently held, to drive out all the demons from a locality. Guardian angels, on the other hand, are believed in widely, far beyond regions where the belief has been ' countenanced or encouraged by Christianity. The latter has also been con- nected with some of the most dreadful incidents in medieval history, witches and sorcerers having been subjected to most cruel treatment. Many of these have accounted for their performances by the influence of familiar spirits, which can be summoned by particular methods ; and very many persons class modern spiritualism under the same heading. In many cases savage religions are almost entirely affairs of the good and bad spirits who manage most or all human affairs, the supreme deity being not concerned, directly in such matters. Among the highest forms^ in which we find* the conception of evil spirits is the Ahriman of the Parsees, and the MHtonic Satan with his attendant demons of various grades. Often the devils of one religion represent more or less closely the good deities of their enemies. Divination signifies the obtaining of knowledge about unknown and future events or facts by means of omens or oracles, the idea being, that some divine knowledge is communicated to the diviner or soothsayer, or person who becomes the means of communication. " Signs sent by the gods," include all communications by what were called " oracles," examination of entrails of animals killed in sacrifice, the flight of birds, behaviour of animals, prodigies, lightning, dreams, palmistry, astrology, etc., each of which might be made the subject of an entire book. We can devote only incidental mention to them under the various religious beliefs of nations, or the more important subjects of rehgion ; but they all testify to the belief in a god or gods and in supernatural spirits. Shamanism is not the name of a religion, but of a form of religious behet and practice belonging to the old Mongolians, and which may almost be applied to the corresponding beliefs of the American Indians. A, Shamanism, -r ■ i • i i? • i shaman is a kind oi priest whose resources are chiefly wizardry and sorcery, apart from idols or fetishes. His influence (and that of the medicine-man of the Indians) rests on his assumed powers of influencing the good and evil spirits believed in (many of whom are ancestors). He has a ritual of magic and sorcery, procures - oracles from the spirits, and offers sacrifices.. INTR on UCTION. i s The priest has developed on the one hand out of the medicine-man, shaman, exorcist, etc., and on the other out of the head of the family, the patriarch, the leader. The elder and the cleverer men naturally . , , Priesthoods, gained most influence, and their words were most attended to, and the rites they inculcated were performed. Gifts were given either to the gods or priests or both ; and the offering of the gift became essential to gaining the favour of gods and priests. When once priests existed, no one could gain admission to the order without some special claim or discipline, which was made severe in most cases ; but unauthorised priests have always existed in all grades, down to wizards and devil-doctors. From their ful- filling high functions and gaining high rewards, priesthoods haVe always attracted many of the ablest men ; and in most rehgions they have included genuine and sincere believers in their worship and teachings. But they have also as a rule been conservative of established ordinances and very hostile to reformers, especially of religion. The traditional knowledge was almost exclusively in their hands till comparatively modern times ; they alone knew how to appease or please the gods, or could perform the due rites, and thus their power has been enormous. On the other hand, numerous peoples have never had any powerful priesthood. The word temple includes many kinds of buildings, all agreeing in one character, that they are supposed to be the special dwelling of a god or gods. In many cases the temple has not our modern signification as a ^gj^^pj^^ meeting-place for worshippers ; often it is only open to priests, and the altar or stone of sacrifice is set up in front of (outside) the entrance. In most religions the temple contains a statue of the god, or other sacred symbol indicating his presence ; and treasures, chiefly gifts from worship- pers, are accumulated in and around it. Hence the temple becomes peculiarly sacred ground, protecting the priests from all insult, injury, or removal for punishment, and usually acquiring in addition the power of protecting those who take refuge in it. No doubt the idea of a place sacred . to a god or to spirits arose very early, as may be seen by the numerous cases in which unhewn stones, placed in certain positions, have probably served as temples in pre-historic times. "We must look to a far-distant past for the beginnings of external worship around sacred trees or stones, which were only gradually fenced or covered in. The temple naturally suggests sacrifice, which originally meant any act or thing sacred to the gods, and only by specialisation came to signify gifts, or atonements to the gods. In very many rehgions the gods ^^^^^^ or spirits worshipped are honoured by gifts of vegetable food, libations of wine and oil, and consecration of animal flesh ; and these are distinguished from gifts of treasure, garments, images, lands, ^^^^ temples, etc. Expiatory sacrifices, not found in all religions, form a distinct class ; and in these the life of a victim is offered to appease the anger of the gods, or to gain their favour. The sacrifices or gifts m honour of the gods signify a view of the gods which is quite sure of their friendliness if properly worshipped and sacrificed to ; and m a vast 1 6 . THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. . — __ — j- number of cases, these gifts mean an offering of banquets to the gods, from which their servants are not excluded. The appropriate gifts are like a tribute to an earthly king. Often the seasons suggest the fitting oc- casions for special offerings — harvest, vintage, the birth of young animals. We find all stages of view as to these sacrifices, from that in which the god is supposed to really need the food given, to that in which it becomes only a conventional mode of showing respect. Animism pervades sacrifice very largely,. especially when the sacrificial offerings are burnt ; their spirit-essence being believed to ascend to the gods, and to satisfy them. From this, to the idea of slaughtering human animals for sacrifice, i.e. that the god may have a meal of meat, Sacrifices. -^ ^ natural transition. "When, in any case, the faith in the old gods declined, and the sacrifices became diminished, a revival of religion, or its new development, included a demand for animal, and finally for human sacrifices, as expiation of the sins of the people ; and the fact that human sacrifices primarily and generally consisted of enemies, is connected with the same practice in cannibalism. When a religion manifests a strong sense of sin, certain offences are deemed incapable of expiation, otherwise than by the sacrifice of life, either of the offender or of some one of his kin or tribe. When any andexpia- great calamity occurs, it is believed that the deity has been tion. offended, and nothing but the sacrifice of life will avail. Why, in certain cases, men sacrificed their eldest son is not clear ; but it may have been on the principle of offering first-fruits or firstlings, or in the idea that only the blood of a very near kinsman would satisfy the god". The person held guilty can or will not be sacrificed, being important to the tribe, or in his own eyes, and so the idea of substitution arises, perhaps being stimulated by the idea that an innocent victim is more worthy than a guilty one. Often the substitute, when an animal, has been dressed up to resemble the guilty person, or th& appropriate animal (sometimes the totem). Sometimes these human and expiatory offerings .have become regular and periodic, to avert the anger of the gods, or to expiate sin frequently committed ; often animals are regularly sacrificed as substitutes for human life ; sometimes these sacrifices have degenerated into mere puppet sacrifices. A further development consists in sacramental feasts or sacrifices as when paste idols or slain victims are eaten by the worshippers, with the sacramental idea that the sacred animal being eaten makes the worshippers' mysteries, one with the deity to whom it is sacrificed. Such sacrifices often take place in connection with initiation or celebration of blood- brotherhood. " Even the highest forms of sacrificial worship," says Prof. Eobertson Smith, in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," " present much that is repulsive to modern ideas; and in particular it requires an effort to reconcile our imagination to the bloody ritual which is prominent in almost every religion which has a strong sense of sin. But we must not forget that from the beginning this ritual expressed, however crudely, certain ideas INTRODUCTION. T? wMoh. lie at the very root of true religion, tlie fellowsHp of the wor- shippers with one another in their fellowship with the deity ; . . . and the piacular forms, though these were particularly liable to distortions disgraceful to man and dishonouring to the Godhead, yet contained the first germs of eternal truths, not only expressing the idea of divine justice, but mingling it with a feeling of divine and human pity." THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The word and the subject "Theism" is of the highest importancB in religions. The word in combination enters into pantheism, polytheism, monotheism, and atheism. By itself it has a signification which '^"'^'^ it has not always when in combination. In its widest ex- tension it includes the whole subject of Divine Being or Beings; but ordinarily it is restricted to much the same range as monotheism, ^ the belief in one Grod. It then contradicts and is antagonistic to polytheism, pantheism, and atheism. Again, theism has been used as the contrary of deism, a form of belief in one God by the light of nature, or from natural religion. Deism is generally distinguished from pantheism in ^^^^ regarding God as distinct from the material world, and from theism, in imagining that the Divine Being has created the world and endowed it with certain powers and potentialities which are left to work out' their results uninfluenced by the direct interference or action of God. It would detain us too long to expound the history of theism since Christianity arose. It will be to some extent referred to later. We must note here that Christianity and Mohammedainism are the only two truly theistic or monotheistic religions ; and that this title has been denied to Christianity by those who consider the doctrine of the Trinity, or Three Persons in the Godhead, as excluding it from monotheism. In past times many regarded monotheism as the primitive religion, from which mankind had fallen away by sin and degradation. Now-a-days a great proportion of students of man and religion beheve that monotheism is a later growth than polytheism, or behef in more than one God. There is some ground for the belief that, in some religions at least, the idea of one supreme God arose by the exaggeration of the qualities of some particular god already worshipped, or out of the belief in a tribal God, originally peculiar to them and hostile to their enemies ; but it is questionable if we can ever arrive at the true origin of religion, for the ancient races are dead and have left no records behind them, and there are no data for saying that all those peoples who had a religion have left records of it. The traces of religion in the oldest words and the earhest remains and records left show that animals, ancestors, powers of nature, and deities were then wor- shipped ; and beyond this we cannot go. Pantheism is a mode of looking at the universe which identifies the creation with the Creator, regarding all finite things as difierent modifications, or aspects, or manifestations of- one eternal, self-existent being, from which they are derived. Within or abound this conception are grouped many views which represent the universe very diversely, some approaching very nea father, who lived among the clouds, and had three sons. of creation. (3) A huge serpent is the cause of everything. The South Australians beheved that the sun, moon, and stars are living beings who once inhabited the earth. Sudden deaths are attributed to the enchantments of hostile tribes. "The method of finding out the enchanter i& to^ clear the space round the deceased's Mode of g^ave, and smooth it so that the least traces of an animal passing discovering over it may be detected — those of a beetle will sufS.ce. The enchanters. ^jj^gg^JQ^^ taken by this creature indicates the direction in which the enchanter lives ; and one of the nearest of kin to the deceased sets out on his mission, travelling some hundreds of miles. Arrived at a place where there are natives encamped, he fraternises with them, staying with them for days till an opportunity presents itself of slaying the enchanter, who is already known by having coughed when eating some of the food which the stranger has taken care to distribute all round." ^ The souls of those who have not been buried are supposed to haunt the earth as evil spirits. One tribe of Australians believe that their ghosts people the islands in Spencer's Gulf. A Queensland tribe had the idea that their dead became white, because they saw this to be the case when they were flayed for eating ; and when they first saw white men they actually believed they were the becoming ghosts of their own dead that had returned. Sir George Grey ^'deat?**'^ was thought to be a returned son formerly speared to death at Swan Eiver. " Yes, yes ;^ it is he I " cried an old woman, who leaned her head on his breast and burst into tears. The funeral rites of the Australians are simple, but very varied. The chief modes are burial, placing the body in a tree, and burning. "Widows often shaved the head. "White is- their mourning colour, worn in the form of white clay. Eulogy of the departed in hymns and songs takes place after their death, according to their merits. Many Aus-* tralians believed that at death the ghosts or souls survived, sometimes passing into some other person, or wandering about ; and they begged it to cease its wanderings and enter some person. Some believed that they ascended to an upper region of the heavens, but could ^till visit their earthly abodes. Many of the detailed beliefs recorded about the Australians in modern timfes are, in fact, due to the influence of white men's visits and missionaries' teaching. ' Trans. Ethnological Society, New Series, vol. iii., p. 246. RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 27 THE TASMANIANS. Tlie aboriginal Tasmanians, now extinct, had very little more idea of religion than the Austrahans. They had an idea of a future life, where they should pursue the chase with unwearied ardour and un- TUe future failing success, and enjoy in vast abundance and with unsated un^la^^ appetite the pleasures which they sought during life. Some onase. thought they were to go to the stars, or to an island where their ancestors were, and be turned into white people. They also believed in malevolent spirits inhabiting caves and forests. They did not like to move at night. In burial their customs varied, like those of the Australians ; but Burial they sometimes built a funeral mound, or placed a spear by the, '"s*"™^' deceased, for him " to fight with when he is asleep," In mourning, the women would plaster their shaven heads with pipe-clay and cover their faces with a mixture of charcoal and fat, weeping and lacerating their bodies with sharp stones. Flowers were thrown on the graves, as well as the shaven hair of the women. Some of the bones of the deceased were often carried about in a bag hung round the neck. They believed in the return of the spirits of their departed friends to bless or injure them. During the whole of the first night after the death of one of their tribe, they would sit round the body, uttering a low, rapid, continuous recitative, to prevent the evil spirit of an enemy from taking it away. Wise men and exorcists exercised considerable powers over them. They used charms and arts like mesmerism to expel diseases, terrified by the rattle of dead men's bones, twirled round a magic mooyumbarr, Exorcists- or oval piece of wood. They also kept sacred stones, which must ™«*Ji°^^- on no account be seen by women. They had a superstitious regard for the sun moon, and various constellations, but could not be said to worship them. THE NEW CALEDONIANS AND SOLOMON ISLANDERS. The New Caledonians exhibited a more definite religious belief. They had a word which represented " dead men " as a sort of deity ; and their deceased chiefs were prayed to by name. The living chief Ancenor acted as high priest, praying aloud to this effect : " Compassionate ^o^^^^i^- ^^ father, here is some food for you ; eat it ; be kind to us on account of it." Feasting and dancing followed this ceremony. The natives of Aneityum, New -Hebrides, supposed, says the Rev. W. Turner (" Nineteen Years m Polynesia "), that the spirit at death leaves the body, goes to the west end of the island, plunges into the sea, and swims away to a place of spirits called Umatmas, where it is believed there are two divisions, one for the good and another for the bad. Their heaven consists in abundance of good food. In New Caledonia, however, the spirits of the departed are supposed to go to the Bush. Every fifth month they have a spirit night, when heaps of food are prepared. The old men and women hide in a cave, and Feasts for represent the spirits of the dead to the credulous juniors, singing ^P""^*^- in an unearthly fashion, which is followed by wild dancing outside. These 28 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. people are not -without definiteness in their prayers. They pray to one god for the eye, that they may see the spear as it flies towards them; '*''^"' to another for the ear, that they may hear the approach of the enemy. Certain disease-makers are believed to produce sickness; and this was especially found to be the case in the island of Tanna, where they burn the refuse of food, the idea being that when it is all burned the person dies. " Whenever a person felt ill, a shell was blown for hours, as a call or prayer to the disease-maker, to stop burning the rubbish, and a promise of presents." SACKED IIIAQE, NEW GEOBaiA, SOLOMON ISLANDS. There is also a rain-making class of priests in New Caledonia. Their method is to pour water on the skeleton of a body exhumed. Almost every Eain-maMng family has its priest, and the chief is high-priest. In Tanna no priests. i^Q\^ were found. The people used the banian-tree as a sacred grove, and they venerated some sacred stones. In Llallicolo, New Hebrides, however, there were in every village, in the sacred house, three or four images, life size, dressed as men, and painted like mummies, which appeared to be held sacred. All the deities are supposed to be malignant beings. Sorcery and witchcraft are universally believed in. They have a tradition RELIGIONS lA AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 29 that their islands were fished up by the gods, who afterwards made men and women. Captain Cook found the grave of a New Caledonian chief decorated with spears, darts, paddles, etc., stuck upright in the ground. According to Turner, the body of the deceased is decorated with a belt and ^ shell armlets. They raise and cut off the finger and toe nails turiai whole to preserve as relics. They spread the grave with a mat, ''"^ °™^' and bury all the body but the head. After ten days the friends twist off the head, extract the teeth as further relics, and preserve the skull also. In the Solomon Islands predominant reverence is shown to the spirits of dead men — practically not extending beyond grandfathers. Common men are believed to have gone to a neighbouring island where they wander about aimlessly ; the more distinguished are believed to remain in the. neighbourhood of their friends, and to give them help when prayed and sacrificed to. Certain prayers, handed down from father to son, are muttered. Witchcraft and charms are much believed in, and sharks are much reverenced. The canoe-houses often appear to be in the way to become sacred buildings, and they are ornamented by carved wooden figures, representing ghosts of various deceased people. Food is sometimes set before these, and their removal would be held to bring punishment from the dead man ; but many of the carved figures of the Solomon Islands have no religious significance. See Rev. R. H. Codrington's valuable paper, " Religious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia," Journal of Anthropological Institute, vol. x. THE MAORIS. The Maoris of New Zealand were not much beyond the New Cale- donians. When Captain Cook visited them, he saw no appearance of religious ceremonies, except that once he observed a basket con- Deified taining fern roots hung up in a small enclosure, and said to be ancestors, an offering to the gods, to render them propitious, and obtain a good crop. Their chiefs appeared to become deified, and even the living chiefs were be- lieved to be deified, or to express the opinions of gods. Te Heu Heu, a New Zealand priest and chief, once said to a European missionary : " Think not that I am a man, that my origin is of the earth. I come from the heavens ; my ancestors are all there : they are gods, and I shall return to them." Maui was said to be their great ancestor, who drew the island out Legend of of the sea with a fish-hook. Spirits of the deified ancestors were in^'^- beheved sometimes to visit the earth in the form of lizards, spiders, and birds. The Maoris applied the term atua to every kind ot supernatural beings, but also included in it all active agencies of nature. They ex- ^^^^ tended the same term to Europeans and. their watches. The ghost of a departed chief was an atua, and might be benevolent or male- volent in the shadow world. A certain mythology has been discovered among the New Zealanders, 3° THE WORLD S RELIGIONS. strangely reminding one in some of its features of the old Greek mythology. Eangi and Papa— the Heaven and the Earth— begot six children ^^ ° °^" or gods, and fathers respectively : (1) of men and war; (2) of food arising without cultivation; (3) of fish and reptiles; (4) of winds and storms; (5) of cultivated food; (6) of forests and birds. A conspiracy between these gods resulted in the separation of heaven from earth. The New Zealanders believed there were two distinct abodes for the spirits of the dead : Eangi, in the sky, and -Reinga, in the sea, the entrance The abodes being at the northern extremity of the island. They ascribed of spirits internal diseases to sorcery or witchcraft, and they could only be of the dead. ^^^^^ ^^ incantations. Evil deeds were punished in this world, and the punishments were sent from deified ancestors. CORPSE, AND OOKPSE-PBAYING PBIE8T, NEW ZEALAND. There was not much distinction between priests and chiefs ; sometimes the chief's brother was priest. The priests' duties were to see the laws of The priests' the tapu ^ enforced, to heal the sick, attend at funerals and duties, births, to tattoo people, to instruct children in songs and traditions, to advise in time of war, and to interpret omens. They were also supposed to converse with the dead.^ In Cook's time the New Zealanders did not bury their dead. At Queen 1 Tapu, from wHch. we derive our " taboo," meant sacred, or separate from common use. 2 For an interesting account of the Maori Eace, see Mr. Kerry-NichoUs's paper in Joum. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xv. REIIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 31 Charlotte's Sound they threw them into the sea. The dead chiefs were wrapped in mats, put into canoe-shaped boxes, along with their jjjQ^gg ^j club, and placed on elevated stages or suspended from trees, or turiai and T*i T 1 1 T-1 11*- • 1 11 mourning, interred m the houses where they died. Mourning by the relatives went on, with cutting of the body, for weeks. About a year after- wards the bones were cleaned and secretly deposited by priests in sepulchres on hill tops, in forests, or in caves. Food and water were placed at the graves of the dead, the spirit being believed to come at night and feed from the sacred calabashes. THE FRIENDLY ISLANDERS. Keligious belief in the Tonga or Friendly Islands assumed a yet more developed aspect. The people believed in superior beings or gods, who dispensed good and evil to mankind according to their merits, g^pgrior and and inferior gods who are the souls of deceased chiefs, with inferior inferior powers. All evils were ascribed to the anger of the good gods, or the mischievous disposition of the bad gods. Mankind, they said, originally came from Bolotoo, the abode of the gods. They believed in a human soul (except for the lower classes), existing in Bolotoo in the form and likeness of the body, the moment after death. The Tongans had a spiritual chief, alleged to be descended from gods. The priest, when consulted, became emotional and " inspired," and declared the will of the god. Most of the gods had a separate temple and spiritual a separate priest ; but there appeared to be no public or private ^J^^^^^ religious rites without kava drinking as a part of it. They from the believed in omens and charms, and sacrificed to the departed ^°'**- spirits of chiefs, and consulted the gods before commencing any important undertaking. Among these people we meet with private and reserved burial grounds for the chief families. Like so many other races, they showed their mourning by cutting themselves with clubs, stones, knives, or sharp shells, shaving the head, and burning the cheeks. THE SAMOANS. The Samoans were conspicuous for the great number of their gods. Every one from birth had a protecting god ; every village had its god, the names borne by them being, among others, " The Swift One," q,^^^^^ " The Sacred One," " Destruction," " The God of Heaven." _ They ^^jmage were supposed to appear visibly as some animal, the rainbow, shooting stars, etc. Scarcity of food they ascribed to one particular god. They had traditions of a time when the heavens alone were inhabited, and the earth was covered with water. The heavens a long time ago ^^^y^^^g fell down. Fire was obtained from the earthquake god. In one district they had a stone rain-god. When there was too much rain, those who,kept the stone put it to the fire to dry, and cause the rain to A_stone stop. If therfe was great drought, they took the stone to the water and dipped it, thinking that would bring rain. 32 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. lAEITIAN EIEB. The priests were either the chiefs, or the oifice was hereditary. The priests decided on peace or war, fixed the feast days of the gods, and received the of- ferings. Taboo Functions of was priests, large- ly practised. To protect pro- perty, a rude re- presentation of an animal or of some plague, by which it was hoped the de- predator might be killed, was hung up. Thus there were the white shark, the sea pike, the ulcer, and the cross -stick ta- boo, the latter representing a disease running right across the body. The Samoans believed that the souls of their chiefs were immortal, and that they were conveyed by spirits to an abode of ghosts beyond their islands, and very much hke them. There was an imagined chief ruler of this land. At night these ghosts are able to revisit their old homes, and give counsel and predict the future to members of their family ; to others they, would carry disease and death. TUB HERVEi ISLANDERS. By far the most complete and ac- curate account we have of the religion Eev.w.w. ^^^ mythology of any Polyr nesian people, is that given by the Eev. W. Wyatt Gill, in " Myths and Songs from the South Pa- cific." Having lived for many years in Mangaia, one of the Hervey Islands, and gained the confidence of the last of their priests and of many others, he has been enabled to present us with an almost complete account, which is of extreme The spirit land. GlUin Mangaia. rUNEKAIi-DRESS OF THE NBABEST RELATIVE OF THE DECEASED PERSON, TAHITI. RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 33 interest, and "will enable us materially to shorten the accounts given of other Polynesians. The Mangaians conceived of the universe as like the hollow of a vast cocoanut shell. The interior has a single aperture above, where the Mangaians dweU. At the bottom of the supposed cocoanut shell ^^^^^ ^^ ^^ was a thick stem, tapering to a point, which was a spirit or universe demon, without human form, named " The Eoot of aU Existence." ^^^ spirits. Above this extreme point was a stouter spirit, called " Breathing or Life " ; HUMAN SACRIFICE IN FORMER TIMES, TAHITI. above agaia, a thicker spirit, " The Long Lived." These three were fixed sentient spirits, who together supported all the universe. In the interior of the supposed cocoanut lived a female demon, "The very Beginning," anxious for progeny. One day she plucked off a bit of her right side, ^j^^ ^^^^^^ and it became the first man, Vdtea, the father of gods and men. of gods £l]ld pi ATI Subsequent births from both her right and left sides by " The very Beginning," gave rise to lords of' the sea, of the winds, etc., and one, named Tu-metua, " Stick-by-the-parent," living with the mother in " the mute land." Tu-metua, shortened to Tu, is a principal god in many Polynesian islands. A whole series of mythological events was assigned to these gods, almost as complex as the Greek mythology, and as in- teresting. According to Mr. Gill, the Polynesians had no idea of a Supreme Being 34 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS.' creating a universe out of nothing. Co-ordinate with, the spirits or deriibns No Idea of a ^'^^^ mentioned were deified men ; and birds, fish, reptiles^' supreme insects, and specially inspired priests were reverenced as incar- nations,' mouthpieces, or messengers of the gods. There are numerous traditions about the exploits of these deified men, evidently Deined men ^°^™®^ chiefs. Eongo, the offspring of Vatea, was the chief god and their of Mangaia, reigning in the night or "shades." Motoro was an ancestor god termed " the living god," co-ordinately wor- shipped. Makitaka, the last priest of Motoro, embraced Christianity. The image of Motoro is in the museum of the London Missionary Society. "The word'io,' commonly, used for 'god,'" says Mr. Gill, "properly means pith or core of a tree. What the core is to the tree, the god was The gods the believed to be to the man. In other words, the gods were the life of men. ]£fg q£ mankind. Even when a worshipper of Motoro was slain in fair fight, it was supposed that the enraged divinity would, by ^ome special misfortune or disease, put an end to the offender." On entering the The king's god-house of the king, a rude reed hut, the first idol was Rongo, Idols, .jjj i^Q form of a trumpet shell ; next came the honoured Metoro ; ' then came eleven others, thirteen being the number admitted as national gods. The term applied to them, " dwellers by day," signified that they were continually busy in the aff'airs of mortals. These alone had carved images. Those who " dwelt in night " were, however, supposed frequently to ascend by day to take part in aff'airs. A strange explanation is given of the origin of a priesthood. The gods were said to have first spoken to man through small land birds ; but their Origin of a utterances were too indistinct for guiding men, and consequently priesthood, priests were set apart, in whom the gods took up temporary abodes. Hence they were called god-boxes^ or briefly gods. "When con- sulted, an oflfering of the best food, and a bowl of an intoxicating liquor had to be brought. The priest, in a frenzy, gave his response in language in- telUgible only to the initiated. No one being supposed to die a natural Death due to death except from old age, the people inquired of the priests sins. what sins had occasioned any one's illness. If the priest bore any one a grudge, he had only to announce that the divinity willed it, and. he was put to death. The exploits of Maui, the fire-god, are some of the most famous. He first captured fire from the nether world, raised the sky, and made the sun Exploits of .captive. Many other arts of mankind are traced by the natives- Maui, the to achievements of the gods. The intoxicating draught even is ^'^° ' derived from that which the mistress of the invisible world gives to her victims. Thieving is taught by Iro, coming up on moonlight nights from spirit land. Everything in earth, air, or sea is traced to a super- natural source. The dead '^^^ ^^^^ "^^^^ thrown down the deepest chasms, in whkh thrown Mangaia abounds, and these were supposed to be openings into into chasms. ^-^^ ^^^^ hollow, the repository pf the dead. The Mangaians be- RELIGIONS. IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 35 lieved the spirits occupied themselves like mankind — marrying, multi- plying, sinning, quarrelling. Birds, fish, rats, beetles, cocoanuts, yams, all abound in this Hades. The high road thither is closed. The spirits had so molested men, brought disease and death upon them, stolen i^eag of their food, etc., that to put an end to these annoyances a royal ^Pi'" -world, person rolled herself alive down the great opening, which then closed up. Since then the spirits of mortals descend by a different route, and the in- habitants of Hades no longer molest mankind. It is said that the first who ever died a natural death in Mangaia was Vectini, the only and beloved son of Tueva and Manga, who died in early, manhood. The parents established those mourning customs Mourning which were ever afterwards observed. . All the relatives blackened e^istoms. their faces, cut off their hair, gashed their bodies with sharks' teeth, and wQre native cloth dyed red and dipped in black mud, forming a most odoriferous garment. Their heads were surrounded with fern singed with fire. These ceremonies occupied from ten to fifteen days. Sometimes, in honour of distinguished persons deceased, grand tribal gatherings took place, to recite songs in their honour. This was called, a talk about the devouring, or a death-talk ; for when a person ^he death- died, it was customary to say he was eaten up by the gods. As **'^- many as thirty " weeping-songs " were often prepared: each adult male relative must recite a song. Numerous most interesting specimens of these are given by Mr. Gill. We can give only a few lines from one of thenu ." Speed, then, on thy voyage to spiritland, Where a profusion of garlands awaits thee. There the bread-fruit tree, pet son, is ever laden with fruit ; Tes, there the bread-fruit tree is ever in season, my child." Human sacrifices were formerly offered by the Mangaians, and various families were at different periods condemned to furnish the victims ; and horrible tales of atrocities in connection with them are preserved. THE SOCIETY ISLANDERS. The natives of the Society Islands worshipped many gods, some being gods of war and peace, others employed as heralds between gods and men, others in healing. Some were gods of localities or of professions, varied The gods even presided over games, wrestling, dancing, and deities, archery, offerings being made to them both before and after the games. Earthquakes were believed to be under the control of a special divinity. Fishes and birds were also among, their divinities. The turtle was always held sacred, and dressed with sacred fire within the precincts of the temple, part of it being always offered to the idol. Spirits of deceased chiefs and relatives were also worshipped, though with certain distinctions. Each notable spirit was honoured with ' an image, through which his influence was believed to be exerted. These images were kept in the Maraes, m houses raised from the ground on poles. The gods were believed to watch 36 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. tlie people jealously, to be ready to avenge any disobedience to tbeir injunc- tions conveyed through, the priests. They attributed every calamity to the anger of the gods. Every disease was supposed to be inflicted for some crime against the taboo, or some offering made by an enemy to procure their destruction. The Tahitians had a vague idea of a future state. They imagined the spirit was seized by other spirits, conducted to the state of night, and The future Usually eaten gradually by the gods. Some, however, were not ®***e. eaten, but lived with the gods as deified spirits. _ They imagined a most beautiful heaven near a certain mountain ; but they did not seem to assign this heaven to the good only, or to imagine that actions in this world influence the future state at all. A resemblance to other peoples far away is to be found in the fact that if, after repeated offerings for a chiefs recovery, the god still refused to exert his influence, the Tahitians execrated the idol and banished him from the temple, and chose some other who they hoped would be more favourable. The hereditary priesthood had great power in Tahiti, and the king was sometimes chief priest and personified the god. The worship of their chief The priest- god 0^0, was attended by firequent human sacrifices. Before hood, going to war these were especially offered. Religious rites were practised in connection with all the principal acts of life ; and the priests received considerable offerings for their services. The Tahitians' maraes were used for burial as well as worship. In many respects their funeral customs resembled those described by Mr. GUI. THE SANDWICH I SLANDERS. The Sandwich Islanders did not differ very markedly from their more southern relatives in their religious ideas ;- but they attached great import- voicanio SiRQQ to Certain volcanic deities, whose worship was doubtless in- deiwes. spired by the volcanic phenomena by which they have often suffered. These deities were asserted never to journey on errands of mercy ; their only excursions being to receive offerings or to execute vengeance. Their idea of heaven was of a low order. A native remarked to Mr. EUis, " If there is no eating and drinking, or wearing of clothes in heaven, wherein does its goodness consist ? " They supposed that after the death of any member of a family, the spirit of the departed hovered about the places of its former resort, appeared to the survivors sometimes in dreams, and ' watched over their destinies. Captain Cook was worshipped by the Sand- wich Islanders as a god, and his bones preserved as sacred. The taboo was as powerful in the Sandwich Islands as anywhere. Idols temples, the person and name of the king, the persons of the priests, the Power of the blouses and other property of the king and priests, and the heads taboo, of men that were devotees of any particular idol, were tapu or sacred. The flesh of hogs, fowls, turtle, cocoanuts, and almost everything offered in sacriflce was sacred, and forbidden to be eaten by women. RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 37 Certain seasons were kept tapu, from five to forty days in duration. These were either before some religious ceremony or war or during sickness. During the season of strict tapu, says Mr. Ellis (" Tour through Hawaii "), every fire or light must be extinguished. No canoe must be launched on the water, no person must bathe ; and except those whose attendance was required at the temple, no individual must be seen out of doors. No dog must bark, no pig must grunt, no cock must crow. So the dogs' and pigs' mouths were tied up, and the fowls' eyes covered. The kings and priests must touch nothing, their food being put into" their mouths by other persons. The priests and the chiefs united to keep up this system of taboo MABAB AND ALTAB AT HDAHINE, SOCIETY ISLANDS. by the rigid infliction of the death-penalty for its violation. The priests also acted the part of sorcerers and doctors, receiving of course heavy fees, a cloth, mat, pig, dog, etc., usually paid beforehand. THE FIJIANS. Coming back to the islands withiu a large circle round Australia, we have very extensive information about the religious ideas and practices of the Fijians before their conversion to Christianity. They be- ™j^ » - lieved in a future existence not only for all men, but also for spirits of • animals, plants, houses, canoes, tools. " Some speak of man as having two spirits," says the Eev. T. Williams ("Fiji and the Fijians"). " His shadow is called ' the dark spirit,' which they say goes to Hades. The 38 THE WOkLD'S RELIGIONS. FIJIAN TEMPLE . other is his likeness reflected in water or a looking- glass, and is supposed to stay near the place' in which a man dies. I once placed a good-looking native suddenly before a mirror. He stood delighted. 'Now,' he said softly, ' I can see into the world of spirits.' " In the Fijian's heaven he expected to lead a life of activity, with sailing, fishing, sporting, etc. He did not The Fijian loo^ ^or a separation between the good and heaven, the bad, although men who had slain no enemy would be compelled to beat dirt with their club, a most degrading punishment ; and women not tattooed would be pursued by other women and finally scraped with shells and made into bread for the gods. The journey to the other world was imagined as being a journey to another distant island, . attended with great danger. The Fijian peopled every lonely spot with invisible spirits, who however assumed the human form at will and appeared frequently. Each island, even each locality, had its own rival gods, who were of like passions with the natives, loving and hating, proud and revenge- PasBions of '^'^i making war, killing and eating each other. They were said ' tJie gods, to tumble out of canoes, pay tribute to each other, trip each other up, go gaily dressed, etc. The priests asserted strongly that the people's success in war depended on their desire to gratify the appetite of the god, who was a great lover of human flesh. In fact in no religion was -cannibalism Human more strictly enjoined. Chiefs sometimes killed some of their sacrifices, -w^ives in Order to supply the sacrifices for the gods. Capt. Erskine ("Journal of a Crxiise among the Islands of the Western Pacific") describes canoes launched over the living bodies of slaves as rollers, houses built on similar foundations, the immediate massacre of all shipwrecked persons, as having been strictly enjoined and enforced by the priests. Any man who could sufficiently distinguish himself by murdering his fellow-men could certainly secure deification after death. Among the Fijian gods may be mentioned Owe, the maker of all men ; Eatumaimbulu, who caused fruitfulness, during whose month it was tapu to Riian gods ®^^^' *° ^° *° ^^^' *° P^^^*) '^^ buUd houses ; U-dengei, represented ■ as a serpent merging into a. stone, and having no passion but hunger. Some of the gods were mere monsters, oni having eight arms ♦ one eight eyes, and one eighty stomachs. In fact, every object that is specially fearful, vicious, or iiijurious was hkely to be placed among the lower class of Fijian gods. If a Fijian chief died, one or more of his wives, his principal friend, and often many more, were strangled, to accompany him to the world of spirits. The chiefs' That he should appear there unattended was a most repugnant funerals. ^^^^_ rj^-^^ wives were killed even at their own request, knowing they would be insulted, and perhaps starved, if they lived. A club was placed in the dead man's hand, to enable him to defend himself against RELIGIONS IN AUSTRALASIA AND POLYNESIA. 39 his enemies; and whale's teeth were added, in order to propitiate the spirits. Certain, tribes in Fiji, aceoBding to the Rev. L. Fison {Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xiv.), had a set of mysteries known as the Nanga, into which young men were initiated at full age, and which were performed in a sacred enclosure, where the ancestral spirits were to be found by their worshippers, offerings being taken thither on all occasions when their aid was invoked. THE PAPUANS. The Papuans of Dory, New Guinea, according to Mr. Earl, worship an idol called Karwar, with which every house is provided, a figure rudely carved in wood, about eighteen inches high, hide9usly <^sprD- ^^^^^^ .^^^^ portioned, and holding a shield. They regularly consult this idol, squatting before it, clasping their hands over the forehead, and bowing re- peatedly, at the same time stating their intentions. It is considered necessary that the Karwar should be present on all important occasions, such as births, marriages, or deaths. They have also a number of carved figures which maybe denominated fetishes. They are usually fi.gures of reptiles, which are suspended from the roofs of the houses ; the posts are also ornamented with similar figures, cut into the wood. All the natives possess amulets, which may be carved pieces of wood, bits of bone, quartz, or some trifle. When a death occurs among these people, the body is buried in a grave, resting on its side, and with a porcelain dish under the ear. If Bwiai the head of a family is dead, the Karwar is brought to the grave »* Papuans, and loaded with reproaches, and when the grave is filled up, the idol is left to decay on the roof built to shelter the grave. THE DYAKS OF BORNEO. The Sea-Dyaks of Borneo have a chief deity called Batava, " a pure Sanskrit term for God, and probably a rehc of their former intercourse with the Javan Hindus " (Low's i' Sarawak "). They have a number The Sea of good and bad spirits, to both classes of which they make offer- °y^^ ^''^^'^^ ings the larger share going to the wicked spirits. All sicknesses, misfortunes, and deaths are credited to them. At certain seasons these people go to the woods to commune in private with the spirits. Work is stopped at certam seasons of the moon; and what with bad omens, sounds, signs, dreams, and deaths, they lose a great deal of time from their work. The Land-Dyaks have a principal deity called " Tuppa," or Jerroang, who is beneficent, and always invoked at their agricultural and peaceful feasts; but in association with the sun and moon, and, also with Eajah Brooke, who is worshipped by aU classes of Dyakswho have come ^ii n "" WOrO fOr mg to Wmterbottom, had no fixed opinion respecting a future spirit or state, and did not believe that the spirits of their deceased friends ^^"^^^ returned to visit their former abodes, nor had they any word in their language to express " spirit " or " apparition." According to Bosnian, writing at the beginning of the last century, the Grold-Coast natives believed that immediately after death people went to another world, THe other where they lived in the same character as here, and made use ''orid. of all the offerings made by their friends and relations to them after death. They had little or no idea of future rewards and punishments. They attributed disease to the displeasure of the fetish, the malice of evil spirits, the incantation of some wizard, or the uneasiness of the spirit of some deceased relation, whose obsequies perhaps had not been properly performed. Among the Bulloms and Timmanees, when any person of con- Removal of sequence fell sick, he was immediately removed from his home to *^® *'°'^' a town at some distance, where the witchcraft which caused his illness was supposed to be ineffectual. If recovery did not take place soon, a hut was built in a deep recess of a forest, whither he was carried, and the place of his retreat was kept a close secret. The Ashanti fetishmen before a war make a mixture of hearts of enemies, blood, and consecrated herbs. " All who have never be- Horrible fore killed an enemy," says Beecham,i " eat of the preparation ; it "meiucme." being believed that if they did not, their energy would be secretly wasted by the haunting spirits of their deceased foes." Sometimes a dead man's body is questioned by his neighbours as to the cause of his death ; sometimes he is reproached for leaving his friends ; sometimes bis spirit is besought to watch over them and protect interrogation them from evil. Up to recent periods a chief's death was followed of the by the slaughter of many of his slaves, and not unfrequently of his wives and friends, so that he might not be unattended in his new ex- istence. " At the end of the funeral customs," says Burton, " especially in the Old Calabar Eiver, a small house is built upon the beach, and in it are placed the valuables possessed by the deceased, together with a bed, that the ghost may not sleep upon the floor, and a quantity of food upon the table." Major Ellis has given an admirable account of the religious ideas and practices of the Grold Coast tribes speaking the Tshi group of languages, of whom the Fantis are the chief.^ His view is, that in these tribes^^ ^^ ^j^^ ^^ religion is not connected with morals as we understand them, west African Sin to their minds means insult to or neglect of the gods ; while murder, theft, etc., are matters in which the gods take no interest, unless persuaded to do so in the interest of a faithful worshipper. The belief in the malevolent spirits of nature is strongly promoted by the priests and '" Ashanti and the Gold Coast." . „ -c^it iqc? » " The TsM-speaking peoples of the G-old Coast of "West Africa." By A. ±5. Ji.iiis. iab<- 52 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. priestesses for their own gain. " They frequently talk about them and profess to have met them. They introduce their imaginary meetings with the local gods, artfully and without apparent design, into general conversa- tions. . , . Every misfortune proceeds from and can only be averted by the gods ; nothing remains for man to do but to propitiate them." Till the appearance of Europeans on the Gold Coast only two general deities were worshipped, one, Bobowissi, by the southern, and the other, Bobowissi Tando, by the northern tribes. These were believed to have and Tando. appointed all the local deities. A yearly feast, with human sacri- fices, was held ia their honour ; and their stool, or local symbol of authority, was washed in human blood. At a later date these people adopted a new Nyankupon, god, with characteristics derived from intercourse with Europeans, a new deity." namely, Nana-nyankupon (Lord of the sky), superior to Bobo- wissi, but too distant from mortals to interfere directly in their affairs ; but he was especially considered to be the author of the dread disease, small-pox, introduced by the Europeans. He has, however, no special worship. In time of war, and when travelling, Bobowissi is still invoked, and sheep in- stead of human beings are sacrificed to him. Srahmantin and Sasabonsum are deities intermediate between the general and the local deities ; or rather, they are names for a class of deities, „ ^ ,. but are believed in each locality to designate individual deities. Srahmantin „ , -, . , t ,i i -n and The former, a female deity, always lives among the huge silk- sasabonsum. ^^^^^^ ^.^.ggg . ^j^g \^\x,qx may also be found in hills or forests where the soil is red ; both are mahgnant. Indeed, Sasabonsum is the most malignant of all the gods, and waylays and eats solitary travellers. Once angered, even uniatentionally, he can never be propitiated. Red soil is his special abode, the colour being caused by the blood of the victims he has destroyed. Originally human victims were offered to him, but withia European influence a sheep is now the offering. He is also an earthquake god ; and in Ashanti several persons are always put to death after an earth- quake as a sacrifice to Sasabonsum and in hope of satiating his cruelty for the time. " In 1881 a slight earthquake shock threw down a portion of the wall of the king's residence in Coomassie. The king, Mensah, consulted the priests as to what should be done, and the latter declared that the damage was the act of Sasabonsum, and that the ruined portion must be rebuilt of mud [swish) moistened with the blood of virgins. Fifty young girls were accordingly slaughtered, and the wall was rebuilt with swish kneaded in, their blood." Srahmantin also waylays solitary travellers, but does not eat them ; they are supposed to be kept by her for four or five months, learning the mysteries of her worship, when they are returned to mankind as fully qualified priests or priestesses of the deity. The multitude of local deities, termed Bohsum, apparently meaning "pro- ducer of calamities," is so great that we cannot mention them in any detail. It is evident to residents on the Gold Coast that their malignity ■ has diminished in proportion to the spread of European infiuence • but beyond that area human sacrifices and licentious and cruel practices WITCH DOCTOR CURINO WITCHCBAPT, CONGO. 63 54 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. continue in undiminished strength. Various days are sacred to local gods; and the priests are ready, for a sufficient consideration, to use their influence to gain, for any individual the objects he may desire, or to avenge any injury or wrong done to him. It is the height of sacrilege to cut down a bush or a tree, or disturb the soil where a local deity resides, and such insult is often visited with death. Each god assists the people in his own manner : a war- god by stimulating their courage and destroying the enemy ; a god of pesti- lence by sending an epidemic among the enemy ; a river-god by obstructing the passage of the enemy, or overwhelming him when crossing the stream. The name Bohsum is also given to the tutelary deity of particular com- munities of people, town or market companies, or families ; and these are supposed to be appointed by ^^ ^ ^ the local deities through the agency of a or tutelary priest. While the local deities dwell in deities. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ dwelling-places,— in forest, hill, river, or sea, — they sometimes enter the images which are their symbols ; but with regard to the Bohsums, they have their ordinary dwelling-place in certain material objects assigned by the local deities through the priests. It is to these objects that the term fetish (see p. 10) is generally applied, as well as to the Suhman of p. 56. The following is, in brief. Major EUis's account of the mode of obtaining such an object at the pre- sent "time. "When a new town-company is formed, its members go to the priest of a local deity with presents, and acquaint him with their wishes. If their gifts are satisfactory, he goes with them to the abode of the local deity, w^ith which he communicates by mysterious sounds and ceremonies. On a day ap- pointed for receiving an answer, the priest performs a weird dance, foams at the mouth, rolls his eyes, and utters strange sounds, as if possessed by the local god. He lets fall certain words which are the god's instruc- tions to go to a certain place and take from it a stone or some earth, or to make a wooden figure from the wood of a certain tree. Having carried out these instructions and poured some rum on to the ground, he takes the object, which is now believed to be the abode of a deity (Bohsum), to some spot near where the majority of the company live, and places it on the ground. Branches from some neighbouring tree are planted round it, and the whole is enclosed with a palm-stick fence. These branches become what are often termed fetish-trees, and supposed to be worshipped. When such a tree falls or is blown down, the company or the market is be- lieved to have lost the protection of its deity owing to some offence given to him ; and, on appUcation to a priest, the offence is atoned for by ceremonies, and a new dwelling-place for the god is constructed. Very similar proceed- ■WEST AFRICAN FETISH. (With a rope round its neck, as if hanged.) ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 55 ings take place in relation to the guardian deities of towns and families, although, in the latter case, a dream often furnishes guidance as to the object to be selected as the abode of the deity. If a family should be visited with persistent ill-luck, sometimes the priests put the Bohsum to the test by fire ; if it is unconsumed, it is con- sidered to be genuine, and entitled to renewed gifts ; if it is even The family shghtly injured by the fire, it is thrown aside, and a new one Bonsum. must be chosen. The head of the family looks after the Bohsum's wants, and its festival is held on appointed days, when all wear white, either cloth or paint, and appropriate offerings are made. But individuals also have their special deities, termed " Suhman," each of these beiag a subordinate spirit belonging to Sasabonsum, obtainable by the individual for himself without a priest. The chief function „ j^ of these is to destroy persons who have injured or offended the individual. To get a Suhman, a man goes into a dark forest recess where a local Sasabonsum resides, and, after pouring a little rum on the, ground, he cuts a small branch from a tree and carves it into a rough resemblance to a human figure, or he takes a stone and binds it round with fibres (vascular bundles) of bamboos, or he takes the root of a plant or some red earth and makes it into a paste with blood or rum, putting it into a little pan and sticking the red tail-feathers of a parrot into it. He then calls upon a spirit of Sasabonsum to enter it, promising to pay it due reverence. It is then said that he picks some leaves and squeezes their juice upon the object, say- ing, "Eat this, and speak." Then, if a spirit has entered it, a low hissing noise is heard. He then obtains answers in the same way to several ques- tions as to how the Suhman is to be kept and treated. But if after all this the man finds that things do , not go well with him, he concludes that a spirit did not enter the object, and he throws it away, but not until he has made an offering to it in case it should be angry. It is, however, an ex- ceptional thing for natives to have these Suhmans, and those who have them are much dreaded, being supposed to be able to procure th© death of those who offend them. This account supports Mr. Ellis's statement, " that the be- lief that the negroes of the Gold Coast take at random any ordinary object and invest it with the character of a god is entirely without foundation. . . . The indwelling god cannot, be lost sight of, because he so frequently manifests himself by leaving the object in which he ordinarily dwells and entering the body of a priest. . . '. The neg;ro«s of the Grold Coast are always conscious that their offerings and worship are not paid to the inani- mate object itself, but to the indwelling god ; and every native with whom I have conversed upon the subject has laughed at the possibility of it being supposed that he could worship or offer sacrifice to some such object as a stone." It may be thought by some that it is immaterial to distinguish be- tween worship of an idol as a material object and worship of a spirit which -has taken up more or less permanent abode in such an object. But besides the paramount necessity for accuracy, it will appear to most candid students that there is all the difference in the world between worship of a material S6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. object and worship of a spirit, however limited or degraded or evil in its re- sults the belief may be. There has been too much tendency in the past to estimate uncivilised peoples by their supposed low position as worshippers of inanimate objects selected at random. Major Ellis is also satisiaed that the natives of the Gold Coast never MOON JBANCE, CEKTKAL ArillCA. think they can coerce their gods, nor attempt to do so. It is by propitiation Aueged ^^<^ flattery, and promises of offerings and worship that the deities "fetShes"^ f^® believed to be influenced; and the natives so implicitly believe m the superhuman power of their gods, and hold them generally in such awe, that they would expect a terrible calamity to follow any ill- treatment even of the Bohsum or Suhnian. In other respects the religion of ^:he Gold Coast has a marked resemblance to the animism of other races. ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 57 THE DAHOMANS. Tte extreme instance of human sacrifice as connected with religion at the present day is to be found in Dahomey. Extraordinary as it may appear, the horrible and frequent massacres which still exist in Dahomey, to the disgrace of mankind, are really manifestations of filial piety. The Dahoman sovereign must enter Dead-land with royal state, accompanied by a ghostly court of leopard wives, head wives, birthday wives, Afa wives, eunuchs, singers, drummers, king's devils, band, and soldiers. The grand This is the object of the " Grand Customs," when the victims may ciistoms. amount to five hundred. Every year, however, the firstfruits of war and all criminals must be sent to join the king's retinue, and this accounts for the annual customs. However trivial an action is done by the king, such as inventing a new drum, being visited by a white man, or even removing from one palace to another, it must be dutifully reported, by some male or female messenger (slain) to the paternal ghost. The king of Dahomey on a certain day cut off the heads of four men, a deer, and a monkey. One man was to go to all the markets and tell all the spirits what the object of king was about to make for his father ; the second was to go to the all the waters and tell all the animals there ; the third to all the roads and tell all the spirit-travellers ; the fourth to the firmament and tell all the hosts there ; the deer was to go to the forests and tell the beasts ; the monkey to go to all the swamps and cHmb the trees and tell all the animals there. A man had been previously killed at the late king's tomb to carry the message to him. The supreme deity of the Dahomans is Mau, " the unknown god." Mau is also the moon, a feminine principle which, in conjunction with Lisa or Se, a male spirit, representing the sun, made man. Mau is too Deities of high to care for man, and is neither feared nor loved ; yet it is .Danomans. believed that he can be influenced by the intercession of many fetishes or worshipped objects. All kinds of natural objects are among these. A man about to undertake anything new seeks supernatural aid, and, it is said, often takes the first object, bird or beast, stock or stone, seen in the morning on leaving his house, and makes it his fetish. If he is successful, it is worshipped; if not, better help is sought. Mau is said to have an assistant who records the good or evil deeds of every person by means of a stick, the good being notched at one end, the bad at the other. When any one dies, his body is judged by the balance between the two ends of the stick. If the good preponderates, it is permitted to join the spirit in Dead- land ; but if the evil outweighs the good, it is utterly destroyed and a new body created for the spirit.^ The source of much of the Dahoman religion has been the little kingdom of Whydah. We have a record of their rehgion dating ^^^.^^ as far back as 1700, when Bosman wrote. They had then three ^^^p^"^ orders of gods, the first the Danh-ghwe, a python, the supreme ' J. A. Skertchly : " Dahomey as it Is." SS THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. bliss and general good, with a thousand snake-wives or priests of both sexes ; its influence cannot be meddled with by the other orders, which are subject to it. Formerly, whoever MUed one of these pythons was put to death. This snake is behaved to be almost omnipotent in procuring the welfare of its devotees, and no important undertaking is begun without sacrificing to it; A number of living pythons are kept in. the snake-house in every considerable village. The worshipper goes to the snake-house and pays his fee to the priest, who assures him that his praj^er shall be heard. The second order, the Atin-bodun, is represented by various lofty Tree and ^^^ beautiful trees, especially the silk-cotton (Bombax), and the ocean Loko or poison tree. They are believed to be able to cure and worsmp. ^^^^ diseases. The third in order of the gods is Hu, the ocean, whose priest is a great dignitary at Whydah, and at stated times repairs to the beach to beg the sea-god not to be boisterous, and throws in rice, corn, oil, beans, cloth, etc. Sometimes the king sends as a sacrifice a man in a hammock with a special dress, stool, and umbrella ; he is taken out to sea and thrown to the sharks. This system of deities is now established at Dahomey, with a fourth, " So," the thunder-fetish, who has a thousand " wives " or priests. Burton has given a list of some of the very numerous spirits and fetishes he found powerful in Dahomey .^ Afa is the messenger of ffetishes Dahoman and of deceased friends. Its priests are called Bukonos. The fetishes, people Say, " The priest who is most cunning takes to Afa," meaning that it -pays best ; consequently Bukonos swarm. When Afa predicts evil, the following ceremony must be gone through. A mat is spread on some ground cleared near the house or in the bush, and a peg is driven through the mat. The priest taps a small cymbal with an iron rod, while the worshipper pours upon the wood first water, and then the blood of a fowl, the body of which is then handed to the priest. The leopard, the crocodile, and the hippopotamus are of course included ; but among the most interesting are Kpa^e, the first "Whydah man who brought a ship to anchor by waving a cloth tied to a long pole, and led the captain into the town ; and Aizan, one of the street gods, which protect the market and the gate, a cone of clay with a pipkin or a stone at the top or base, on which consecrated offerings are placed. The Dahomans also worship their own heads, in order to procure good fortune. The worshipper, after providing a fowl and other offerings, bathes. Head dresses in pure white, and sits on a clean mat. Then an old worsmp. ^oman, with the tip of her middle finger dipped in water, touches successively his forehead, crown, neck, and breast. She then breaks a Kola fruit into its natural divisions, throws them down like dice, chooses a lucky piece, which she causes a bystander to chew, and with his saliva retouches the same parts as before. The fowl is then killed' and boiled, its head and other parts being touched both before and after. Meanwhile rum and water are drunk by those present. ' "A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome." ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 59 The adoption of the fetish-priest profession is, usually attended by an ecstasy, during which the candidate rushes in distraction to the idol and falls fainting to the ground. When he recovers, the chief priest iniyatioh informs him what fetish has come to him, and this is adopted for of fetish- life. He removes to the priests' quarter and by degrees learns the special passwords and the ceremonies of fetishism. After two or three years, he is brought home by his relatives, who make large offerings to the fetish priests. Many retain ordinary callings, but they have many privileges. One of the most peculiar ideas of the Dahomans is that the next world is their home, while this is only their plantation, and the only world in which rewards and punishments exist. It is even pretended that visiting the fetish-priests can visit it. A man, when sick, often believes J'sad-iand. himself summoned by some ancestral ghost. He consults certain priests, such as those of the smaH-pox or the poison tree, and pays a fee for him to descend to Dead-land and get him excused. The priest covers himself with a cloth, and after a trance reports that he found the ghosts eating, drinking, and merry-making. According to Skertchly, another singular belief is that of the possibility of the same spirit being in more than one place at the same .time. This was exemplified in the So-Sin custom, where Grezu's ghost was in his shed, on his war-stool, and in his own fetish-priestess at the saine time. Again, a ghost will sometimes remain in Dead-land and at the same time come back to earth in a new-born infant ; so nearly all the king's children are regarded as the spirits of the old kings. Their mind does not grasp the idea of a god incorporeal and omnipresent ; so the deity must be ■worshipped through a mediator in a tangible form. " Their religion must not be confounded with polytheism, for they only worship one Fetishes as god, Mau ; but propitiate him through the intervention of fetishes, mediators, who are not inferior deities, but only beings of an intermediate order, who have powerful influence for good or evil with Mau. THE YOEUBAS OF ABEOKUTA. At Abeokuta, where another large branch of the Yorubas is settled, Burton found certain points of belief settled, others very variable. Before two days' residence in the city, he says, you hear of Shango and Beliefs in Oro. The latter personifies the executive power, or public police, ^^^okuta. deified, or "punishment." When a criminal is killed, he is " given to Oro." He is supposed to haunt the woods, and to appear nightly to shango strike terror. Women must fly within doors at the sound of his ^^^ °™' name in the streets, under penalty of a violent death. Shango is derived doubtless from an ancestor. He went alive to heaven, where he reigns, hunts, fishes, and fights. Whole series of relations are assigned to him ; he is the deity of thunder, lightning, and fire, and favours the good, especially hunters, fishermen, and warriors. The Creator is called Olorun, meaning lord of the sky. Though his 6o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. personality is vague, tlie Egbas say, " Olorun bless you," " Olorun give oiorun y°^ cbildren, farms, cowries," " Olorun aku," salutation to God. and other They talk of seeing him after death. It is doubtful, however, whether some of these ideas may not have sprung from contact with Mussulmans. Among the subordinate deities Obatala is chief, who created the first man ; Afa is the revealer of futurity and the patron of marriage and childbirth ; Ogunis the god of blacksmiths and armourers, of hunters and warriors. The worshipper's own head is adored as " Ori " ; also the foot, when proceeding on a journey. Oriskako is the patron of farms. Eshu is an evil being, meaning " the rejected," often identified with the Hebrew devil. Egugun, meaning " bones," is supposed to be a Muititudi- ^'^^^ ^^^ ri&Qn from the grave. He is, however, an imposture, nous intended to terrify slaves, women, and children — like the Mumbo- poB Tires. j^jj^Ijq q£ Bonny. To these, - as being palpable impostures, we cannot devote space, nor to the infinite variety of sorceries which only furnish examples of one world-wide subject. Beginning in a simple awe of unknown powers, and a tendency to believe those who imagined or professed that they knew their secrets, they have branched into all the variety of forms of imposture and quackery ; and when we know one, we know all, though we may be perpetually astonished at the depth of human credulity. A large number of the peoples of the Soudan and of Northern Africa have been converted to Mahometanism. Little is known of their primordial religion, or of the present beliefs of those who are not Mahometans. But it appears that many of them have beliefs similar to those held on the West Coast of Africa, while others have no religious beliefs at all. The illustra- tion which heads this chapter represents a series of wooden figures, life-size, seen by Schweinfurth, erected over the grave of a; Bongo chief. Roughly carved, they depict the chief followed in procession by his wives and children. Many of the races visited by Schweinfurth, west of the Upper Nile, appeared to have little or no religion. The Niam-niam alwa,ys take an augury before commencing anything important, by rubbing a smooth block of wood upon a smooth stool, the surfaces being moistened with a drop or two of water. The undertaking will prosper if the wood glides easily along. Many forms of ordeal are also in vogue. The forest is supposed to be the abode of malignant spirits, which talk to one another in the rustling of the leaves. HAKDAN PLACE OF SKULLS. CHAPTER IV. ^Iboiisinal iKfli'giong of aimfn'ra. Beliefs of the Esldiuo— The Angaioks— Witchcraft— North American Indians— General religious ideas— Gods of the Iroquois— The Creek Indians— The Haidahs— The Nootkas— Callfomian tribes —The Dakotas — Wakan— The Onkteri- Sacrifices- Various deities— Powers of the Wakan men — Manetos, or guardian spirits- Totems— Duality of the soul — The Happy Hunting Grounds — Sacrifices of dogs— The cold hell of the Mandans— Beliefs about the future— Festivals of the Iroquois— Creek festivals of firstfruits— Funeral customs— A circle of skulls— Funeral rites of the Creeks— Burial among the Comanches- The Central Americans — The Aztec religion — TeocalUs or temples — Prayers— Burial of a king— Keligion of the Mayas and Quiches- The South Americans— The Indians of Guiana— The spirit- world— Existence after death — Ideas of heaven- Powers of spirits— The Indians' worship— The Eenaima or vengeance-taker— The peaiman or medicine man— Burial customs — Beliefs of Brazilian tribes— The Vaup^s— The Araucanian deities — The future state— The gods of the Patagonlans— The wanderers without— A diviner's per- formance—Funeral rites and mourning— Burying the skeletons— Fueglan good and bad spirits — The Incas children of the Sun— The gods of the Peruvians— Temples— Sacrifices— Human offerings— The priesthood— Festivals— The Virgins of the Sun— Moral inquisition— The future life.- The Chibehas. THE ESKIMO. MANY of the beliefs attributed to tbe Eskimo, as also to tbe American Indians, bear signs of having been developed since Europeans intro- duced their religious beliefs ; and it is not easy to be certain that we' have ascertained the genuine aboriginal beliefs. Dr. Rink is the most satisfactory iavestigator of the Eskimo, especially those of Greenland. He Beliefs of the concludes that the primitive Eskimo did not speculate as to the Eskimo, origin of the world, but had an animistic religion, recognising the separate existence of the soul after death. They believed in nature-powers or owners, each having defined limits. These powers are known as inuas, and the inuas of certain mountains or lakes, of physical strength, and of eating, were spoken of. The earth was believed to rest upon pillars, and the under- world, warm and rich in food, was the heaven of the Eskimo, while the upper-world, beyond the blue sky, cold and deficient in food, was dreaded as a dreary residence. The only approach to a supreme ruler was in the 62 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. idea of tornarsuk, the power wliicli was appealed to by the angakoks, or wizards, to enable them to influence the invisible powers. It is remarkable how great a resemblance there is between the shamans of Siberia and the angakoks of the Eskimo. The latter are trained by The older angakoks from infancy, and subsequently disciplined by Angakoks. fasting and invoking Tomarsuk in solitary places ; finally Tornarsuk appears and provides the novice with a tomak, or guardian spirit, whom he may call to his aid at any time. Later, the angakok was said to gain control over many tomaks, including inuas of land and sea;, the souls of the dead, or of animals. To aid their followers, they used simple medical arts, also summoned their tomaks, and pretended to do many extraordinary things, such as repairing a soul, divining and conjuring. The intercourse with the tomak was held in a dark house in the presence of auditors. " The angakok was tied with his hands behind his back, and his head between his legs, and thus placed on the floor beside a drum and a suspended skin, the rattling of which was to accompany the playing of the drum. The auditors then began a song, which, being finished, the angakok proceeded to invoke the tomak, accompanying his voice by the skin and the drum. The arrival of the tornak was known by a peculiar sound and the appearance of a light or fire. If only information or counsel were required, the question was heard, as well as the answering voice from without, the latter generally being somewhat ambiguous." Sometimes the angakok made a spirit flight through a hole which was said to appear of itself in the roof, in order to accomplish what was necessary. The angakok gave counsel in all cases involving knowledge beyond that of humanity in general, discovered the causes of disasters and the fate of missing persons, procured favourable weather and success in hunting, and consoled the dying if their death appeared inevitable. No doubt, while upholding superstition, the angakoks possessed most of the higher knowledge and intellect of the people. Witchcraft, counteracting the influence of the angakoks, and perhaps beheved to depend upon an evil power opposed to Tornarsuk, was practised wit h ft ^® ^ means of selfish gain or of procuring the injury of others, by ' people who for the most part kept their actions in the background, concealed from the angakoks. Magic spells, sorcery, and various parts of human or animal bodies, were made use of by these persons. The angakoks also used certain recognised spells and invocations sung with particular tunes ; these were supposed to have power of themselves, and were some- times expressly addressed to the souls of ancestors. These invocations were chiefly practised by old men. Amulets and charms were in full use ; but a rather distinctive feature of the Eskimo was the art of making artificial animals, which were secretly made and then sent out to destroy the maker's enemies. THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. The multiplicity of tribes in both North and South America is so great and the resemblances among their behefs are so clear, that it is necessary ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 63 to a large extent to group them. The main features of their religious behefs can be shortly stated. They had a belief in beneficent General re- divinities in all nature, but it is doubtful whether the idea of a^^^"™*'**^^^- single personal divinity had been developed by them previous to intercourse with Europeans. The number of spirits they believed in was practically unlimited. Communication with them was in the hands of medicine-men, who, while possessing such knowledge as had been handed down from generation to generation, were also to a large extent conjurors and magicians i and professed to possess the power of bringing on rain and storms, as well as the gifts of second sight and of prophecy. The Iroquois may be taken as types. They appear to have believed in one supreme good spirit, who not only created the world, but adapted all creation to the wants of man. They also beheved in an evil spirit, gods of the brother of the good, and also eternal, and having some creative iroi^iois. power. Thus he created all monsters, poisonous reptiles, and noxious plants. They also recognised inferior beings, good and evil, believed to be sub- ordinate to the great spirits. To these latter they made offerings. " To propitiate the god of the waters," says Charlevoix, "they cast into the streams and lakes tobacco, and birds which they have put to death. In honour of the sun, and also of inferior spirits, they consume in the fire a part of everything they use. On some occasions they have been observed to make libations, invoking at the same time, in a mysterious manner, the object of their worship. These invocations they have never explained, — whether it be that they have, in fact, no meaning, or that the words have been transmitted by tradition, unaccompanied by their signification, or that the Indians themselves are unwilling to reveal the secret. Strings of wam- pum, tobacco, ears of corn, the skins and often the whole carcases of animals, are seen along difficult or dangerous roads, or rocks, and on the shores of rapids, as so many offerings made to the presiding spirit of the place. In these cases, dogs are the most common victims, and are often suspended alive upon trees by the hinder feet, where they are left to die in a state of madness." Most natural objects were in care of or inhabited by a spirit. Corn, squashes, and beans were regarded as a special gift of the great spirit, and were each in the care of a separate spirit, having the form of a beautiful female. These three were very fond of each other and loved to dwell together. The Creek Indians believe in a good spirit whom they style god or Master of Breath ; and, in a bad spirit, the sorcerer. The good spirit, they say, inhabits some distant region where game is abundant, corn The creek grows all the year round, and the springs are never dried up. ^""Jians. The bad spirit, on the other hand, lives a great way off in a dismal swamp full of briars, and usually half-starved, having no game or bears' oil in all his territory. Droughts, floods, famines, and defeats are ascribed to the bad spirit. The Northern Indians, stretching across the Canadian Dominion, present 64 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. a considerable contrast. They appear to have little idea of a single supreme being, but they believe in good and bad spirits peopling earth, sea, and air. They do not reverence or respect these spirits, but propitiate them occasionally. The Haidahs of Queen Charlotte's Islands and adjacent mainland believe in a great sun-spirit who is creator and supreme ruler. They have no form of worship, and do not appear to regard themselves as ' responsible for their actions to the great spirit. They also believe in an evil spirit. The Nootkas, or tribes of Vancouver Island and its opposite main, says H. H. Bancroft in his great work, " The Native Races of the Pacific States," _ acknowledge a great personage called Quabootze, whose habi- tation is apparently in the sky, but of whose nature little is known. When a storm begins to rage dangerously, the Nootkas climb to the top of their houses, and looking upwards to this great god, they beat drums and chant, and call upon his name, imploring him to stUl the tempest. They fast, as something agreeable to the same deity, before setting out on the hunt, and, if their success warrant it, hold a feast in his honour after their return. This festival is held usually in December, and it was formerly the custom to finish it with a human sacrifice. Matlose is a famous hob- goblin of the Nootkas ; he is a very Caliban of spirits ; his head is like the head of something that might have been a man but is not ; his uncouth bulk is horrid with black bristles ; his monstrous teeth and nails are like the fangs and claws of a bear. "Whoever hears his terrible voice falls like one smitten, and his curved claws rend his prey into morsels with a single stroke." In common with other American Indians, the Nootkas have a tradition of a supernatural teacher and benefactor who came up Nootka Sound long ago in a canoe of copper, with copper paddles. He is said to have instructed the people, told them that he came from the sky, that their country would ultimately be destroyed, and they would die ; but that after death they would rise again and live with him above. In anger they rose up and slew him ; but they retain large wooden images representing him. They also believe in numberless spirits. CAB?EU IMAGES OP NOOTKA INDIANS. ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 65 The Californian tribes, taken as a whole, according to Bancroft, are pretty uniform in their religious beliefs. " They seem, without exception, to have had a hazy conception of a lofty, almost supreme, king, caiifomian for the most part referred to as a Great Man, the Old Man Above, tribes, the One above, attributing to him, however, nothing but the vaguest and most negative functions and qualities." But they were most interested in the powers of a demon, or body of demons, wholly bad, and working all evil things. The beliefs of the Dakotas of Minnesota have been carefully described by the Rev. Gr. H. Pond.^ Their most prominent characteristic is that which they express by the word wakan. This word signifies anything ^he they cannot comprehend. "Whatever is wonderful, mysterious, dakotas. superhuman, or supernatural is wakan. The generic- name for gods is Tdhu- waJcan, i.e. that which is wakan. There is nothing which they do not revere, as god. The only difference they make is that some things are walcan to a greater or less degree. Mr. Pond does not believe that the Dakotas ever distinguished the great spirit from others till they ' ' learned it from their intercourse with white men. They have no chants, feasts, dances, nor sacrificial rites referring to such a being. It is true they sometimes appeal to the great spirit in council with white men, but it is as the being whom the white man worships. All the gods of the Dakotas are mortal and propagate their kind. Their Onkteri resemble the ox on a large scale, and can instantly extend their tail and horns so as to reach the sky, the seat of their power. The earth is believed to be animated by the spirit of the female Onkteri, while the water, and the earth beneath the water, is the abode of the male god. They call water, in a religious address to it, grandfather, and the earth grandmother. The Onkteri, like all their other gods, have power to issue from their bodies a mighty wakan influence called tonwan, signifying a god's arrow. The sacrifices which the Onkteri require are the down of the female swan and of the goose, dyed scarlet, white cotton cloth, deerskins, tobacco, dogs, wakan feasts and dances. Subordinate to the Onkteri are the serpent, lizard, frog, leech, owl, eagle, fish, spirits of the dead, etc. These gods made the earth and man, instituted the medicine-dance, pre- scribed the manner in which earth-paints must be applied, which have a wakan virtue to protect life, and are often worn by the warrior for this pur- pose on the field of battle. Among all the Dakota deities, the Onkteri are the most respected. The Wakiuyan are the gods of thunder, but the name signifies " flyers," and they are represented as having numerous winged forms. They are ruthless and destructive, caring for no other beings, and especially hating the Onkteri, who return the hatred. It is believed that neither group can resist the tonwan of each other's wakan ; and it is unsafe for them to cross each other's track. The "Wakinyan are the Dakotas' chief war-gods, from whom they received the spear and tomahawk. > Schoolcraft : " Indian Tribes of the United States," Part VI. F .66 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Another god lias a long name signifying " that which stirs." He is in- invisible and omnipresent, but very cunning and passionate, and controlling Various ^oth mind and instinct. He resides in the consecrated spear and deities, tomahawk, in boulders (which are universally venerated by the Dakotas), and in the. four winds. He is never better pleased than when men fall in battle, and the converse. Subject to this god, are the buzzard, raven, fox, wolf, and other fierce and cunning animals. Other forms of gods, as the Heyoka, aid men in gratifying their desires, in the chase, in inflictiug diseases, in restoring health. They express joy by sighs and groans, and sorrow by laughter ; they shiver when warm, and pant and perspire when cold ; they feel perfect assurance ia danger, and are terrified when safe ; falsehood to them is truth, and tnith falsehood ; good is their evil, and evil . their good. Turning now to the powers claimed by or believed to reside in the Dakota priests or wdkan men, we may say, comprehensively, that they include all Powers of ^^^^ ^^ ascribed to the gods. They are believed to pass through a the succession of inspirations with different classes of divinities till ' they are fully waJcanized and prepared for human incarnation. They have imbibed their spirit, and learnt all the chants, rites, and dances required by the gods ; they are supposed to be taught how to inflict diseases and heal them, to manufacture weapons and impart to them the tonwan power of the gods, and to apply paints so as to protect from enemies. To establish their claims, these men and women lay hold of all that is strange and mysterious, and assume familiarity with it, often predict what wUl happen, and assert that they have brought it about. They are most, in- genious in devising proofs of their divine inspiration. "As a priest," says Mr. Pond, " with all the assurance of an eye- witness, the wdkan man bears testimony for the divinities, reveals their character and will, dictates chants and prayers, institutes dances, feasts and sacrificial rites, defines sin and its opposite. . . . Sin consists in any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the arbitrary rules imposed by the priest, or want of respect for his person ; and holiness consists in conformity to these rules, and well-expressed respect for the wakan men ; while the re- wards and punishments are of snch a nature that they may be appreciated by the grossest senses." In reference to war the wakan man is supreme. He makes and conse- crates spears and_ tomahawks containing the spirit of the gods, and only bestows them on humble suppliants who go through fastings, prayers, and other rites of an exhausting nature. These weapons are sacredly preserved, wra,pped in a cloth cover, and laid outside of the tent every day, except in storms. As doctors, the wakan men are believed to have in their bodies animals or gods,, which give them great powers of suction and inspiration. With great ceremonies they violently suck out diseases from the affected parts of patients. It seems to be the general impression that there are wakan men who can repel any foe to health until the superior gods order otherwise ; but it is difficult to obtain their aid. They can inflict diseases ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 67 as a punishment for want of respect to themselves, and death is often be- lieved to be the result of this wakan power. Every object is believed to have an animating spirit, and in many cases the Indians select birds and beasts as personal " manetos." Maneto is a synonym for spirit, and may have a good or bad meaning Manetos attached to it. Among the Algonquins Manabozho was a sort of guardfan* terrene Jove, who, though he lived on earth, could perform all ^^'"*^' things. He survived a deluge which is spoken of in their mythology, hav- ing climbed to the summit of a high mountain, where he remained till the subsidence of the waters. The four cardinal points are personified, and each has its distinctive sphere. Dreams they believed to be direct communica- tions from the spirit-world. An entire army would retrace its steps in accordance with the dreams of the priest, who carried a " medicine-sack " containing carved or stuffed images of animals, charms and bones, held most sacred. The Indian youth anxiously sought dreams, often fasting in soli- tude many days, till he was impressed with the image of some animal, which he took as his maneto, and followed the occupation it indicated. The manetos are clearly often identifiable- with the totems of the clan or of the individual. The totem of a North American Indian protects him, and he refrains from killing it. The whole of a clan or tribe are believed to be descended from the common totem, and are bound to support and protect each other. They are bound to respect it, and if it is a species of animal or plant, it must not be killed, plucked, or injured. Sometimes they may not even touch or look at it. The totem is supposed to benefit the clansmen or the individual, and to give information by means of omens. The totem mark i-s affixed as a signature to treaties and other docu- ments, and various ceremonies at birth, marriage, death, etc., are connected with the totem. " It is an opinion of the Indians," says Schoolcraft, " I know not how universal, that there are duplicate souls, one of which remains with the body, while the other is free to depart on excursions during sleep. D^iauty After the death of the body, the soul departs for the Indian oftuesouL elysium, or land of the dead ; at which time a fire is lighted by the Chip- pewas on the newly-made grave, and rekindled nightly for four days, the period allowed for the person to reach the Indian elysium. . . . Having requested a Chippewa Indian to explain the duality of the soul, ' It is known,' he replied, ' that during sleep, while the body is stationary, the soul roams over wide tracts of country, visiting scenes, persons and places at will. Should there not be a soul at the same time to abide with the body, it would be as dead as earth, and could never reappear in future life.' " As to the future life, their behef in the " Happy Hunting-Grounds," so often referred to, is with the majority firm and unquenchable. Mr. W. "W. "Warren, himself descended from the Ojibwas on the maternal ^ne Happy side, expressed their behefs thus : " The Ojibwa believes that his Hmrtmg- soul or shadow, after the death of the body, follows a wide, beaten path which leads towards the west, and that it goes to a country abounding 68 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. in everything that the Indian covets on earth — game in abundance, dancing and rejoicing. The soul enters a long lodge, in which all his relatives for generations past are congregated, and they -welcome him with gladness. To reach this land of joy and bhss, he crosses a deep and rapid water." This water they have to cross on a huge snake. Those who have been good are free from pain ; those who have been bad are haunted by the phantoms of the persons or things they have injured. If a man has destroyed much property, he is obstructed by the phantoms of the destroyed property; if he has "been cruel to his dogs or horses, they also torment him after death. The mention of dogs reminds one of the frequency with which they are sacrificed by Indians, as being valuable offerings. Two, three or five dogs Sacrifices of ^'^^ customary offerings. At the mouth of the Qu'appelle Eiver, dogs. an Indian,' in June, 1858, set his net and caught a large fish which was new to him. He at once pronounced it a manitou, returned it, to the water, and sacrificed five dogs to appease the supposed spirit. Catlin says that the Mandans (a tribe included by Schoolcraft among the Dakotas), who lived in a very cold climate, described their hell as barren The cold hell ^'^^ hideous, covered with eternal snows and ice. Their heaven of the was warm and delightful, abounding in buffaloes and other Mandans. -^^^^^g^ Their Great Spirit dwelt in the former, and received and punished those who had offended him. The bad spirit they believed to reside in paradise, still tempting the happy. The beliefs we have given may be contrasted with those of other tribes who believed that the good spirit will receive all, without exception, in the BeUefsahout Happy Hunting-Ground, and with those tribes who had so little the future, conception of soul or immortality that missionaries found it ex- ceedingly difficult to explain them. Among the Californians were some tribes who identified death with annihilation, yet were afraid to pronounce the name of a deceased person lest he should rise from dark obhvion. " The Cahrocs," says Bancroft,^ " have a distinct conception of future reward and punishment, and suppose that the spirit, on its journey after death, comes to two roads, one strewn with flowers, and leading to the bright western land beyond the great waters ; the other, bristling with thorns and briars, lead- ing to a place full of deadly serpents, where the wicked must wander for ever. The Tolewahs place heaven behind the sun, and picture hell as a dark place where souls shiver for ever before the cold winds, and are harassed by fiends. The Modocs' spirit-land is situated in the air above the earthly , home, where souls hover about, inciting the living to good and evil. The Allequas imagined that before the soul could enter the evergreen prairies to live its second hfe, free from want and sorrow, it expiated its sins in the form of some animal, often passing from a lower to a higher grade, accord- ing to the fearthly conduct of the deceased. By eating prairie-dogs and other game, some sought to gather souls, apparently with a view to increase the purity of their own and shorten the preparatory term. The San Diego ' " Native Eaces of the PacificStates," vol. iii. ABORIGJJS/AL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 69 tribes, on the other hand, considering large game as the embodied spirits of certain of their forefathers, abstained from their flesh, fearing that such fare would hasten their death^a fear which did not deter old men. Morgan describes six regular festivals as observed by the Iroquois : (1) the Maple festival, thanking the Maple for its sweet waters ; (2) the planting festival, invoking the Grreat Spirit to bless the seed ; pestivais (3) the Strawberry festival, or firstfruits thanksgiving; (4) the °^**i® Green Com festival ; (5) the Harvest festival ; (6) the New Year's °^ festival. When returning thanks to or for various objects of Nature, they never burned tobacco ; but when invoking or praying to the Great Spirit, they always used the ascending smoke of tobacco. ENTBANCE TO AN ANCIENT MEXICAN TEMPLE. Among the Creek Indians there was an annual festival, formerly of eight days, now confined to four, devoted to thanksgiving and fasting, and resembling in some features the Hebrew jubilee. At the ^^.^^^ return of this festival all offences were cancelled. It commenced festival of . 1 nrstiruit. at the ripening of the new crops, at which time a general purgation and cleansing took place. On the first day a general feast was prepared from the remains of the old crop, and sacred fires were built. Many curious modes of burial prevailed among the American Indians. One was that of placing the dead on scaffolds, the corpse being runerai carefully wrapped in bark and raised on a platform formed by <="stoms. transverse pieces of wood lying between the forks of trees. In some tribes 70 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. tlie body is dressed in its best attire, painted, oiled, feasted, and supplied with bow and quiver, shield, pipe and tobacco, knife, flint and steel, and provisions enough for a few days' journey. A fresh buffalo's skin is tightly wrapped round the body, followed »by other robes. Among the Mandans, according to Catlin, when the scaffolds decay, the bones, except the skulls, are buried, while the bleached skulls are placed in circles of a hundred or more on the prairie, at equal distances apart, with the faces all looking to the centre, where they are religiously guarded. " Every one of the skulls is placed upon a bunch of wild sage, which has been pulled and placed A circle of under it. The wife knows (by some mark of resemblance) the Bkims. s]ju|i of }ier husband and child, which lies in this group; and there seldom passes a day that she does not visit it, with a dish of the best- cooked food that her wigwam affords, which she sets before the skull at night, and returns for the dish in the morning. . . . There is scarcely an hour in a pleasant day, but more or fewer of these women may be seen sitting or lying by the skulls of their children or husbands, talking to them in the most pleasant and endearing language that they can use, and seemingly getting an answer back." According to Major Swan, who visited the Creek Indians of Georgia and Florida in 1791, " when one of a family dies, the relations bury the corpse about four feet- deep, in a round hole dug directly under the cabin rites of the or rock on which he died. The corpse is placed in the hole in a Creeks, gj^^^^jj^g posture, with a blanket wrapped about it, and the legs bent under it and tied together, If a warrior, he is painted, and his pipe, orna- ments, and warlike appendages are deposited with him. The grave is then covered with canes tied to a hoop round the top of the hole, and then a firm layer of clay sufficient to support the weight of a man. The relatives howl loudly and mourn publicly' for four days. If the deceased has been a man of eminent character, the family immediately remove from the house in which he is buried, and erect a new one, with a behsf that where the bones of their dead are deposited the place is always attended by 'goblins and chimeras dire.' " Among the Oomanches of Texas, the deceased is packed upon a horse as soon as he expires, taken to the highest hill in the neighbourhood, and Burial l^^J'i^d privately. The wives of the dead man cut their arms, among the legs, and bodies in great gashes, till they often become exhausted omanc es. ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^£ blood. Formerly the favourite wife was killed ; but more recently only the deceased's horses are killed and buried, to carry him to paradise. THE CENTRAL AMERICANS. The Mexican Indians, especially the Aztecs, had reached a more developed stage of civilisatipn and rehgion than their northern kinsmen. The Aztecs' -^^ ^ doubtful whether they believed in one supreme deity or not. religion. Ti^e word teotl, sometimes thought to mean the supreme god, means deity in general. It is related, however, that the poet-king of ABORTGTlSrAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 7r Tezcuco built a nine-storied temple, with a starry roof above, in honour of a deity not represented by an image, called Tloquenhuaque, " he who is all m himself ' ; or Ipalnemoan, " he by whom we live " ; in his honour only incense and flowers were offered, and no bloody sacrifices. Surely here we TEOTAOMIQUI, MEXICAN GODDESS OF DEATH (aFTEB BAHOKOPI). liave a marked Asiatic influence. The ordinary Mexican religion was distinctly polytheistic, and we may gather that some of their gods had been worshipped for a very long period, by the great number of functions and epithets concentrated upon them. Whether Tozcatlipoca, one of the highest gods, was a deified ancestor or' not, he conformed to this idea by 72 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS having prayers for all kinds of help addressed to him. Tonatiuh and Metztli, the sun and moon; Centeotl, goddess of maize and mother of the gods ; Tlazolteotl, goddess of pleasure ; Tezcatzoncatl, god of strong drmk, are specimens of Mexican gods ; but the predominant idea in their mind is shown by their chief god being the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. There were also many native spirits of the hills and groves, etc. The Aztecs were equally Teocaiiis. or remarkable for the number and size of their temples, called temples, teocallis, or god's houses. They were pyramidal, and rose by suc- cessive terraces to lofty platforms. The great temple of the god of war in the city of Mexico had a base 375 by 300 feet, and rising by five steep terraces to 86 feet high, with flights of steps at the angles. On the platform were two tower-like temples of three stories, containing great stone images and altars. The gods were predominantly worshipped with human sacrifices. There were many festivals, each marked by its special variety of sacrifice and celebration. Before the war-god there was an eternal fire and a stone of sacrifice, on which the victim, usually a captive, was laid, for the priest to cut open his breast and tear out his heart and hold it up before the god. From the terrace were visible seventy other temples within the great square enclosure, each with images and blazing fires ; while in the Tzompantli, or skull-place, thousands of victims' skulls were built up to form towers. At Cholula was the much larger hemispherical temple of the god Quetzalcoatl, the rival to Tezcatlipoca. That the prayers of these people were genuine religious utterances, may be gathered from the following extracts from a prayer to the last- Prayers mentioned god on behalf of the poor : " our lord, protector, most strong and compassionate, invisible and impalpable, thou art the giver of life ; lord of all and lord of battles, I present myself here before thee to say some few words concerning the need of the poor people, the people of none estate or intelligence. Know, lord, that thy subjects and servants suffer a sore poverty and desolateiiess. The men have no garments nor the women to cover themselves with. . . . When they sell nothing, they sit down sadly by some fence, or wall, or in some comer, licking their lips and .gnawing their nails for the longing that is in them, . . . our Lord, in whose power it is to give all content, consolation, sweetness, softness, prosperity, and riches — for thou alone art lord of all good — have mercy upon them, for they are thy servants." But we cannot but take a gloomy view of a religion based so largely upon human sacrifices and cannibalism, on penances involving the drawing of blood from the body, and other cruel rites. "The funeral rites of the Mexicans," says Mr. Tylor, "are best seen in the ceremonies at the death of a king. The corpse laid out in state was Burial of provided by the priest with a jug of water for his journey and aWng. -^ith bunches of cut papers to pass him safely through each danger of the road. They gave him garments to protect him from the cutting wind and buried a Httle dog by his side to carry him across the nine waters. Then the royal body was invested in the mantles of his patron ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 73 gods, especially that of the var-god." In earlier times the king was buried on a throne with his most valued possessions and his slain attendants gi,round him. At a later period, when cremation had been adopted, the body of STATUE OR IDOL AT OOPAN, HONDUEAS (AITEB STEPHENS). the king was carried to the funeral pile by attendant chiefs and servants^ and afterwards a great number of wives and slaves of the deceased were sacrificed and their bodies burnt, after solemn exhortation to serve him faithfully in the next world. 74 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The Mayas of Yucatan and the Quiches of Guatemala had a funda- mentally similar religion, though it is much less well-known. At Uxmal Religion of ^'^^ other places are the remains of larger and more magnificent the Mayas pyramidal temples or sacrificial platforms than in Mexico. Their ' priests were more powerful even than in Mexico, and the chief priests belonged to the royal families. The festivals observed were very numerous, and the people always made a sacrifice before commencing any important undertaking. Human sacrifices with cannibalism were frequent, as well as the drawing of blood from penitents' bodies. THE SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Beginning with the tribes inhabiting Guiana, we find that the most important recent study of the religions of the Indians of British Guiana The Indians has been made by Mr. Everard Im Thurm (see his valuable of Guiana, -^ork, " Among the Indians of Guiana"). He bases their system, if it can be called such, upon the belief that every human being has a soul or spirit distinct from the body. In dreams the spirit wanders and acts just as really as in waking life. Visions also are real, and may be produced by narcotics, stimulants, and fasting; in the course of these a spirit may wander and hold communion with other spirits. The spirit of a man may pass into an animal and even into inanimate objects ; and the Indian also believes that animals and plants and inanimate objects have their own spirits. Rock-spirits may move and often occasion The injuries to man, by causing the rock to fall upon him ; similarly spirit-world, -^it}^ many other natural phenomena, ascribed to the intention of the spirits of- the objects concerned. All strange objects are looked upon with awe, as being inhabited by spirits which are likely to occasion evil even if criticised or examined. Diseases too are often believed to be occasioned by spirits, and Mr. W. H. Brett, in his " Indian Tribes of Guiana," has narrated how the Caribs on the Pomeroon river, being at- tacked by a dangerous epidemic, fled far into the forest, in their flight cutting down large trees and laying them across the path, to prevent the disease-spirits from following them. In every view which these Indians take of the spirit-world, it is regarded as composed of beings not very unlike those of the material world, and the Existence spirits differ chiefly in their degrees of strength and cunning. after death, rp j^^ ^^^^ q£ contiuued existence of the spirit after death of the body * ^ * ' is -implied in this, and in many of their funeral customs ; but this existence is not definitely imagined to be everlasting. " As long as the memory of a dead man survives," says Mr. Im Thurm, " either in the minds of his former companions or in tradition, he is supposed to exist ; but no question as to whether this existence is or is not to be prolonged for ever, has ever been formulated in the Indian mind." There is no belief as to rewards and punishments being meted out after death. It is usually supposed that the spirits of the dead remain on earth in the places where they lived when in ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 75 the body. Several times Mr. Im Thurm was told by Indians that they hoped to become white men. They have an idea of a kind of heaven beyond the sky, but it is just a repetition of earth. From it they believe their ancestors came. Eochefort, writing of the Caribs of the West Indies, the ancestors of the ideas of Caribs of Guiana, says that they believed their brave men iieaven. would live after death in happy islands, where their enemies, the Arawaks, would be their slaves ; but that the cowards of their own tribe would be slaves to the Arawaks in a barren land beyond the mountains. This con- firms the very apt expression of Im Thurm, " the Indians know of no heaven, but only of other countries." The Indians of G-uiana have no notion of spirits which have always been spirits, or of spirits possessing power over others, except so far as they may have more strength or cunning. On one occasion during an Powers of eclipse of the sun the Arawak men among whom Mr. Im Thurm spirits, was, rushed from their houses with loud shouts and yells. They explained that a fight was going on between the sun and the moon, and that they were shouting to frighten and so to part them. The Indians have names meaning " the ancient one," " the ancient one in the sky," " our father," and " our maker." But to these names the attributes of a god are not attached. They seem to indicate a belief that their ancestors or makers came there from some other country, " sometimes said to be that entirely natural country which is separated from Guiana by the ocean of the air." As to worship, the Indian, not troubling himself about the source of good things or regarding them as the result of his own efforts, does not worship good spirits. All evil is, however, infiicted upon him by The Indians' evil spirits, and them he propitiates. He does not mention or ^o^sMp. look at certain rocks and other objects ; he avoids eating certain animals whose spirits are malignant, especially those which are not native to his country. Before shooting a cataract for the first time, or when a sculptured or remarkable natural object is seen, the Indian averts the ill-wUl of the spirits belonging to them by rubbing capsicum pods in his eyes. These he almost always carries with him. The idea connected with this practice is that by making himself temporarily blind he renders himself invisible to the object of dread. Two notable beliefs of the Guiana Indians are thus summarised. " From the kenaimas come nearly all injuries, and these the peai-man cures." A kenaima is one who uses the power of separation ^^ j^^^^j^^^g^ between body and spirit in order to inflict vengeance; he isorvengeaoce- bound to slay some man, in obedience to some custom or senti- ment ; and, by transference, ills are regarded as being wrought by some kenaima, known or unknown, in the body or out of it. The kenaima, in addition to forms of vengeance by murder, poison, or disease, can enter any animal, and thus, when attacked by any beast of prey, the Indian regards it as a kenaima. The peai-man, or medicine-man, is the Indian's defence against the 76 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. kenaima ; lie is botii doctor and priest. The office used to be hereditary^ but often a youth -with an epileptic tendency is chosen, as frenzied or medicine contortions are of great use in the profession. Alter isolation, "^"- long fasting, great draughts of tobacco-water, etc., and learning all .the traditions of the tribe, the medicine-man becomes fit for his office, and pretends to drive out all kenaimas by incantations in which astonishing feats of ventriloquism are- performed, and he is believed to summon and question the kenaimas and compel them to depart. He is also supposed to be able to summon and question the spirit of any sleeping Indian of his own tribe. Another function of the peai-man is to give names to children. The burial customs observed by Mr. Im Thurm do not differ remarkably from those of many other Indian tribes. The body of a dead man is Burial wrapped in his hammock and buried in his own house. A. fire customs, is j^a^jjg o^ej. ti^e grave and a feast held in which the quaKties of the deceased are set forth, and the house is then deserted. It is doubtful if the Brazilian tribes were or are more advanced than those of Guiana. The Tupis have the same word, " Tupa," for father or Beliefs of ^^''estor and for thunder; but they do not pray to Tupa, nor do Brazman they hope from or fear him. Bates ^ found no trace of a belief in tribes. ^ future state among Indians who had had no intercourse with Europeans. Yet they light fires by newly made graves, for the comfort of the deceased. Waitz describes the Guaranis of Brazil as bringing offerings to certain posts in order to appease the evil spirits, fear of whom sometimes caused death. They believed that the soul continued with the body in the grave, and were careful to leave room for it. The Uaupes, of whom Mr. A. R. "Wallace has given an account, likewise have no definite idea of a god. If asked who made the rivers, forests, and sky, they say they do not know ; or sometimes they ■ say it was " Tupanau," a word that appears to mean god, but which they do not understand. They have, however, a bad spirit, or devU, whom they seek to propitiate. When it thunders, they say the Jurupari is angry, and their idea of natural death is that the Jurupari kills them. At an eclipse of the moon they believe that this bad spirit is killing the moon, and they make all the noise they can to frighten him away. It would be fruitless to detail at length the procedure and the beliefs about the mediciue-men or payes of the Brazilians, inasmuch as they are strikingly similar to those of the Guiana Indians. The religious system of the Araucanians of southern Chili was somewhat different from that of the more northern tribes of Indians. They acknow- ledged a supreme being, whom they termed Pillan, the supreme Araucaniaji spirit. They also called him spirit of heaven, the great being, deities, t^^ thunderer, the creator of all thibgs, and omnipotent. Sub- ordinate to him were Epunamun, the god of war ; Meuleu, a benevolent deity, the friend of the human race ; and Guecubu, a malignant being, the author of all evil and misfortune. If a horse tired, Guecubu had ridden him ; '. " The Naturalist-on the Amazons." : ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 77 if -any one died, Gruecubu had killed him. They paid no worship, however, to these gods beyond invoking them and asking their aid on some urgent occasions. They had neither temples nor idols, nor did they offer sacrifices WOESHIP OP THE SDK BY COROiDOS OP BBAZIL. except in case ot some severe calamity or on concluding a peace, when they sacrificed -animals, and burnt tobacco, whiieh they believed to be most itgreeable to tliej.r deities. THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The Araucanians have a general belief in a future state, but differ as to its locality and condition. Some of them have no idea where their The future land of spirits is, nor how the dead are occupied. Others say that state. z.iiQX death they go towards the west beyond the sea to a certain place which they call "Gulchemau," that is, the dwelling of the man beyond the mountains. Some believe that this land is divided into two— one a heaven, where the good dwell with every delight ; the other inhabited by the wicked, a desolate and barren place ; while others believe there is no difference of lots, and all enjoy continual happiness. The dead were buried with many of their possessions, and with their face to the west, where the supposed land of spirits was. Divination and sorcery were much practised by the Araucanians, who paid much attention to the flight of birds. They avoided the burial-places of the dead, passing them by in silence and with averted faces. The spirits of dead Araucanians frequently returned and fought fiercely in the air with their enemies, thus causing storms. The Patagonians believe in a good and an evil superior being, but differ as to the name given to these. Some of these names are, " the governor of the people," " the lord of the dead," " the being who presides in the the land of strong drink." But they likewise believe in a multi- Patagomans. pj^pj^^y. q£ inferior deities, presiding over particular families. Each is supposed to have a distinct abode in caverns underground, under lakes or hills ; and after death the Indian believes that his soul will go to the abode of his particular famUy-deity, and live in continual drunkenness. They believe the world was made by their good deities, who created the Indians in their caves, and gave them the lance, bows and arrows, etc. Evil beings are termed by the. Patagonians " the wanderers without." There are many of these, working all kinds of mischief, and even causing bodily fatigue and weariness after labour. These are the fami- wanflerers liars of their diviners, enabling them to predict future events as without. ^^ ag ^Q reveal that which is occurring at a distance. They also give them power to cure the sick by driving away or appeasing the evil beings which cause them. The diviner goes through strange antics in his communications and struggles with evil. He makes noises with a drum, A diviner's ©tc., and falls into a fit, " keeps his eyes lifted up, distorts the performance features of his face, foams at the mouth, screws lip his joints, and after many violent and distorting notions remains stiff and motionless. After some time he comes to himself, as having got the better of the demon ; next feigns, within his tent, a faint, shrill, mournful voice, as of the evil spirit, who by this dismal cry is supposed to acknowledge himself subdued, and then, from a kind of tripod, answers all questions put to him." These wizards are of either sex, but the men wear women's dress. It is not un- common to kill some of them when a chief dies, or when pestilences occur, the deaths being attributed to their ill-will (Falkner's " Patagonia "). In several respects the funeral customs of the Patagonians are singular. They make skeletons of the dead by cutting off the flesh, during which operation a number of people, covered with long skin mantles and with ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 79 their faces blackened with soot, walk round the tent with long poles or lances in their hands, singing dolefully and striking the ground in order to frighten away the evil spirits. Visits of condolence and are paid to the relatives of the deceased. The visitors howl ™°'^™*"S- .and sing dismally, sque'eze out tears, and even prick their limbs with sharp thorns till they bleed. They receive suitable presents in return for their mourning display. If the deceased possessed horses, they are killed to enable him to ride in the land of the dead, a few only being reserved for the funeral ceremony. When the bones of the deceased are finally removed, they are packed in a beast's skin, and laid upon a favourite horse, which is decorated with mantles, feathers, etc. There are several modes of burial. One is burying the skeletons in large square pits, sitting in a Burying the row, with the sword, lance, bow, arrows, etc., they formerly pos- sJ^^ietons. sessed. The pits are covered with beams or trees, canes, twigs, etc., woven together, upon which earth is laid. The beads and plumes which adorn the skeletons are changed once a year, when they pour upon the grave some of their first made chica, also drinking some of it themselves to the good health of the dead. The more southern tribes carry the bones to a desert place by the sea-coast, placing them in rows above grotind, but adorned as before, with the skeletons of their dead horses around them. The Fuegians, according to Fitzroy, had distinct ideas of beneficent and evil jpowers ; but he never witnessed or heard of any act on their part of a decidedly religious nature, neither could he satisfy himself of j^ggian their having any idea of the immortality of the soul. They in- good a^d Dad voked the good spirit when in distress or danger, believing him to be the author of aU good. Their evil spirit they supposed to be like an immense black man, and able to cause illness, famine, bad weather, and all evils, and to torment them in this world if they did wrong. The wizard was not absent from them, and they believed entirely in omens, signs, and dreams. When a person dies, his family wrap the body in skins, and carry it into the woods ; there they place it upon broken boughs, or pieces of solid wood, and then pile a great quantity of branches over the corpse. The Chibchas of Colombia believed that their ancestors arose from cer- tain mountain lakes, under which were the homes of their tutelary gods. Lake Guatavita and the adjacent city were their chief places of The worship. Many costly offerings were thrown into these lakes, ChiDohas. such as small golden figures representing .men, women, and animals, and various customs and industries. Many of these have been obtained from the lakes. The sacred graves also received similar objects, in addition to utensils and personal property. Golden frogs and lizards, supposed to re- present the god of water.; birds, the god of the air, were also among the religious objects of the Chibchas. They sacrificed a youtt, the Guesa, every fifteen years, specially nurtured, to carry the people's messages to themoon, the- goddess of husbandry. At the age of fifteen he was conducted m pro- cession to a pole, to which he was bound, and killed by arrows. The empire of the Incas of Peru, has been described as one of the most So THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. WOODEN IDOL FOUND IN PERU 33 FEET UNDER GUANO. complete theocracies the world has seen. The Incas were themselves both kings and priests, who reigned The lucas ^ descendants of the sun, the chief god, chudren of and their person was revered as divine. the sm Qj^g.^jj^j.^ Qf ^j^e country was the property of the sun-god, that is, of his priests ;. and a part of the forced labour of the people was given to work- ing in the lands of the Inca and of the sun-god. The sun (Inti, or light) was usually represented by a golden disc with human features; and sur- ^ ^ , rounded by rays and flames. Second to The gods of J J the the sun, the moon was worshipped as his Peruvians, g-g^^j. ^^^ wife; she was depicted as a silver disc with human features. Next to these were two great deities : Viracocha, represented as having risen out of lake Titicaca, and having made the sun, moon, and stars. He evidently was a sur- vivor from a period before the sun and moon worship had risen to great proportions. He is described as • having neither flesh nor bone, as running swiftly, and as lowering mountains and lifting up valleys. The lake was his sister and wife. Hence he was evidently a rain-god, represented as a fertilising agent. Pachacamac was another ancient god, the divine civiliser who taught the people all arts and crafts. He was a god of fire, and especially of volcanic fire; and, like Viracocha, he required human victims. The Incas admitted these two gods to have been equally children of the sun with their ancestor, Manco-capac. Other deities worshipped by the Incas were the rainbow, the planet Venus, many stars, fire, thunder, the earth, many trees and plants and animals. Charms or fetishes were greatly in esteem, and the same word, huaca, was applied to every object of veneration, from the sun down to a grotesque stone. Every valley, every tribe, every temple, had a guardian-spirit. Meteorites were much used as huacas, and it is said that missionaries found it more CHIBCHA IDOL IN POTTERY. ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF AMERICA. 8i difficult to abolish the worship of the huacas than that of the sun and moon. The temples originally in use in Peru were very like those of Mexico ; but under the Incas the building over the altar was very greatly increased in size, and indeed enclosed the whole structure. Thev were furnished with great stone statues, and were lavishly decorated with gold. The entrance of the great temple at Cuzco faced the east, and at the west end, above the altar, was the great golden disc of the sun. The mummies of the deceased Incas were placed on golden thrones in a semi- circle round the solar disc. Near this building were the temples of the moon and other deities associated with the sun. While all kinds of fruits, incense and drinks were offered to the gods, animals were very frequently sacrificed, and usually burned ; if not, the flesh was eaten raw \s^ the sacri- Sacrifices. ficers. M. Eeville concludes that this is a custom handed down from times preceding cook- ery. The idols and the doors of the temples were smeared with the blood of victims. It appears that human sacrifice was less frequent under the ' Incas than among Human the Mexicans. But offerings. it is known that when the reigning Inca was ill, one of his sons was sacrificed to the sun as a substitute, and that at certain feasts a young in- fant was sacrificed. Wives of the Incas were required to be buried alive on their husbands' death. When Huayna Oapac died, a thousand of his retinue voluntarily followed him into the other world. The organisation of the priesthood greatly favoured the stabilitj'- of the Peruvian religion. The chief priest was next to the reigning Inca, and was recognised as the interpreter of the sun's wiU. The other chief THe priests were members of the Inca family. At Cuzco, and to a less p"®^ degree in the provinces, an imposing ritual was kept up. Hymns to the sun were chanted, but rehgious dances were among the most important parts of the great festivals, or " Eaymi " (signifying dance). At the j.gg,.j^3jg_ festival of the winter solstice, in June, after three days' fasting, a great processioai, with banners and masks, went out to await the dawn, and, when the sun appeared, fell on their faces before him. The Inca offered a consecrated liquid to the sun, then drank of it himself, and passed it on to his retinue. After this, on return to the temple of the sun, a black G IMAGE BEPKESENTINQ'THE OUESA OF THE CHIBCHAS. 82 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. llama was sacrificed ; sun-fire was kindled from the sun by means of a con- cave mirror, and then a number of llamas were sacrificed and distributed to the families of the upper classes, to be eaten with sacred cakes prepared by the virgins of the sun. At the second great festival, that of the Spring, ball-shaped cakes, mixed with the blood of victims or of young children, drawn from above the nose, were eaten, to purify the land from hostile in- fluences. In the evening an Inca, with four relatives, undertook the task of chasing all maladies from the city and its environs ; and at night all evil spirits of the night were driven into the river by the hurling of, torches into its water. These are only specimens of nunierous feasts of the Inca religion. The sorcerer had but little place in civilised Peru, for his place was largely taken by the priestly " diviners of the future," or " those who made the gods speak." It is very worthy of notice that something like convents were to be found among the Peruvians, inhabited by " virgins of the sun," of whom The Ttrgins there were BOO at Cuzco. They took a vow to be the consorts of the sun. Qj^^y qI \^q gun or of him to whom the sun should give them, Thus the reigning Inca chose from them the most beautiful for his harem ; but any of the virgins who otherwise broke her vow was buried alive, even for the offence of letting the sacred fire go out, and her whole family was put to death. The virgins were occupied in making garments for the Incas, adornments for the temples and palaces, in preparing the sacred cakes and drinks, and in watching the sacred fire. Few moral teachings have been discovered in the Peruvian religion. The most important thing was to please the sun, and his representative, the jioj-ai Inca. The priests had power to make inquisition into private inquisition, conduct, to discover any actions detrimental to the state if not expiated by penance. Children, a few days after birth, were dipped in water before receiving a name, the dipping being supposed to drive away evil spirits and malign influences. Between the ages of ten and twelve, at the time when the adult aame was given, the child's hair and nails were cut off as an offering to the sun and guardian-spirits. The future life was thought of as similar to the present, and all kinds of useful objects were consequently buried with the deceased. It was not imagined that the body would be raised again to life, although it was thought that the soul still returned to the body at times after death. The Incas were believed to be transported to the mansion -of the sun, while the nobles might, if exceptionally meritorious, follow them there, or live under the earth under the sway of Supay, the god of the dead, whose kingdom was a gloomy one rather than a place of punishment. KHOND (or KiNDH) HtJlIAN SACRIFICE. CHAPTER V. 9[bong;inaI sKeligions; of Jnlria rnxH ot\)ti' paitsf of aigia. Spirit-world of the Veddahs— Invocation of spirits of the dead— Veddah burial— Bell-god of the Todas— Buffaloes in heaven— Successive funerals of the Todas— Sins laid upon a calf among the Badagas— The Kotas— Various gods of the BhUs— Effigies of horses on cairns— Bhil sacri- fices-Inspired men and witch-doctors— Deities of the Gonds— Rude symbols of gods— The spirits of disease and death— The goddess of small-poz — Human sacrifices— Exercisers — Memorial slabs for the dead— Funeral of a Madia — Human sacrifices of the Ehonds— Their religious sincerity — Sacrifices to the god of war — Death a penalty for special sin — The leaping rock— Ehond priesthood— Ehond oaths— Santal household gods— Superior powers malevolent — National god the Great Mountain— Spirits of natural objects— Wanderings of disembodied spirits— The sacred river Damooda— Santal priests and festivals— Worship in village groves- Funeral ceremonies- Guardian-spirits of the Karens— Bringing back the Las— The state of the dead— Traditions of God and sacred books— Inspection of fowls' bones— Priests and offerings- Funeral ceremonies— Feasts for the dead— The god Puthen of the KuMs— Their evU deities — Inferior deities— Kukis' idea of futurity— Future punishment— Kuki priests— Funeral feasts- Gods of the Nagas— Scolding the spirits for causing death— Burial at doors of houses— Pillars and cromlechs of the Kasias— The oath-stone— Deities of the Bodo and Dhlmals— Priests and their functions— Malevolent demons of the Mishmis— Disease, death and burial— Gods of the Ostlaks— Ancestor worship— Convulsions of the Shamans— The Kalmuck Shamanists— The Voguls— The Samoyedes— The Finnish reUgion— The Kalevala— The Under-world. MAKING now a great leap in distance, we come to the aboriginal peoples, still existing in large mimbers in India and Ceylon, whose religions are very different from those of the more highly gifted gpirit-worid nations among whom they dwell. The Veddahs of Ceylon, a ^of ^e^ smaU but extremely interesting tribe, have a limited group of beliefs, presenting some striking resemblances to those current among the 84 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. American Indians. Good spirits predominate in their creed ; in fact, Mr. Bailey could only find one absolutely malignant spirit whom they really feared, though they had a vague dread of the spirits that haunt the dark- ness. Every feature in Nature is for them occupied by a spirit, as also is the air ; but they have no idea of a Supreme Being. i, t i? The spirits of the dead occupy- a prominent place in the Veddah behefs. The spirit of every dead person watches over relatives left behind. These Invocation ^pi^^^^s, termed "nehya yakoon," kindred spirits, are described as of spirits of coming to them in sickness and in dreams, and giving them the dead. ^^^^^^^ -^ hunting. Thus they invoke them in every necessity, and, curiously enough, it is the shades of their dead children, " bilmdoo yakoon," infant-spirits, which they most frequently call upon. Some simple ceremonies are observed, one of which is to fix an arrow upright m the ground, and dance slowly round it, chanting an address which has been thus translated : _ " My departed one, my departed one, my god, Where art thou wandering ? " When preparing to hunt, they promise a portion of the game to the spirit, and they expect that the spirits will appear to them in dreams and tell them where to hunt. " Sometimes," says Bailey, " they cook food and place it in the dry bed of a river or some other secluded spot, and then call on their deceased ancestors by name, "Come and partake of this! Give us main- tenance as you did when living ! Come, wheresoever you may be — on a tree, on a rock, in the forest — come ! " and dance round the food, half chant- ing, half shouting the invocation. They have no idea of a future state of veddai rewards and punishments. Till lately they did not even bury burial. ^^qI^ dead, but covered them with leaves and brushwood in the jungle, or in the cave where they died, which was thereupon forsaken. The Todas of the Neilgherry Hills are somewhat vague in their re- ligious beliefs ; but, while not venerating natural objects, they appear to Beu-god worship several deities, the principal being called the bell-god, of the Todas. or buffalo-bell, represented by a bell hung about the neck of their best buffalo, which is also an object of worship, and held sacred. To the bell-god they offer both prayers and libations of milk. They worship also a hunting-god and the sun. While venerating the memory of ancestors, they do not worship them. They believe in a somewhat vague transmigration of souls, but in their next world, which they term " the other district," they expect to follow the same occupation as in this, that is, buffalo-feeding, and all expect to go to it. " The Mukurty Peak," says the Rev. F. Metz,^ "is a spot held very sacred as the residence of a personage whom the Todas be- Bnffaioes in Heve to be the keeper of the portals of heaYen. . . . Their heaven, ^(jga, is that the spirits of deceased Todas, together with the souls of the buffaloes killed by their friends to accompany them to heaven and supply them with milk there, take a leap from this point as the nearest way ' " Tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills." ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 85 to the celestial regions," which are situated in the west. Their priests are an odd compound of priest and dairyman, showing the importance, of their chief means of livelihood in their eyes. The Todas burn their dead, at the same time slaughtering milch- buffaloes, which, curiously enough, are sold to another tribe to be eaten. This is called the "green funeral," followed a year after by the successive " dry funeral," at which, on a pile of dry wood, the priests place funerals of the bag containing the ashes of the deceased, with his mantle, ornaments, and wand, and gourds and baskets of grain, and ignite the whole, while the mourners stand round and cry monotonously, Tieh-liey, heh-hah ! Among the funeral observances, they practise fasting, cutting off the hair, putting off ornaments, chanting morning and evening laments, mutual condolence, and falling on the corpse. They also vacate the house of the deceased for a limited period. The Badagas, a neighbouring tribe, had, according to Capt. Harkness (" The Neilgherry Hills "), a ceremony which reminds one of the Hebrew scapegoat. The son or representative of the deceased, seiz- sinsiaid ing a calf brought for the purpose, addressed it, beseeching it "among th? to mediate for the departed, that the gates of heaven might be Badagas. opened to him, and his sins, and those of his generation, be forgiven. The calf was then let loose and ran off, all the party shouting, " Away, away ! " The idea is that the sins of the deceased enter the calf. The Kotas, also inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, worship both rude images of wood or stone, and rocks and trees in secluded localities, and make sacrificial offerings to them. In each village is a recognised place of worship — a large, square piece of ground, walled round with loose stones three feet high, and containing in its centre two thatched sheds open in front and behind, and having rude circles and other figures drawn on the supporting posts. They hold an annual licentious feast in honour of their gods, lasting two or three days. The Bhils of the mountains of Central India are notable for the great number of their gods : every tribe too has different objects of adoration, arising from local superstitions and legends. The following gods various are worshipped by the Bhils of Jebnah : — the Hindu Kali, on so&s of the many occasions ; Halipowa, at the Dewali and Dasara feasts ; Waghacha-Kunwar, to protect them against wild beasts ; Halk Mata, for success in predatory journeys ; Khorial Mata, for protection of cattle from plundering and sickness ; Devi Kanail, for a good harvest ; Behyu Baji, for rain ; Ghora Raja, against plunderers ; Hallam, at the annual pilgrimage to the large hill of Eetna "Wal ; Chamcon^a Mata, goddess of harvest, the first of every grain being offered to her ; Havin Wana Mata, against mur- rain and lameness among cattle; Sita Mata and Ghona and Bhadri Bac, goddess of small-pox ; Bhulbag Mata, during epidemics, especially in cholera. The Bhil places of worship are not elaborate, being mostly limited to heaps of stones on some elevated spot, on which are frequently arranged 86 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. a number of stone or burnt-clay effigies of horses, the latter being hollow, Effigies of '^^^^ ^ ^°^^ behind, through which the spirits of the dead are horses on supposed to enter and' travel up to paradise. On arrival there, ■ the horse is given to the local deity. In many of their legends the principal event depends upon the assistance or the advice of an enchanted horse. According to Sir J. Malcolm,* the sacrifice or offering to Hali-powa and Waghacha-Kunwar is a bullock ; to the other deities, Bjiy fowls and he-goats ; a male bird to the male "deities, and a sacrifices, female to the female ones. Their usual ceremonies consist merely in smearing the idol, which is seldom anything but a shapeless stone, with vermilion and red lead or oil ; offering, with protestations and a petition, an animal and some liquor ; casting a small portion of each, with some pulse, into the fire ; and then partaking of the flesh and remain- ing liquor, after giving the presiding priest-minstrel his share. The medicine-man appears here under the form of a class of men specially inspired by the hill-gods, whose powers are excited by music. .„„„.,„. „„„ These men, called Barwas, travel with musicians in attendance, Inspired men ' ' i _r n • and witcn- by whose performances they are first excited to Irenzy, dancmg frantically, whirling and tossing, and throwing themselves into strong convulsions. In this state they utter oracles which are highly regarded by those who listen. The Barwas also act as physicians and as witch-doctors, following the usual cruel practices of their kind. Super- stition is deeply ingrained. A cat crossing the path of a Bhil when starting on any particular business will send him straightway home. Eclipses and other celestial phenomena he regards as the diversions of the gods. He believes to a certain extent in the transmigration of souls, especially of bad spirits, and that the spirits of the dead haunt places they lived in during their lifetime. Burial is performed with complex ceremonies on the banks of streams. On the death of a chief a brass bull or horse is made and handed to the wandering minstrel, who, carrying this image, makes an annual circuit through the villages, commemorating the fame of the deceased in songs and receiving a due reward. The Gonds of Central India show some resemblances to the Bhils, as in their offering earthenware figures of horses in sacrifice, to propitiate Deities of ^^ ghosts of their ancestors. They worship altogether about the thirty deities. The supreme being, under the name of Bhagwan, is occasionally prayed to, and receives offerings of sugar and ghee ; but, as in so many other tribes, it is to the inferior divinities that worship is most largely paid. Badu Dewa (great god) or Budhal Pen (old god) is one of those most worshipped ; he appears to be identical with Rayetal, or the sun-god, represented by an iron tiger three inches long. His worship takes place once a year at the rice-harvest, a hog being then sacrificed to him. Among a subordinate tribe, the Gaiti, he is represented by a small copper coin kept in a tree in the jungle. Matya, the god of small- pox and of towns ; Sali, the protector of cattle ; Gangara, the bell-god ; * Transactions of the Eoijal Asiatic Society, vol. i. ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 87 Gadawa, the god of the dead ; Kodo Pen, the horse-god, are others of the varied deities whom the Gonds propitiate. The Gonds do not keep images of their gods in their houses, and even for religious ceremonies only use the simplest symbols, such as stones, lumps of clay, iron rods, blocks of wood, chains and bells. Mutya Dewa is represented by a small heap of stones, inside a village, besmeared with red lead. He is believed to be connected with the prosperity of the village, and his appropriate offerings are a goat, cocoa-nuts, limes, dates, etc. Pharsi Pen, a war-god, is symbolised by a small iron spear-head. His worship only takes place at intervals of three, four or five years, ^^^^ at full moon. On such occasions a white cock, a white he-goat, symuois of and a young white cow are sacrificed with secret ceremonies, no woman being permitted to attend. Bhiwasu, a god of rain, has a festival of four or five days in the Mahadeva Hills, being worshipped under the form of an unshaped stone smeared with vermilion, or of two pieces of wood. In one place, however, there is an idol figure of Bhiwasu, eight feet high. These are but specimens of the multitudinous deities worshipped by these people, whose religious history, if ever fully written, will be a strange and curious one. The Eev. Mr. Hislop,i who studied the Gond district carefully, says : " In the south of the Bundara district the traveller frequently meets with squared pieces of wood, each with a rude figure carved in front. The spirits set up somewhat close to each other. These represent Bangaram, °^ disease Bungara Bai, or Devi, who is said to have one sister and five death, brothers, the sister being styled Danteshwari, a name of Kali, and four out of the five brothers being known as Gantaram, Champaram, Naikaram, and Pollinga. These are all deemed to possess the power of sending disease and death upon men, and under these or different names seem to be generally feared in the region east of Nagpore city. ... It has always appeared to me a question deserving more attention than it has yet received, how far the deities who preside over disease, or are held to be malevolent, are to be looked on as belonging to the Hindus or aborigines. Kali in her terrible aspect is certainly much more worshipped in Gond- wana and the forest tracts to the east and south of it than in any other part of India. As the goddess of small-pox, she has of gmau- attributed to her the characteristics of various aboriginal deities ; ^°^ and it is worthy of remark that the parties who conduct the worship at her shrines, even on behalf of Hindus, may be either Gonds, fishermen, or members of certain other low castes. The sacrifices, too, in which she delights would well agree with the hypothesis of the aboriginal derivation of the main features of her character. At Chanda and Lanji, in the province of Nagpore, there are temples dedicated to her honour, in which human A^ctims have been offered almost within the memory of the present generation. The victim was taken to the temple after sunset and shut up within its dismal walls. In the morning, when the door was opened, he ' " Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces." 88 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. was found dead, much to the glory of the great goddess, who had shown Human lier power by coming during the night and sucking his blood. sacrifices. -^^ doubt there must have- been some of her servants hid in the fane, whose business it was to prepare for the horrid banquet. At Dante- wada, in Bustar, there is a famous shrine of Kali, under the name of Danteshwari. Here many a human head has been presented on her altar. About 1830 it is said that upwards of twenty-five full-grown men were immolated on- a single occasion by a late Eaja of Bustar. The medicine-man or professional priest is not so prominent among the Gonds as among some other Indian tribes ; but men exist among them who profess to be able to call tigers from the jungles and to Exercisers. ^^^^^.^^ ^^:^ actions, to protect men and cattle, to detect sorcery and to tell fortunes. The public festivals of the Gonds are largely con- nected with their crops. They can also exorcise evil spirits and interpret the wishes of the gods, going into a trance, leaping wildly and performing the usual antics of their class, and then declaring whether the god has accepted the service offered to him. Burial was formerly universal among the Gonds ; but cremation has been largely adopted by them from the Hindus. They used to bury the Memorial ^'^'^^ '^^ ^^^'"^ own houses, afterwards deserting them, but have in slate for the later years buried outside their village's, Some of the tribes erect rough unhewn slabs of stone as memorials of the dead. Offerings are presented to the dead, consisting of rice and other grains, eggs, fowls, or sheep. To persons of more than usual reputation for .sanctity, offerings continue to be presented annually for many years after their death. As a specimen of Gond funeral rites, we may quote the following from Mr. Hislop :— " "When a Madia (a tribe of Gonds) dies, the relatives Funeral of ^ill and offer before his corpse a fowl. They then place the body a Madia, on a bamboo mat, and four young men lift it on their shoulders. All the neighbours, calling to mind their own deceased fathers, pour out on the ground a handful of rice in their honour ; then turning to the corpse, they put a little on it, remarking that the recently departed had now become a god, and adjure him, if death had come by God's will, to accuse no one ; but if it had been caused by sorcery, to point out the guilty party. Sometimes, it is said, there is such a pressure exerted on the shoulders of the bearers, that they are' pushed forward and guided to a particular house. The inmate is not seized at once ; but if three times the corpse, after being taken some distance back, returns in the direction and indicates the same individual, he is apprehended and expelled from the village. Frequently also his house shares the same fate. The body is then carried to a tree,, to which it is tied upright, and burned amid the wailing of the spectators. Funeral rites are performed a year or eighteen months after the cremation, when a flag is tied to the tree where it took place. After sacrificing a fowl, the friends return and eat, drink and dance at the expense of the deceased man's family for one or more days, according to their ability." ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 89 The Khonds (or Kandhs) of north-eastern India have an evil fame as being among the most inveterate and lavish in their human sacrifices of any race of mankind, sacrifices which continued till qiiite the middle of this century when persistent government pressure sacrifices of appears to have put a stop to it. The Khonds are divided into ^^ i^^°i"i3. two sects, one of which abhors humau sacrifice. The other is devoted especially to the Tari, the earth-goddess, to whom human sacrifices were offered, a regular class of victims being purchased from neighbouring tribes, of any age and either sex, and held in readiness, well fed, for the regular festivals. Ten or twelve days before the sacrifice, the hair of the victim was cut off, and the villagers, having bathed, went to the sacred grove with the priest, who there invoked the goddess. The ceremonies, attended by unbridled licence, lasted three days. On the second day, the victim was led in procession through the vUlage to the sacrificial grove, and bound, sitting, to a post in the middle of the grove, anointed with oil, ghee, and turmeric, adorned with flowers, and even worshipped. In this attitude he or she was left all night, while feasting was resumed by the people. The details which follow, as given by Major Macpherson, are almost inconceivably horrible. As the victim must not die in bonds nor show any resistance, the arms and legs were broken, or stupefaction by pj^gj ^^^3^4- opium was produced, so that the bonds might be unloosed. The meat of the priest after this offered up prayers to the earth-goddess. At '"° noon on the third day, the priest took the branch of a green tree, cleft several feet down the centre. The victim was forced into the cleft, his throat being in some districts inserted into it, and then the cleft was forcibly closed by cords twisted round the open extremity of the stake. After the priest had wounded the victim slightly with his axe, the crowd threw itself on the dead body, and, leaving untouched the head and intestines, stripped the flesh from the bones, and fled with them to their fields. The remains were next day burned on a funeral pile, and a' further sacrifice of a sheep was made, the ashes being scattered over the fields or made into a paste, with which the floors of the houses and granaries were smeared. Subsequently a bullock was given to the father or procurer of the victim, and another was sacrificed and eaten at the feast which terminated the celebration. One year after such a sacrifice the goddess Tari was reminded of it by the offering of a pig. In some districts the victim was put to death by a slow fire, the great object being to draw as many tears as possible, in the belief that- the goddess would proportionately increase the supply of rain. Notwithstanding the barbarity of this sacrifice, Macpherson declares that he found it not attended by any manifestations of passion, and that it appeared to be offered in a spirit essentially religious, " in fearful ^^.^^^^^ .j^. obedience to the express mandate of the terrible power, whose ceg^y^of^tue wrath it is believed to place in abeyance. And the offermgs are lives free, unforfeited, undegraded, generally in innocent childhood belong- ing to a different race from the immolators, procured by persons of another po THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. faith, and acquired by scrupulous purctiase, which the Khonds believe to confer a perfect title." An unbought life they considered an abomination to the deity. At one of the later sacrifices no fewer than 125 victims were immolated. Afterwards, by unceasing efforts of British officials, a large number of destined victims were*set free and cared for by the British. In Jeypore there were annual sacrifices to Maniksoro, the god of war, as well as to the earth-goddess. The victim was tied to a post by his hair, _, and at the same time his body was held face downwards over an Human saorl- „,, . , ., ■ n ■ i ^^i flees to the open grave. The pnest, while praymg lor success m battle, god of war. i^^^^g^j ^^ ^^^ ^f ^^ victim, at the same time consoling him by the assurance that he would soon be honoured by being devoured by the god for the people's benefit. His head was then cut off, the body falling into the grave, and the head remaining suspended until devoured by birds. The worship of deceased ancestors is an important feature of Khond religion. Other gods beside Tari are worshipped. They have introduced the alt -^^"^^ goddess Kali into their worship, and employ Hindu priests for special in celebrating her rites. They also firmly believe in magic, often attributing deaths or misfortunes to enchantment. They hold that death is solely a penalty for offences against the gods, and this whether it occurs in battle, or by the hand of men who can transform them- selves into wild beasts, or by magicians who destroy by wicked arts. They do not appear to have definite views as to a future state, but believe man's spirit to be imperishable, animating a succession of human forms. Percival says that they believe the judge of the dead resides beyond the sea on a THe leaping- slippery rock called the leaping-rock, surrounded by a black rocfc unfathomable river. Souls, on quitting the body, go directly thither ; and in attempting to leap the river and gain a footing on the rock, they often get injured, and the injury is expected to be repeated in the body they next inhabit. The Khond priests were regarded as divinely appointed, the original priests being directly appointed by each deity, and transmitting the office The Khond by descent. But this does not prevent any one from becoming priesthood, a priest by a new divine call. One of the priest's offices on the occasion of a birth or naming of a child is to declare which ancestor of the family is bom again. The priest takes no part in funeral ceremonies, even if present ; he may not touch a dead body. The ceremony of taking an oath by Khonds is given by Campbell as follows :— " Seated on tiger-skins, they held in their hands a little earth, rice, Khond oaths. ^'^^ ^^*®^' repeating as follows : ' May the earth refuse its pro- duce, rice choke me, waters drown me, and tiger devour me and my children, if I break the oath which I now take for myself and my people.' " In other cases they sit on a Uzard-skin, whose scaliness they pray may be their lot if forsworn ; or on an anthill, like which they ask that, if false, they may be reduced to powder ; while the ordeals of boiling water, oil, and hot iron are constantly resorted to. ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 91 The Santals of the western portion of Lower Bengal are notable for the family nature of their religion. Each household has its special deity whose rites it carefully conceals from strangers. According tosantaihouse- Hunter,! even one brother does not know what another worships. ''°^* s''^^- They appear to ptay chiefly that evils may be removed : " May the storm spare my thatch," " may the black-rot pass by my rice-fields," " let my wife not bear a daughter," " may the usurer be taken by wild beasts." The head of the family on his deathbed whispers the name of the family god to the elder son. As far as can be ascertained, the household deity represents evil only ; but in addition to this source of misfortune, the Santal worships the ghosts of his ancestors. The Santal cannot even conceive the existence of a supreme and bene- ficent god. The impression of past history is upon him— of having been successively driven from more desirable homes by a conquering ^^^^^^^ race, and superiority in power implies to him desire to injure, powers ' ^ -It- II ^TT^ I -J} l^ J. J. _ malevolent. The idea of a supreme god makes him say, " What if that strong one should eat me! " Demons and evil spirits are vividly before the Santal's mind, and he endeavours to propitiate them by frequent annual sacrifices and other bloody ritfes. The national god of the Santals is Marang Buru, the Great Mountain, their guardian from the earliest times, who is invoked with blood-offerings at every crisis. The victims are numerous and varied, of any ^^^^^^^3^ kind of plant or animal. The Great Mountain is neither male god, the Great nor female, but is the great life-sustainer. He is regarded as °^ ^ having a brother and a sister to whom libations are offered by the priests, as well as white goats and fowls. The Great Mountain must receive blood- offerings ; if the worshipper has no animal, the offering must be a red flower or a red fruit. When the English first came into contact with these people, human sacrifices were regularly made to this god. "Wherever he goes, the Santal finds gods, ghosts, or demons, which he must appease. Among them are the Abgi, or ghouls, who eat men, and the Pargana Bonga, local deities whose name is legion, belonging gpjj.j,.gpf to extinct villages, wandering desolately through the Santal natural territory. They have deities of the rivers, wells, tanks, moun- ° ^^'^ ^" tains and forests. So that their worship, strongly related to the family and ancestors on one view, on another is equally a Nature worship. Like their view of the nature of the gods is their idea of the future. As a time of punishment for the wicked they can comprehend it, but not as a period of happiness for those who have been good. Ere- ^a^^^gj-ings quently the future is a complete blank to them. Some think that ^^^^ d^i|«^-^3_ good men after death enter into fruit-bearing trees, while un- charitable men and childless women are eaten eternally by snakes and worms. Others think of disembodied spirits as flitting disconsolately among the fields they once tilled, standing upon the banks of the streams m which they once fished, and gliding in and out of the dwellings where they lived , 1 " Annals of Rural Bengal." 92 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. and these spirits must be propitiated in various ways, or they will bring evil upon the living. Once a year the Santals make a pilgrimage, in commemoration of their forefathers, to the Damooda, their chief river. This is termed the Purifying ^ for the Dead. A similar regard for the river is shown by the The sacred no-T^ tt- river lact that however far from it the Santal may die, his nearest amoo a. j^gig^^j^^g carries a little relic of him, such as some fragments of his skull, in an earthen pot thither and places it in the current to be conveyed to the far-off eastern land from which his ancestors came. This is called uniting the dead with their fathers. The Santal priests belong to the fifth and second tribes, representing the fifth and second sons of their common ancestor, the former being the Santal priests most esteemed and best rewarded. Each village has its grove and festivals, fgj. -worshipping the village gods. The priests of the second tribe are chiefly seers and diviners, and are largely occupied in propitiating demons. Festivals are held several times a year in the village grove, men and women dancing and chanting songs in honour of the founder of the community. Goats, red cocks and chickens are sacrificed ; and the various families dance round the particular trees supposed to be inhabited by their special gods. In some tribes every family dances round each tree, so as not to omit one in which by any possibility one of their gods might reside. . Once a year the tribal god is solemnly worshipped, none but village male animals being offered, and women being excluded from the groves. ^Q2s.i. Each period in the cultivation of the rice-crop — seeding, sprouting, earing, harvesting — is marked by its own festival, with sacrifices to the gods. On the death of a Santal, his body is at once anointed with oil tinged with red herbs, and laid out. His friends place two little brazen vessels. Funeral one for rice, the other for water, upon his couch, together with a ceremonies, fg^ rupees to appease the demons whom he will meet on the threshold of the spirit-world. These gifts, however, are removed when the funeral pile is ready. The body is carried by fellow-clansmen three times round the pile and then laid on it. A cock has meanwhile been nailed through the neck by a wooden pin to a corner of the pile or to a neigh- bouring tree. The nearest kinsman has prepared a torch of grass, bound with thread from his own clothes, and, after walking silently round the pile three times, touches the dead man's mouth with the brand, averting his face as he does it. Then the pile is lighted, all the clansmen facing the , south. Before the body is quite consumed, the fire is extinguished, and the next of kin breaks off the three fragments of skull to be thrown into the river Damooda, as before stated. In quite recent years the Santals were excited by a novel religious ferment. In 1876 one Bhagrib Mangi gave out that he was commissioned by heaven to free the Santals from British rule. He gained great influence, and received both royal and divine honours, having a shrine s6t up for his worship. Notwithstanding his being taken and imprisoned and his shrine ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 93 destroyed, his religion grew, being preached by his disciples, the Kherwar, the chief of whom was arrested and imprisoned in 1881. The Karens of British Burmah regard the world as more thickly peopled by spirits than it is by men. Every human being has a guardian spirit, or La, either at his side, or wandering in dreamy adven- Q^a^dian tures. If too long absent, he must be recalled by appropriate spirits of the offerings of food, etc., beating a bamboo to gain its attention. Besides, he is surrounded by a crowd of the spirits of the departed, whom he must continually appease if he would preserve life and health. All striking material objects inspire him with awe, and must be reverenced and propitiated. Moreover, everything living has its La. " "When sitting by the A EABEN FUNEBAL. fire at night, and an insect flies into it and is burnt to death, a Karen will say, ' There, the La of some animal has leaped into the fire and burnt itself to death. We shall have meal curry to-morrow. The snares and traps have caught something.' Plants, too, have their Las. So if a man drops his axe while up a tree, he looks below and calls out, ' La of the axe, come, come'!" (Mason). Prophets or necromancers are said to have the Brmging power of bringing back the sick man's La when it has wandered ''^<=i^t'^e^ ^• away ; but false prophets are said to bring back the La of some other per- son by which the disease is augmented. According to some, each person has 94 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. seven Las constantly devising his death, which can only be prevented by his own guardian spirit sitting on his head. If this spirit removes thence, the man is killed by one of the Las. All diseases are the work of _ spirits, which must be appeased by offerings. Another class of spirits, working evil, is the Na, which is believed to inhabit witches and wizards. These persons can take the form of another, and can also devour the Las of other people. Ancestor-worship is practised by the Karens, their ancestors being supposed to exercise a guardianship over their descendants on earth. The Thesute I^as, however, of many of the dead are not permitted to go to oftuedead. Hades, the land of the happy, which is a counterpart of this world, whose inhabitants follow occupations similar to those they engaged in on earth. Those who have been deprived of funeral rites wander, about "on earth. Those who have died violent deaths remain on earth preying on the Las of men. Others who may not go to Hades are unjust rulers or criminals who have suffered death. These are believed to take the forms of birds and beasts; and those who dream of elephants, horses, dogs, vultures, Burmans, or Burmese priests, are said to see these ghosts. Dr. Mason says all the Karen tribes have traditions of God as having once dwelt amongst them, but having forsaken them. Sometimes He is Traditions represented as dying and rising to life again, sometimes as simply anf sacred departing. They have a story that God gave the Chinese a book books, of paper, the Burmese a book of palm-leaf, the Karens a book of skin, which they allowed a pig to tear up and a fowl to eat ; while the former peoples carefully studied their divine books, and hence came to excel the Karens. Consequently the Karens consult the remains of fowls, which Inspection of tl'ey Suppose to retain the knowledge imparted by the book, and fowls' bones. uinJertake nothing important until a favourable response has been gained from the fowl's bones, which are inspected after prayer. It may readily be imagined that it requires a practised eye to read the indica- tions accurately, and there are many nice distinctions, known only to the elders, or priests, who do not always agree in their readings. Each village has four hereditary "heads 'of the sacrifice," or priests. The first is called lord of the village ; the second, the messenger ; the third, Priests and keeper of the village ; the fourth, Sa-kai, a word of unknown offerings, meaning. The offerings given by the people vary according to famihes and tribes. Some offer only rice and vegetables ; one group offers fowls, another hogs, another oxen or buffaloes. It is doubtful sometimes to whom these things are offered, — often to unseen spirits generally, or to deified ancestors, or to the goddess of harvest^ Complex ceremonies take place on the death of a Karen elder of the Bghai division. While the body lies in state, piping and mourning go on Funeral constantly. Before the burial an elder opens the hand of the ceremonies, dead man and puts in it a bit of metal, and then cuts off a part with a sword, saying, " May we live to be as old as thou art." The rest of the company do the same, and the fragments cut off are regarded as charms to prolong life. Dr. Mason further says that when the corpse is about to ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 95 be buried, two candles made of beeswax are lighted, and two swords are brought. A sword and a candle are taken by the eldest son, and a sword and a candle by the youngest son ; and they march round the bier in oppo- site directions three times, each time they meet exchanging swords and candles. After this, one candle is placed at the head, the other at the foot of the coffin ; then a fowl or hog is led three times round the building, and on completing the first round it is struck once with a bamboo, the second time twice, and at the end of the third round it is killed, and set before the corpse for food. When the coffin is carried to the grave, four bamboos are taken, and one thrown to the east and one to the west, some one saying, " That is the west, that is the east," contrary to the fact ; a third is thrown towards the top of a tree, with the statement, " That is the foot of the tree" ; and a fourth towards the root of the tree, which is gravely termed the top of the tree. This is done because in the spirit-world it is believed that everything is upside down in relation to this world. When the grave has been filled and a fence erected round it, boiled rice and other food is placed within it for the deceased. On returning from the grave, each person takes three little hooked branches, and calls on his spirit to follow him, at short intervals making a motion of hooking, and thrusting the hook into the ground. This is to prevent the spirit of the living from staying behind with the spirit of the dead. Annual feasts for the dead are made for three years after a person's death. It is a general assemblage of all the villagers who have lost rela- tives. Before the new moon at the end of August or beginning Feasts for of September, all kinds of food, tobacco, etc., are made ready, tuedead. . A bamboo is laid across one corner of the roof of the room, and on it are hung new tunics, turbans, beads, and bangles ; and at the proper time — the spirits of the dead being supposed to have returned to visit them — the people address them thus : " You have come to me, you have returned to me. It has been raining hard, and you must be wet. Dress yourselves, clothe yourselves with these new garments, and all the companions that are with you. Eat betel together with all that accompany you, your friends and associates, and the long dead. Call them all to eat and drink." Next morning, the new-moon day, they kill a hog, and make thirty bottles of bamboos, which they fill with all kinds of food and drink. Eice and meal are cooked, and all the food is spread out as far as possible at one moment, so that none of the spirits of the dead may be delayed in eating. Each one calls on his particular relative who has died. If a mother, he says, weeping, " Oh ! prince-bird mother, it is the close of August ; oh ! it is the new moon in September; oh! you have come to visit me; oh! you have returned to see me ; oh ! I give you eatables, oh ! I give you drinkables ; oh ! eat with a glad heart, oh ! eat with a happy mind ; oh ! don't be afraid, mother ; oh ! do not be apprehensive, oh ! " When the spirits have finished, the people eat the food; but a further supply is placed for the spirits to carry away with them; and at cock-crow next morning all the contents of the basket, including the bamboo bottles, are thrown out of the house on the 96 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. ground, the same ceremony of crying and calling on the spirits of the dead being repeated. The Kukis of Assam believe in an omnipotent deity named Puthen, the creator of everything. Although actuated by human passions, he is benevolent, and desires the welfare of humanity. He is the judge Puthen of of all men, and punishes them by death and disease, both in this the Kukis. .^Qj.;^^ g^^j ^]jg n^-^i. He is invoked and sacrificed to in all troubles, his anger being deprecated, or his aid sought to avert the anger of other gods. Ghumvishve is their evil deity. When he is seen, death ensues ; his anger causes frightful diseases; his essence is cruelty and malevolence. This being is alleged to be married to Khuchoin, a malignant " goddess with special power over diseases of the stomach. Hilo, their daughter, is the goddess of poisons. These three are never prayed to, but sacrifices are made to avert their anger, as well as to Puthen to interfere. Numerous subordinate deities are also recognised by the Kukis, such as Khomungnoo, the household god ; Thingbulgna, the forest god ; river-gods. Inferior gods of mountains and rocks, etc. Each metal has its particular deities. gQ(j^ presiding over matters to which the metal is related ; thus, the god of silver is the god of wealth ; the iron god is the god of battle. The moon is also worshipped ; and in every house is a consecrated post, before which they place a portion of all food about to be eaten. Their idea of the future is not one of eternity, although they believe in a future of rewards and punishments. Even of the soul their conception is vague. They imagine that the dead take the same forms, and idea of inhabit a world lying to the north. They have a very exclusive ^ "" '^^ idea of their heaven. It is not for peoples of other religions, who must have other heavens situated elsewhere. In touching similarity to the American Indians and. other races, they look for the assemblage of all their people who have been good, after death, in a happy land, where rice grows almost without cultivation, and where the jungles abound in game. In this future the ghost of every animal a Kuki has slain becomes his property. Future "while every enemy he has slain is his slave. Evil doers are kept punishment, separate, and perform menial offices for the good. "War and hunting are the principal occupations of this heaven. The evil doer is tormented, hung, immersed in boiling water, impaled, cast into a burning gulf, etc. They have no definite idea how long the torment or happiness of this state may last. In every village there is a rudely formed figure of wood, of human shape, representing one of their gods, generally under a tree. They pray to it when they start on any expedition, and when they return they place, be- fore it the heads of their enemies or of the game they have killed. It is always a question of importance with the Kukis to find out what god has caused any disease. They have priests or diviners, known as Thempoo or Mithai, educated and initiated to communicate with the ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 97 gods. These individuals feel a sick man's pulse, question him as to his disease, etc., and then meditate for a time, after which they ^ „ , , ' . ' •' The EuM name the god offended, and the sacrifice needed to appease priests, him. If the victim be a fowl, the Thempoo cuts' the animal's ""^ empoo. throat, pours its blood as a libation on the ground, mutters some praises, and then roasts and eats the bird. The superstition of the people is further shown by their carrying tiger's teeth upon their persons, as a protection against wild animals ; also a small round stone, carried in a wicker basket, is believed to secure good sport to the hunter. The tribes of the Kukis appear to vary in practice between burial and cremation. No properly religious rites are observed. Feasting, - long-con- tinued and general, is nmerai the most important thing leasts, following death. It is believed that whUe the body remains above ground all the animals slain for the feasts will be attached to it in the spirit-world, and hence the pro- fusion. "When the body is taken to the burying ground, eatables and drinkables are placed on the , bier and buried with it, and the skulls of the animals slain for the feasts are stuck on posts all round the grave. When a Rajah died, it used to be thought essential that at least the skull of one freshly killed enemy should be stuck over his grave, and to this end a war party was organised immediately after his death. The Nagas of the mountains of Assam do not attempt to account for the creation of the Gods of world, which appears to ""^^ ^'^^■ have existed before their gods. ^ Such religion as they have is not very sincere. One of their gods is believed to be blind, and consequently they cheat him by placing small offerings, or only a few leaves, in large baskets. 'They worship a god of riches, to whom aH those who seek wealth make sacrifices ; he punishes by diseases and reverses those who, having wealth, fail to sacrifice to him. Another of their deities is god of the harvest, and receives offerings in kind, with prayers for good crops. They also propitiate a malignant deity, fierce, ugly, and one-eyed, who causes all mis- fortunes. . ^ , ^. , , Omens are carefully regarded among the Nagas, m order to discover what deity has caused a particular evil or can bring about a desired good. When KALMDCK SHAMANESS. 98 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS, this is settled, the village is closed for two days, and nothing but sacrificing Scolding the and feasting goes on. When a man falls sick, according to Major foraging Butler,* the. chief person in the house or family sacrifices a death, fowl, and, after placing the entrails and feathers in the road in the evening, he calls out to the spirit, "0 spirit, restore to health the per- son you have afflicted in my family. I offer you the entrails of a fowl." When a man of note dies in a village, the people do not quit it for three days, during which they kill animals, and the whole community feasts and drinks. At the funeral all the men, in war equipment, make a great noise, and jump about, saying, " What spirit has come and killed our friend ? Where have you fled to ? Come, let us see you, how powerful you are. If we could see you, we would spear you and kill you with these spears ; " and they continually curse the spirit and strike the earth with their spears and swords. On the grave they place all the personal belongings of the deceased, and, as with the Kukis, the skulls of pigs and cows are stuck on sticks at one end of the grave, but in- this case in memory of the deceased's Burial at i^ospitahty. Stewart^ says the Nagas bury their dead at the the doors of doors of their houses, in coffins, a huge stone being rolled over houses Jo o the grave. Thus Naga villages are full of these rough, unhewn tombstones. The people show great regard for these tombs, at first fencing them in and scattering flowers over them. Cases of violating tombs to gain possession of the buried articles were not heard of The Kasias of Assam are remarkable for the abundance of monumental stones everywhere by the wayside. Usually they are oblong, erect pillars. Pillars and ^^^ewn or carefully squared. The number in one monument <=^^^e<=hs of varies from three to thirteen, and is generally odd; the tallest is in the middle. In front of these is a kind of cromlech, a large flat stone resting on short rough piUars. In one case a pillar was twenty- seven feet high ; and a cromlech slab, thirty-two feet by fifteen, and two feet thick, has been seen, raised five feet above the ground. Often the sarcophagus is found to consist of a large circular slab, resting on many little rough blocks placed close together, through whose chinks may be seen earthen pots containing the ashes of .the family. The upright pillars are undoubtedly monumental ; and if the Kasia is asked why his fathers went to such expense to erect them, he answers, " To preserve their name." Yet they can attach a name to but few. The name of one, " Mansmai," the The oath oath-stone, was explained by a native thus : " There was war • ^*°'^®" between Cherra and Mansmai ; and when they made peace an;i swore to it, they erected a stone as witness." Hence it is suggested that some of these were erected as witnesses to notable compacts. The Bodo and Dhimals of the Assam forests worship a great number ot Deities of d®'*^®^ ! ^■9'-; household gods, worshipped at home, which are at the Bodo and the same time national gods ; gods of the rivers : and eods of Dhimals. t . p ' & -• sun and moon, mountains, forests, etc. They are also divided ' " Travels and Adventures in Assam.'* - " Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. 24. ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS OF INDIA, ETC. 99 into male and female, young and old, etc. To these gods they do not assign definite moral attrib^xtes ; hut several of them are called Eajah, and one of them bears the name of a known historic person. Hence it is probable that their gods are, at least partially, deified ancestors. On the whole their deities have a vaguely benevolent character, and there is a general absence of cruel and savage rites. They do not worship images, nor have they temples. Their chief festivals bear reference to agriculture. They seem to have an idea of a future state. Diseases are caused entirely by preternatural agencies, and hence they employ esorcisers, who are a class of priests. There is a regular priest for each village, and a class of district priests exercising , some control over the village priests of his district. Whoever chooses may be a priest, but must be regularly inducted. At pj^g^^g ^^^ times the elders take equal part with the priests. At marriages, their and funerals the priests perform the essential preliminary sacri- fices ; they conduct the great festivals and make all sacrifices. The lesser deities receive offerings of eatables and drinkables other- than meat, while the greater divinities receive animal sacrifices. The dead are buried decently and simply. They have no fixed burial grounds or monuments. Food and drink are laid upon the grave at burial, and a few days after the same is repeated and the deceased is addressed. The Mishmis of the Assam borders ascribe more destructive and malevolent powers to their gods than the Bodo and Dhimals. They fear most a god of destruction ; they also sacrifice- to a god of health jjaievoient and disease, and a god of instruction and the chase. One of demons of these people, on being told that the English worshipped a good Spirit who ruled all the demons, observed, " Ah, you English people must be very happy in having such a good and powerful demon in your country. The Mishmis are very unfortunate — we are everywhere surrounded by demons ; they live in the rivers, mountains and trees ; they walk about in the dark, and live in the winds; we are constantly suffering from them." "When disease appears in a Mishmi's family, the priest is sent for to drive away the evil spirit, which he does with antics which only repeat the operations of his class elsewhere. The sacrifice, however, is Dige^Ee, killed with unnecessary cruelty. Death of a Mishmi, especially a deith,^iid chief, is followed by extensive feasting in honour of the departed. The body is burnt after two- days, and the ashes are placed in a miniature house close to the house of the deceased. This miniature house is sur- rounded by some of the skulls collected by the chief during his lifetime. The eldest son holds a yearly feast in honour of his deceased father, and this is considered a most sacred observance. The Ostiaks of the Obi district in Siberia, before Christian missionaries came among them, appear to have had a belief in a Supreme Being, of whom they had no image and to whom they made no offerings, ooda of Shaitan is their household god, guardian of all they possess. t^« o^t'^'^^- They represent him by the figure of a man, carved in wood and dressed THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. like an Ostiak. To Shaitan all meals are first offered, all the dishes being placed before him ; and they abstain from eating till the idol, who eats invisibly, has had enough. Other divinities are worshipped, including Long, master of secret arts, medicine, etc. Offerings made to him by the sick must be works of art ; skins will not do. Meik is a god of ill-luck : to him Ostiaks make vows of gifts and service when in danger of perishing in the wilderness, or in snow storms. Many reindeer, put to death slowly and cruelly, are sacrificed to their gods by the Ostiaks. Ortik, one of their deified heroes, a beneficent being and mediator, is, like the rest, represented as a bust without legs, the face being made of a hammered plate of metal nailed upon wood, the body of a sack stuffed with hair and skins and with two hnen sleeves sewed to it for arms, the whole dressed in a linen frock and placed on a table, with sword and spear beside it. To this being offerings of furs are made. Ancestor worship prevails considerably among them. When a man dies, the priests (shamans) make his relatives form a rude wooden image re- Ancestor presenting him, which is set up in their huts, and receives diviae worship, honours for a greater or less time, as the priest may direct. At every meal they set an offering of food before the image, and the widow embraces it from time to time. The time of worship apparently lasts three years. The priests, however, preserve the images of their ancestors for generations, and manage, by oracles and other arts, to procure offerings for them equal to those of the other gods, thus showing how deified ancestors •became regular national gods. The Ostiaks also venerate trees and bears ; they ask a bear's pardon after having killed him. They even insult him mockingly when his skin is stuffed with hay, and then set him up and pay him worship in their huts. The priests or shamans of the Ostiaks combine the offices of priest, diviner, exerciser, and medicine-man. They mediate between the people Convulsions ^^^ their gods, falling into convulsive fits, during which they are of the believed to be in communion with their gods. "When the shaman ™^" ■ falls, according to Erman (" Travels in Siberia "), the bystanders throw a cord round his neck, and covec him with skins. Two men then take the ends of the cord, and pull it with all their might, while the shaman under the skin slips his hands to his neck to prevent his being strangled. When at last he has had enough of the struggle, he makes a sign that the spirits have left him, and communicates to the assembled people the pre- dictions which have been sought. A large proportion of the Kalmucks of the Altai are still shamanists, and sacrifice animals to their good and evil spirits. Their images, rudely ,^^ carved in wood or bark, resemble human forms with extended Kalmuck arms, and represent their ideas of the nature-spirits. The spirits s amaDis s. ^£ -^heir ancestors are said to be represented by ribbons of varied colours hung on the branches of trees, and from them the livinurning. silk and the viands, in the great furnace, and the offerings to the deceased emperors in special large braziers. A whole astrological system is involved in the days and hours at which the sacrifices are conducted, into which we cannot here enter ; but astrology, cyclic and mystic numbers, palmistry, phrenology, and indeed all mysterious modes of obtaining knowledge of lucky days and circumstances, and of foretelling the future, are highly regarded by the Chinese, and are introduced into everyday affairs, about the cut of clothes, the day and mode of a journey, the building of a house, the choice of a grave, etc. The imperial worship at the altar of Earth at the summer solstice is substantially similar ; but instead of the offerings being burnt, there is a burying of the prayer and of the offerings of silk to the Earth, while the silk offered to the spirits of emperors is burnt. The prayer to Earth is as follows : " I, your subject. Son of Heaven by hereditary succession. The prayer dare to announce to How-too, the imperial Spirit of Earth, that *° ^*'^'^- the time of the summer solstice has arrived, that all living things enjoy the blessings of sustenance, and depend for it upon your efficient aid. You are placed with imperial Heaven in the sacrifices which are now presented, consisting of jade, silk, the chief animals used for food, with various viands abundantly supplied." It is only to the Spirits of Heaven and of Earth that the emperor in prayer acknowledges himself a subject. The whole idea of the service appears to be that of a banquet, to which the Spirits are invited. The imperial Temple of Ancestors, or Great Temple, has three large halls and several smaller ones. The first hall is used for the common sacri- 136 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. fice to all ancestors at the end of tlie year. In the middle hall are offered The Imperial*-'^® sacrifices on the first day of the first month of each season. Temple of Here are placed the most important tablets, those of the de- ceased emperors and empresses of the present dynasty, of recent generations. In the third hall are more tablets of ancestors. The sacrifices are made in these two halls at the same time, not only four times a year, but on other great occasions or events^ Other secondary halls contain tablets of relatives and loyal officers who are appointed to be guests at. the sacrificial banquets. In the court on the east is a brazier in which the prayer to ancestors and the silk offered to them and the relatives are burnt; in another brazier is burnt the silk offered to meritorious officers. The food and silk do not include all the offerings. In accordance with; the instruction of Confucius, that the dead are to be sacrificed to as if living, chests of clothing, with mats and stools, are kept in the temple, and pre- sented with the sacrifices. One set of offerings is presented before each emperor and his wife. Here it is to be noted that " the emperor and empress can have their meals together when dead, though they may not when living ; " and reasoning from this it has been suggested that the ex- clusion of women from the social meal is not so ancient as the time when the sacrifices were instituted. In this ceremony, the prayer, instead of being read by the emperor himself, is read by an officer upon his knees, in the emperor's name. After announcing the emperor's title and descent, and his proper name, it pro- The prayer ceeds : — "I dare announce to my ancestor, that I have with care, to ancBstors. on this first month of spring (summer, etc.), provided sacrificial animals, silk, wine, and various dishes, as an expression of my unforgetting thoughtfulness, and humbly beg the acceptance of the offerings." Several odes are sung, of which the following is a sample. " Ah ! my imperial ancestors have been able to become guests with supreme Heaven. Their meritorious acts in war and peace are published in aU regions. I, their filial descendant, have received the decree of Heaven, and my thought is to carry out the aims of those who preceded me, thus ensuring the gift of long pros- perity for thousands and tens of thousands of years." The ceremony is rather more elaborate, if anything, than the sacrifice to Heaven. The emperor has to kneel sixteen times, and to knock his forehead thirty-six times against the ground, thus .showing the immense importance assigned to piety towards ancestors. Another important part of the imperial worehip consists of the sacrifices to the gods of the land and grain. The altar to the spirit of the land has ^■a^Mte *^° terraces, the upper of which is covered with earth of five of thi*^ different colours. There are tablets to the spirit or god of the and grain, land, and also one to the spirit or god of grain ; two other tablets occupy positions as guests, and represent founders or chief promoters of Chinese agriculture. This worship takes place in the middle months of spring and autumn, as well as on other impoitant occasions, when it is THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION. 137 necessary to make announcements to these spirits. The sacrifices are essen- tially of the same character as those previoiisly described. The whole system of Chinese thought is so different from our own, that it is difficult to realise that in these ceremonies the emperor discharges the highest religious functions for almost four hundred millions of people, that he represents them more fully (in idea) than the Pope of Eome represents the members of the Roman Catholic Church, that he accuses himself of any fault which may have brought widespread calamities on the people, and tlxat to the Chinese mind he stands as God on earth. .Nor is it more easy to realise, that in close connection with every exammation-hall m the empire 138 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. is a temple to Confucius, together with a temple containing tablets to Temples to ^^ national sages, both being arranged in a manner similar to Confucius, -tiiat of the temples to deceased ancestors. It is very rare to find any image of Confucius ; but worship is paid before the tablet, which is called, "the place of the soul." There are no prayers, however, to Confucius, the worshipper simply prostrating himself to express his reverential respect. On either side of his tablet down the hall are the tablets of seventy-two of his most distinguished followers, the tablets containing as usual their names and titles. On the entrance gates are inscriptions, such as the following : " The teacher and example for ten thousand generations ; " " Equal with heaven and earth." Sacrifices are offered to the sage at the spring and autumn equinoxes, when oxen and sheep and other animals are killed and skinned, the bodies being then placed on tables in front of his tablet. This offering takes place at 3 a.m., in the presence of the mandarins, and after- wards the flesh is divided among the literate class in the city, and eaten by them. It is scarcely correct to say that Confucius is worshipped as a god ; but the reverence paid to him differs little from any other religious ceremonial among the Chinese, although prayers are not offered to him. Children are taught to bow to Confucius when they enter school, and they do the same when they, in riper years, enter the examination-hall. Thus is justified the title of " the throneless king," which the Chinese commonly give to Confucius. The most important temple of Confucius is that adjoining his tomb, Kiu-fu-hien, his native place, which is chiefly inhabited by his descendants. The principal building is of two stories, the upper verandah rest- Ms native ing On gorgeous marble pillars twenty-two feet high, which at a ^ °^" distance appear as if huge dragons were coiled around them; but they are all cut out of one solid piece of marble. The tiles of the roof are of yellow porcelain. Within is a statue of Confucius eighteen feet high, in a shrine with gorgeous curtains. He is represented as tall, strong, and well-built, with a full red face, and large heavy head. His attitude is serious and contemplative, with eyes gazing upwards. On the tablet is the inscription, " The most holy prescient sage Confucius — his spirit's resting- place." The roof is crowded with tablets in honour of the SEige, lauding him in most extravagant terms. There are separate, smaller and plainer temples in honour of his father and mother, his wife, his ancestors, etc. In one temple are three pictures of Confucius on marble, and a series of en- gravings on marble, illustrating all the principal scenes in his life, with verbal explanations at the side. These number altogether 120 slabs, built into the wall, and are extremely interesting from their representations of ancient dress, furniture, carriages, etc. There is a less elaborate temple to Confucius at Peking, having no statues, -but containing in the court six monuments with yellow-tiled rOofs, Temple at recording foreign conquests of various emperors in the last cen- PeMng. tury, which were thus announced to the spirit of Confucius. The temple includes a great hall, from forty to fifty feet in height, and contains THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION. 139 tablets to the sage and Ms principal disciples. The roof has many tablets to the praise of Confucius ; every fresh emperor adds one. Around this temple are other buildings in which are placed tablets of many celebrated followers of Confucius. * The emperor goes in state twice a year to this temple, and honours the sage by the following invocation, after having twice knelt and six CHINESE AGEICUIiTDEAIi OEKEMONY. times bowed his head to the ground: "Great art thou, perfect Sage! T-hv virtue is fall ; thy doctrine is complete. Among mortal men myocition to there has not been thine equal. All kings honour thee Thy confucms. statues and laws have come gloriously down. Thou art the pattern of this imperial school. Eeverently have the sacrificial vessels been set out. ^ ull of awe we sound our drums and bells." This is followed by the presentation of the appropriate offerings of food, wines, and silk ; a mandarin then reads 14° THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. this prayer: " On this . . . month of this . . . year, I, the emperor, offer a sacrifice to the philosopher Kung, the ancient teacher, the perfect sage, and say, teacher, in virtue equal to Heaven and Earth, whose doctrines embrace the past times and the present, thou didst digest and transmit the six classics, and didst hand down lessons for all generations ! now in this second month of spring (or autumn), in reverent observance of the old statutes, with victims, silks, spirits, and fruits, I carefully offer sacrifice to thee. With thee are associated the philosopher Yen, continuator of thee ; the philosopher Tsang, exhibitor of thy fundamental principles ; the philosopher Tsze-tsze, transmitter of thee ; and the philosopher Mang (Mencius), second to thee. Mayest thou enjoy the offerings ! " (Legge.) Adjoining the temple of Confucius is the Great Hall of the Classics, built by the emperor Kien-lung, a lofty building with long cloisters. Great Hau of containing the complete text of the classics, engraved on about 200 the Classics. \^^^q stones. The hall is a very elaborate structure, in which the emperor enthrones himself once in his reign, at a solemn assembly of all the scholars of the capital, and listens to the reading of a classical essay^ nominally composed by himself. Here we may quote the sixteen maxims of the emperor Kang-hi, about the end of the seventeenth. century, which sum up the principles of Con- The sixteen fucianism as promulgated among the common people. These maxims. ^^^. -^ Esteem most highly filial piety and brotherly submission, in order to give due prominence to the social relations. 2. Behave with generosity to the branches of your kindred, in order to illustrate harmony and benignity. 3. Cultivate peace and concord in your neighbourhoods, in order to prevent quarrels and litigations. 4. Recognise the importance of husbandry and the '"culture of the mulberry-tree, in order to ensure a sufficiency of clothing and food. 5. Show that you prize moderation and economy, in order to prevent the lavish waste of your means. 6. Make much of the colleges and seminaries, in order to make correct the practice of the scholars. 7. Discountenance and banish strange doctrines, in order to exalt the correct doctrine. 8. Describe and explain the laws, in order to warn the ignorant and obstinate, 9. Exhibit clearly propriety and yielding courtesy, in order to make manners and customs good. 10. Labour diligently at your proper callings, in order to give settlement to the aims of the people. 11. Instruct sons and younger brothers, in order to prevent them from doing what is wrong. 12. Put a stop to false accusations, in order to protect the honest and the good. 13. Warn against sheltering deserters, in order to avoid being involved in their "punishments. 14. Promptly and fully pay your taxes, in order to avoid the urgent requisition of your quota. 16. Continue in hundreds and tithings, in order to put an end to thefts and robbery. 16. Study to remove resentments and angry feelings, in order to show the importance due to person and life." The ancestral tablets vary in form and make in different parts of the country. In that we figure (p. 141), as used in the neighbourhood of !Fu- chow, it is made of three blocks of wood, one forming the pedestal, the THE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION. 141 second the back and upper part, and the third the front. In the centre of the latter we see in Chinese characters the name of the reigning dynasty, the title, ancestral, and given name of the person commemorated by the tablet. The name of the son or other person who has erected it is added in smaller characters on the left. If the tablet is erected by a son in memory of his mother, the ancestral name of her father as well as that of her husband is put on the tablet. On the front of the pedestal is seen the image of some fabulovis animal, said to appear only when sages live ; while the upper part of the tablet has the head of the Chinese dragon. The whole tablet varies from nine to ^ eighteen inches in height, and from two to four inches in width ; and the en- graved and lettered portions are usually covered with gold leaf. The tablets for the father and mother are alike, the chief differ- ence being in the inscription. As long as a family lives together, they worship the tablet erected by the eldest son; when it breaks up, each of the younger sons may erect a different tablet, com- memorating all the ancestors of the family ; then, when each younger son dies, his eldest son may erect tablets of the other kind to his father and mother and so the series goes on. After the third or fifth generations they usually cease to be worshipped. As another side of Chinese religious superstition, we will de- scribe the chief of the ^^ ^^^^^ five sacred mountains mountain of ni • m • 1 • Tal-slian. m China, Tai-shan, m the interior of Shan-tung. It is termed on a map, " equal to heaven in merit, and lord of this world." It is beheved to determine births, deaths, misfortune and happiness, honour and dishonour. It has many peaks, and is said to be, of all places under heaven, the most worthy of being visited. At the top of the hill the principal temple contains an ANCBSIKAI. TABLET OF ONE PERSON. 142 THE WORLUS RELIGIONS. image of the " Old Mother," who is held in great veneration, being especially prayed to by sick and unfortunate persons, childless women, etc. The main building is closed all the year round, with merely a hole in the door, through which pilgrims cast money and other offerings. Once a year a great pro- cession marches to this temple, and some official appointed by the emperor opens the building and takes all the contents. Near this is a temple to the god of the Tai-shan mountains, who is termed equal to the Almighty God. Another temple on the highest peak is sacred to the Taoist deity who is active governor of all, under their Trinity. Other temples are erected to Confucius, the god of spring, heaven and earth, and many others belong- ing to the Taoist system. One is to the star Wun-chang, the patron of literature, another to Kwan-ti, the god of war, another to the spirits of women who commit suicide after the death of their husbands. The spirits or gods of fire, of riches, of agriculture, of roads, of land, and grain are all honoured with temples. Mr. Williamson says of the entire sacred city, " A plan of the hill and city gives a very poor idea of the beauty of the place. If the reader, however, causes his imagination to fill the city with streets and shops ; the causeway up the hill to the top with rows of beauti- ful trees on each side; the hills with trees, brushwood, verdure, and rocks, piled rugged and threatening, with waterfalls here and there ; temples of gaudy colours, and strings of pilgrims, old and young, men and women, marching up in Indian file, with richer men among them, in mountain chairs ; small companies sipping tea at the several arches, beggars lying on the road like bundles of living rags, or animated sores, with beggar chil- dren following each company of pilgrims, he will have some idea of the bewildering variety of the scene." Notwithstanding the immense amount and intensity of superstition and blind conservatism in China, there are some signs of progress even within signs of *^® Confucian ranks. Before the rnle of the present dynasty, progress, there was in vogue a strong spirit pf denial of the personality of Shang-ti, the supreme ruler, who was asserted to be nothing but a "prin- ciple " underlying all existence. It was a vague panthesim. Nowadays there is a distinct return to belief in a personal ruler, and it is asked, " Can a principle become angry ? Can a principle be said to approve the actions of men, and be pleased with the offerings of men? Yet these acts are ascribed to Shang-ti in the classical books. Shang-ti, therefore, cannot be a principle, but must be a personal being." Many educated Chinese claim, in answer to Christian missionaries, that they too worship God, who is present in all nature, and that all their study of science is honouring God." What has been the result on the Chinese of the Confucian morality ? asks Dr. Edkins. He replies, that " It has not made them a moral people. Chinese Many of the social virtues are extensively practised among them ; morals, -j^^^ ^^^ exhibit to the observer a lamentable want of moral strength. Commercial integrity and speaking the truth are far less common among them than in Christian countries." It is but fair to add that other competent observers credit the Chinese with quite as much commercial 7 HE CHINESE MODERN STATE RELIGION 143 integrity as Europeans, if not more. As to a future life, it is scarcely ■within tlie scope of Confucianism, though, this encourages so much i^e^s of reverence and prayer to ancestral spirits. Confucius, as we have ^ ^**'"'® ™®- seen, did not care -to discuss supernatiiral appearances or spirits ; and it is difficult to say that Confucius believed anything definite on the subject ; the beliefs of Taoists or Buddhists are far more extensive and definite. No doubt the continued existence of the souls of the departed is believed, but their happiness is mainly dependent upon the honour paid to them by the living. Dr. Edkins says, that according to the strict Confucian doctrine, there is no heaven in the "Western sense. " The soul, if it does not return to its elements and become for ever dissipated, exists in a widowed and lonely state, hopeless and helpless. The time of its enjoyment as a con- scious individual agent has passed. It is only during the period of union with the body that it can be called happy, except in receiving the approval and reverence of posterity." ! People who have not visited and studied China have little conception of the strength of the obstacles to religious change there. In fact, the whole power of the State is combined with reHgion to maintain o^g^.g^gigg the divine authority and representative character of the emperor, to religious This has been impressed on Chinese minds for thousands of years, "^ ^°^^" and is about as deep-seated in them as the feeling " I must eat " is in the body. Ignorance and contempt of foreign ideas, deep-seated as those of the Chinese, can be overcome sooner than this prejudice and prepossession in favour of their emperor, which in its turn supports the sacrifices and beliefs of the State religion. It might be imagined that filial reverence and an- cestor worship, a "respect for the dead indicative of noble feelings," were favourable to enlightenment ; but it is a most powerful support to early betrothals and polygamy, for the Chinaman cannot bear the possibility of having no descendants to provide the sacrifices for him in his turn. The power which this regard for ancestors and for every ancient custom exer- cises is enormous in preventing change. Though change does come, as seen in the progress of Buddhism and Mohammedanism, such tendency to change as there is by no means favours the adoption of European ideas. [J. Edkins, '■ Eeligion in China " ; S. Wells Williams, " The Middle Kingdom " ; A. WilHainson , " Journeys in North China."] II. TAOISM, CHAPTER IV. Life of Lao-tze— Antagonism to Confucius— Interviews with Confucius— Lao-tze's disUlse of profes- sions—The Tao-te-king— The mystery of existence— The relativity of things— The sublime Tao or Way— What may be done— Characters of Tao— The conduct of the good man— Self-deprecia- tion, humility, reality, frugality— Imaginary interpretations— Originality of Lao-tze. COKFUCIUS sought to rectify evils by rectifying names ; but tbere was already a living pbilosoplier, wliom he visited, who had elaborated a very different mode of mending the world. Lao-tze (" the Venerable Life of Philosopher "), the accredited founder of Taoism, is most authen- Lao-tze. tically known to us by the narratives of the Confucian school, probably compiled in the third century a.d. from old records, and from the brief history of Lao-tze in the historical records of Sze-ma Chien dating from about b.c. 100. "We need not relate the mythical accounts given of him, which are full of marvels ;■• but he appears to have.been born in the State of Chu, in the present province of Ho-nan, about 604 b.c. He became one of the royal recorders at the court of Chow, having charge of the royal library. Thus there can be little doubt of his having had great historical knowledge. At least one interview took place between Confucius and 144 LAO-TZE. MS Lao-tze, to -which, we have already referred. Chien's brief account says : " Lao-tze cultivated the Tao and virtue, his chief aim in his studies being how to keep himself concealed and unknown. He resided at the capital of Chow ; but after a long time, seeing the decay of the dynasty, he left it, and went away to the gate leading from the royal domain into the regions beyond. Yin Hsi, the warden of the gate, said to him : ' You are about to withdraw yourself out of sight ; I pray you to compose for me a book before you go.' On this Lao-tze made a writing, setting forth his views on the Tao and virtue, in two sections, containing more than 5000 characters. He then went away, and it is not known where he died." Chien further relates that Lao-tze was a superior man, who liked to keep in obscurity^ and concludes his narrative with the following statement : — " Those who attach themselves to the doctrine of Lao-tze condemn that of the Antagonism literati (the followers of Confucius), and the literati on their part *» c<"if'i<=i'is- condemn Lao-tze ; thus verifying the saying, ' Parties whose principles are different cannot take counsel together.' Lao-tze taught that transformation follows, as a matter of course, the doing nothing to bring it about, and rectification ensues in the same way from being pure and still." The most interesting records about Lao-tze, apart from his book, are those connected with Confucius. It is difiicult to come to a conclusion as to their authenticity, but they at any rate preserve for us very early .^^^^^-^^^^ beliefs as to the antagonism between their principles and modes ^^^^ of thought. Even the flow of language of Confucius was distasteful to Lao-tze, who told him in plain terms : " If it be known that he who talks errs by excess in arguing, and that he who hears is confused by too much talk, the Way can never be forgotten." According to this expression, the Way consists neither in excess of arguing nor in too much talk. Con- fucius was very unsuccessful in interesting Lao-tze in his views about the ancients ; the Old Philosopher retorted upon his junior in this wise : " The men of whom you speak are dead, and their bones are mouldered into dust ; only their words remain. Moreover, when the superior man gets his oppor- tunity he mounts aloft and takes office; and if he does not get his opportunity, he goes through life like a wisp of straw rollmg over sand. I have heard that a good merchant, who has his treasure-house well stored, appears devoid of resources, and that the superior man of perfect excellence has an outward semblance of stupidity. Put away, sir, your haughty airs and many desires, your insinuating habit and extravagant will ; these are all unprofitable to you. This is all I have to say to you." It is evident, if this be authentic, that there was little sympathy between the two. Lao-tze disHked Confucius as a formal and conventional teacher, extravagantly conservative; the latter regarded Lao-tze as a dragon soaring into the clouds far beyond his practical mind. When Lao-tze beheld Confucius studving tte Book of Changes, which, according to him, treated of humanity and justice, he replied : " The justice and humanity of the day are no more than empty names; they only serve as a mask to cruelty, and trouble the hearts of men ; disorder was never more rife than at present. The pigeon L 146 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. does not bathe all day to make itself wiite ; nor does tke crow paint itself each, morniag to make itself black. . . . So, sir, if you cultivate tke Way, if you throw yourself towards it with all your soul, you will arrive at it. To what good is humanity and justice ? . . . Master, you only trouble man's nature." Here we see again how fundamentally Lao-tze is contrasted with Con- fucius. He despised the latter's rectification of names — practising humanity Lao-tze's ^^^ calHng it humanity, practising reverence towards parents dislike of and calling it filial piety, etc. To profess a thing, in Lao-tze's ■ mind, was to lack it. The generous man needs not to profess generosity, nor the loyal man loyalty. If these virtues really exist, they need not be named or professed ; the profession of them signifies their absence. Try as he would, Confucius could not fathom the "Way which Lao-tze desired to set before him ; but it was evidently a mystery not easy for him to understand. " If," said Lao-tze, " the "Way could be offered to men, there is no one who would not wish to present it to his parents ; if it could be transmitted to men, there is no one who would not wish to transmit it to his children. "Why then are you not able to acquire it ? This is the reason ; you are incapable of giving it an asylum at the bottom of your heart." Confucius brought forward his literary labours and compositions, but Lao-tze objected : " That with which you occupy yourself results only in obsolete examples, and all you do is to walk in the footprints of the past, without producing anything new." "We do not gather a very pleasant view of Lao-tze's amiability from these narratives ; they may perhaps be more readily accounted for when we consider that Confucius was fifty years younger than the Old Philosopher, who was not disinclined to use the privileges always accorded to age in China. Lao-tze's single book, the Tao-te-king, is brief and exceedingly con- densed, containing a few more than five thousand characters. It begins thus : — The " The "Way (Tao) that can be spoken is not the Eternal Way. Tao-te-king. The Name that can be named is not the Eternal Name. Nameless, the Way is the Source of Heaven and Earth ; Named, it is the Mother of all beings. He that is free from selfish desires shall behold it in the spirit; He that is possessed by passions, in the outward form alone, And those two are one in substance, though differing in name ; Depth, and the depth of depths, the entrance to all spiritual life." Thus did Lao-tze seek to penetrate the mystery ot creation and exist- ence ; with one straight flight reaching as far as man can know, — if indeed The mystery any such speculation can be termed knowledge, — and realising of existence, the difference between those who penetrate behind the veil of physical nature, and those who are dominated by physical nature. By these few sentences Lao-tze shows himself to be indeed a master philosopher thougb struggling to express a conception which he could hardly define, and which by the nature of the case transcended his powers ; struggling. LAO-TZE. 147 moreover, to speak in a language which, possessed little pliancy for such a purpose. Lao-tze realised the relativity of things ; that good implied its contrast, evil ; beauty, ugliness. The sage, he said, would confine himself to what is without effort, acting without presuming on the result, completing his work, but assuming no position for himself. A singular view relativity of of his is, that not exalting worth keeps people from rivalry, as ^^^' not prizing things hard to procure keeps them from theft. His plan of government consists in keeping the people from the knowledge and desire of evil, and in makirg those that have the knowledge not dare to act. The sublime Way, or Tao, which the philosopher imagines, even appears to him to have been before Shang-ti (the Supreme Being). Heaven and earth last long, he says, though not aiming at life ; so the sage The sublime puts himself last and yet is first, abandons himself and yet is '^^°' °^ ^^y- preserved. Is not this, he asks, through his having no selfishness ? Pur- suing this idea of self-abnegation, Lao-tze says: "When a work of merit is done and reputation is coming, to get out of the way is the Way of Heaven." In Section Ten, " What may be done," the old philosopher rises to an elevation immeasurably beyond Confucius. " By undivided attention to the passion-nature, and increasing tenderness, it is possible to be a what may little child. By putting away impurity from the hidden eye of ''^ ^<"i«-- the heart, it is possible to be without spot. By loving the people, and so governing the nation, it is possible to be unknown. One may be bright and transparent on all sides, and yet be unknown. To produce and to nourish, to produce and to have not, to act and expect not, to enlarge and cut not off — this is called sublime virtue." (C.) Again, he ^ays that virtue- in its grandest aspect is simply following the Way (Tao), which indeed is a thing impalpable, yet containing forms and ideas ; it is immaterial, unchangeable, all-pervading, giving characters life to all, supporting a,ll, and lording it over none. It is ever "^Tao. inactive, yet leaves nothing undone. Without striving, ib conquers ; with- out speaking, it answers ; without calling, men come to it of themselves. The net of heaven has very wide meshes, yet misses nothing. The word Tao, however, signifies more than the Way. As Professor Douglas puts it, it is the Way aad the way-goer ; it is an eternal road along which all beings and things walk. No Being made it, for it is Being itself; it is everything and no4hing, and the cause and effect of all. All things originate from it, conform to- it, and at last return to it. Thus Tao stands for the Absolute Deity, and all the phenomena produced by Him, and also for the good man's nature and principles. The conduct of the good man constitutes the subject of many sections of the Tao-te-king ; and the remainder of it consists of Lao-tze's ^^^ conduct political system. Nothing is more prominent than his opposition ^^^^'^^^ to self-display. " He who is self-displaying does not shine. He who is self-approving is not held i7> esteem. He who is self-promismg 148 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. has no merit. He who is self-exalting does not stand high." In fact, it is Self- not possible to go beyond Lao-tze in self-depreciation. In one depredation. p][ace he says : " In mind how like I am to the fool. I am all in a maze. The common people are brightly intelligent ; I alone seem to be in the dark. I am tossed as the ocean ; I roll as if never to stop. All other men have something that they can do ; I alone am good for nothing, and despicable. I alone differ from other people, but I glory in my nursing mother (Tao)." Again he says, that any one wishing to reform the world will never have done. The spiritual vessels of the world must not be made. He that makes mars. He that grasps loses. While one goes ahead, an- other will lag behind. While one blows hot, another will blow cold. Therefore the wise man simply puts away all excess and gaiety' and grandeur. . . . He who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mighty. He who knows when he has enough is rich. Tie who dies, but perishes not, enjoys longevity." Again, he says : " True goodness and humanity are good, because they make no account of mere doing. The great man abides by the solid, and Humiuty never rests in what is flimsy." Three things he held precious, reality, compassion, frugality, and humility. The good should be treated with goodness, and also the not-good. Virtue is good, absolutely. The faithful should be met with faith, and also the not-faithful. Virtue is faithful, absolutely. The sage thinks of all the people as his children. He takes care of his own part of the contract, and exacts nothing of others. He who knows his true life shall fear no wild beast, nor needs he armour in the armed host. He has no mortal part. The saint hoards not ; the more he does for others, the more he has of his own. The more he gives to others, the more he is increased. " This is the Way of Heaven, which benefits and does not injure. This is the Way of the sage, who acts but does not strive." So ends this small but remarkable book. We cannot go into the political teachings of Lao-tze, which are based apon his moral system. The government should be conducted by the best people, who should rule through humility and service, repressing selfishness. Reality, rather than over-regulation, should be aimed at. Nor can we dis- cuss the fanciful views of Jrioman Catholic missionaries, who have imagined Imaginary in- that they found many things about the Trinity in Lao-tze's terpretations. mystic utterances. Some have even beheved that the following passages contained the characters of the Hebrew name for Grod (Jehovah or Jahveh). " That which is as though it were visible, and yet cannot be seen, is called KM (to be read i), that which is visible and yet speaks not to the ears is called Hi, that which is as though it were within one's reach, and yet cannot be touched, is called Wei." However, we cannot but place Lao-tze ahead of all the sages of the Oriental world whose outline is clearly originauty seen by us. Even Buddha cannot be held to surpass him in of Lao-tze. range and originality of thought, although he went beyond hun in practicality of ideas. The man, who six centuries before Christ, invented or endorsed the view that, " He who bears the reproach of his country shall LAO-TZE. 149 be called tlie Lord of the land, and lie who bears the calamities of his country shall be called King of the world," well deserves to be held in per- petual remembrance. In teaching that goodness was to be manifested equally to the good and the evil, faithfulness to the faithful and the un- faithful, he rose beyond every teacher of the East except the Founder of Christianity. Lao-tze was not the founder of a religion, yet his name is identified with one, and he is regarded as the founder of modern Taoism. This, however, is so diiferent from anything that he imagined or originated, that it must be dealt with in a separate chapter. [Chalmers, "The Speculations of 'The Old Philosopher,' Lau-tsze" (C). Doolittle, "Social Life of the Chinese." Douglas's " Confucianism and Taouism." Legge, " The Eehgions of China. In " Chuang Tzu," 1889, Mr. H. A. Giles attacks the Tao-te-king, saying, that while it undoubtedly contains many of Lao-tze's sayings, it contains much that he never said and never could have said, belonging rather to the period when the pure Tao began to be corrupted by alcbemistic research and gropinga after the elixir of life.] TAOIST PKIBST, TALI. THE THKEE PUEE ONES {see p. 157). CHAPTER V. liebelopinent mxH present Conliitton of Caoiefm. Deyelopment of Taoism— Lleh-tze's teaohirg—Chwang-tze— Desire of longevity favoured magic— The Chin-jin— Temple to Lao-tze— Ups and downs of Taoism— Tlie use of charms— Asceticism- Public -worsMp-Reported reappearances of Lao-tze^WalMng through Are— Sects of Taoists— The Book of Blessings— Book of Actions and Retributions— Great number of Taoist deities— The Three Pure Ones— Yuh-hwang Shang-ti— Wan-chai^— Deiaed powers of nature and deified men —A Taoist temple— Several trinities- Kwan-ti, the god of war— Purgatory and remission- Horrible punishments— Dread of evU spirits— The feng-shui— Selection of graves and sites. LAO-TZE'S life, retiring and inconspicuous, left no such mark on the Chinese character as that of Confucius, public and ever seeking to regulate the outward life. His thoughts were as alien to the average Development Chinese mind as those of Confucius were in accord with it. of Taoism. 'VV'hile Confucius satisfied every one who was proud of his coun- try and its ancient kings, Lao-tze was only welcomed by those who were discontented with the whole state of society. How then has Taoism be- come a great system or congeries of behefs and practices, constituting a more widely preva.lent religion than even Confucianism ? The answer is, that it gradually, in developing, adapted itself to popular beliefs and created new Lieh-tze's superstitions. Already, in the fifth century b.c, Lieh-tze, a fol- teaohing. lower of Lao-tze, is found introducing magical marvels and preaching a philosophy, not of self-depreciation, humility, and frugality, but one of selfish enjoyment and absence of anxiety. Since death was close at hand, he would enjoy to-day, leaving to-morrow to take care of itself. He describes imaginary states of happiness seen in dreams, where life was satisfactory because desires were kept within bounds, and the people cared for nothing and feared nothing. To this he added particulars of the fairy- tale type, depicting people walking in water without being drowned sur- rounded by fire and not burnt, cut without being hurt, etc. Thus he fostered belief in magical possibilities. Thus he travestied Lao-tze's teach- ing about the possible union of mankind with the spirit pervading the universe, and so becoming superior to the kWs of nature. He. tells many wondrous tales of magic and conjuring — of a man who after three months' DEVELOPMENT OF TAOISM. 151 deep thought was able to change the seasons and produce ice in summer and thunder in winter, etc. He further advances a scheme of creation by spirits or gods, whom he named "The great Change," " The great Begin- ning," " The great First," and " The great Pure." So much, however, was Lieh-tze's teaching adapted to the popular ignorance, that it was readily swallowed ; and its countenance of sensual and selfish enjoyment made it the more acceptable. Chwang-tze, a little later, contemporary with Mencius, adhered more closely to Lao-tze, and was strongly antagonistic to the Confucians. He preached the vanity of human effort, disliking efforts and strug- gji^ang-tze gles to become benevolent and righteous, as well as ceaseless attempts to observe the rules of propriety. He believed that Tao and virtue were being destroyed by the very endeavours to establish benevolence and righteousness by works. Scholars and sages, as well as mean men, were greedy after some object ; and Chwang-tze did not consider that the difference in their objects entitled the former to praise. All were outraging nature. Chwang-tze went further, and doubted the reality of personal existence ; everything was a series of phantasms. He cared to live, but was indifferent to death ; for, he said, " I will have heaven and earth for my sarcophagus, the sun and moon shall be the insignia when I lie m state, and all creation shall be the mourners at my funeral." He did not object to his body being exposed to the birds. " What matters it ? Above are the birds of the air ; below are the worms and ants. If you rob one to feed the other, what injustice is there done ? " It is readily seen that Chwang- tze had no teaching which could elevate. Thus the loftier parts of Lao- tze's teaching found little favour, especially its features of humility and self-depreciation ; while magic and charms gradually assumed prominence. Everybody wanted to live as long as possible, and already m Che-hwang- ti's time charms to confer this boon were loudly vaunted ; and De^ire_of the king himself exempted the Taoist books from the general favoured destruction of literature which he endeavoured to bring about. _ Jn^gic. Such a behever was likely, as he did, to favour professors of magical arts, who promised him riches and long life, and to spend vast sums m expe- ditions in search of various wonders. These professors called themselves the Chin-jin or true men, and gave themselves credit for being able ^^^ ^^^j^^ to achieve all sorts of impossibilities. Their death put an end to their prophecies ; but their allies always gave out that they had disappeared into an unknown paradise. These professors made themselves more and more essential to the Chinese emperors of several dynasties, and m fact con- stituted themselves a priesthood; and emperors and priests devoted them- selves to a search for the elixir of life and the philosopher s stone, leaving on one side all the lofty teachings of Lao-tze. ■' But about the time of the Christian era these magicians were played out, and both Confucianism and the teaching of Lao-tze revived Tempieto Dukng the reign of the Emperor Hwan (a.b. 147-168) impenal sacrifices were Lt offered in the temple dedicated to Lao-tze at Ku-hien, THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. his supposed birth-place. Buddhism was now rapidly advancing in favour, and began to influence Taoism, so that legends of Lao-tze appeared, bearing a great resemblance to those about Buddha. For a long time after Hwan's reign Taoism languished; and in the fourth century all religious orders Upsand "^®^® abolished, including , the Taoist magicians and doctors. downs of But in the fifth century a Taoist became the emperor Tai-wu-ti's ^°'^'°" adviser, and persuaded his master to avow his adhesion to Taoism by accepting a magical charm, signifying that by practising benevolence, love, rest, and self-rectification, he had won long life and become in- corporated with Tao. This charm consisted of a white book, containing 5,000 characters giving the names of the officers of heaven, and various incantations for deceiving demons. "Ko-hung, a Taoist doctor in the fourth century, thus described the use of charms. " All mountains," he said, " are inhabited by evil spirits. ^ If The use of the traveller has no protection, he will fall into some calamity. charms. _ _ _ Mountains should not be traversed during the winter ; the third month is the best, and then a lucky day should be chosen for setting out. Fasting and purification for several days beforehand are necessary, and a suitable charm should be worn on the person. Sometimes a mirror is needed ; for living things, when they grow old, can all, by means of their pure part, assume the human form. In such cases their true forms can be infallibly detected by means of a mirror, which should be nine inches in diameter, and suspended from the neck behind. These deceiving elves do not dare to approach it ; or if one should approach, bent on mischief to the wayfarer, a glance in the mirror at the reflected image of the monster will reveal its true form." The influence of Buddhism led the Taoists to adopt a kind of asceticism, not with the object of gaining absorption in Tao, but in order to gain length of years. Sitting still and cross-legged in an upright position, the devotee was supposed to diminish the expenditure of vital energy, to repress the passions, and so ward off death. No doubt- many as3etics attained a great age, and thus increased the vogue of the system. Next Taoism became developed in the direction of public worship, and temples and monasteries were built in the fifth century for the Taoists, PuhUo resembling so closely those of the Buddhists as to lead to frequent worship, quarrels between them. The Buddhists, as originally foreign immigrants into China, were pointed at for expulsion by the Taoists, whom the former in turn called jugglers. The Emperor Woo, after his ascent to the throne (a.d. 566) held a great assembly of priests and learned men to discuss the three contending religious systems, and finally gave his decision in favour of Confucianism, placing Taoism after it, and Buddhism last ; a little later he abolished the two latter. Soon another change was brought about by the Emperor Tsing (a.d. 580) who again recognised them, and commanded that in every temple where there were statues of Bixddha and Lao-tze (termed " the honoured one of heaven ") they should be placed in positions of equal honour. We cannot follow the varied fortunes of Taoism DEVELOPMENT OF TAOISM. IS3 and the other religions during succeeding ages, now one gaining ascend- ency, now another. More than once Lao-tze was reported to have appeared \\ -->! r?f*^ J J #n^|?T^ r '* ttea ' f %^MM r '?, TEMPLE IN MOUNTAINS OF FOKBIN. »ftc..^^^v.„.u^,. ^.0 his being dignified with til ..„.„ Sige Ancestor, and the distribution of his Tao-te-kmg throughout of Lao-tze. again on earth, leading to his being dignified with Jj^^^^^f^^^^^^^.'"!!/^^^?^^ IS4 THE. WORLD'S RELIGIONS. -the empire. At one period the Taoist priests or doctors married, and engaged in ordinary occupations ; at another they were forbidden to marry, and the Buddhists were compelled to accept some of them as rulers of their religion. The Manchus again put down the Buddhists, while the Mongols of Jenghiz Khan found in them apt representatives of their own sorcerers and soothsayers. In the time of Kublai Khan they held great Walking festivals to the "High Emperor of the Sombre Heavens," and through fire, walked through a great fire barefoot, preceded by their priests, bearing images of their gods in their arms. Notwithstanding the severe burns they always received, they constantly asserted, that if they possessed a sincere mind they would not be hurt by the fire. Later emperors now favoured, now tabooed the influential religion of the Taoists, who kept their hold on the people. The Manchu emperors of the seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries promulgated penal decrees against them. Their sects had grown so nu- merous and interfered so much with common life, that the emperor Chang-hi commanded that all members of the Do-nothing, the White Sects of ^ilj) the Incense-burners, the Hung, Taoists. ^Q Origin of Chaos, the Origin of the Dragon, and the Great Vehicle sects should be treated as criminals. But superstition dies hard, and at the present day Taoism is more firmly seated in China than ever. Before describing the present state and practices of Taoism, we must give some account The Book of of two books which, much more than Blessings, ^j^q ' Tao-te-king, are the literary guides of the Taoists, namely, the Kan-ying- peen, or " Book of Actions and their Retribu- CB.KBML TO WAKD OFF EVIL SPIBITS FBOM A^^ItlDF). tions," otherwise translated " Book of Rewards and Punishments," and the Yin-chi-wan, or Book of Secret Blessings. The latter is pro- bably ancient, and is supposed to have- been written by the god Wan-chang Te-cheun ; but it has no reference to the special doctrines of the Taoists. It exclusively relates to moral questions, and being very short, containing only 541 words, it is widely distributed, and is given away freely by well- disposed persons. With comments and pictures, some editions form a con- siderable volume. Many of its precepts are of a high quality, thus : " Use not thy riches to oppress the poor. Invite to virtue by practising it in body and soul. Hide the faults of others and make known their virtues. Let not thy tongue say what thy heart denies. Grive to posterity the instruction that will reform mankind. Surrender thy riches for the good of the human race. In action be conformed to Heavenly Reason ; in speech, to the moral sense of humanity. Examine thy conscience in the solitude of thy bed." Its general principle is the necessity of purifying the heart. DEVELOPMENT OF TAOISM. 155 Straightforwardness, compassion, fidelity to friends and masters, filial con- duct to friends, are among the virtues inculcated. The hungry are to be fed, the naked clothed, and the dead buried. The poor and unfortunate must be kindly treated, the aged .honoured, the sick and thirsty succoured, the good loved. A neighbour's faults are to be hidden, and only their good deeds published. Just weights and measures only are to be used, and the people are not to be overtaxed. Animals are to be protected, even insects in the forests. Travellers are to be guided and helped ; stones and debris are to be removed from the roadway, and footpaths and bridges repaired. We can scarcely credit such a book with other than a good influence ; yet, in spite of it, the lives of the Chinese contradict many of its precepts, as those of Christian peoples discredit the teachings of the New Testament. The Book of Actions and Retributions is still more widely read, and has been called the Bible of the Taoists. It consists ^ „ , , The Book of mainly of some two hundred pre- Actions and cepts as to good and bad conduct, ^®*"''^*'°''^" ascribed without grounds to Lao-tze himself, but probably not dating more than a few cen- turies back. It is in' such a form that Chinese of all religions can accept its precepts, though they may not believe in the connecting frame- work. It begins by asserting that there are no special doors for calamity and blessing, which come as men call them ; meaning, that our bad and good fortunes are not determined in ad- vance, but come in accordance with our conduct. Recompenses follow good and evil actions as the shadow follows the substance. It is then stated that spirits exist in heaven and earth which search out the faults of men, and shorten their lives by periods of a hundred days, accord- ing to the gravity of their offences. This cur- tailment of life is attended by numerous calamities, punishments, and mis- fortunes. ■ Many of these spirits are named, some dwelling in the bodies of men, one being the spirit of the hearth in each household. These go on stated days to the palace of Heaven, to report on men's conduct. This preliminary is followed by a considerable number of positive moral precepts, in the main like those of .the Book of Secret Blessings. Of the man who keeps them, it is said that all men respect him and Heaven protects him, the spirits defend him, and demons flee from him. Whatso- ever he does shall prosper, and he may hope to become an Immortal. If he desires to be an Immortal of heaven, he must do 1,300 good works ; but 300 will suffice to make him an immortal of earth. Next follow more than two hundred prohibitions of conduct characteristic of the bad man, many bemg those of universal morality, others specially characteristic of the Chinese, KU-SING, A GOD OF LITERATUBE. iS6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. such as, "Do not introduce vexatious reforms into the administration of the empire ; do not shoot at birds nor hunt animals ; do not drive insects from their holes, nor frighten roosting birds ; do not bury the effigy of a man to charm away his life.; do not listen to what your wife and concu- bines say ; do not kill and cook domestic animals, except in accordance with the rites ; do not abuse the spirits ; do not leap over a well or a hearth, thus insulting the gods ; do not pass either over food or over men ; do not kill your children, either before or after birth." Several refer to ordinary Chinese practices. " Do not sing and dance on the last day of the month or year ; do not weep or spit towards the north, where resides the prince of the stars of the north ; do not rise in the night naked, a crime against the gods, who walk abroad at night ; " and so on. Towards the end of the book we find the statement, that when a man MA-CHU, GODDESS OF SAILOKS, AND HER TWO ASSISTANTS. takes unjustly the riches of others, the spirits calculate the number of his wives and children, and make them die one by one as a retribution, or cause him to suffer disasters by fire, flood, thieves, sickness, or slander. Finally, the treatise ends with the following sentence : " When one's mind is directed to good, though the good be not yet done, the good spirits follow him ; and when one's mind is directed to evil, though the evil be not yet done, the evil spirits follow him. If he has done the wicked thing, and afterwards alters his way and repents, not doing anything wicked, but endeavouring to do everything good, after a time he will obtain good fortune and prosperity : this is changing calamity into blessing." " The words, looks, and deeds of the good man are all good. If all these are seen to be so every day, after three years Heaven will surely send down blessing on him. The words, looks, and deeds of the bad man are all evil. Should you not exert yourself to do what is good ? " MODERN TAOISM. 157 But modern Taoism is largely a religion of gods and spirits and demons. Originally it had no special objects of worship, though Shang-ti, the supreme God, and various nature and ancestral spirits were g^.^^^. ^^^^^^^^ believed in. The great development of Taoist ideas about ofTaoist deities is generally believed to have been due to the advent of Buddhism. In imitation of the honour pa;id to Buddha, Lao-tze was deified, and represented as the third member of a divine trinity ; or the The Three trinity is represented as the same person in different ineama- P^eOnes. tions. The trinity is known as San-tsing, the Three Pure Ones, the images of which are always to been seen in Taoist temples. According to Edkins, the highest god of the Taoists of the present day, Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, dwells in the heavens, being their creator and sus- KWAN-TI, OOD OP WAB. GOD OF THIEVES. tainer, and the source of all truth; he is immaterial and spontaneous. The second divinity, Wan-chang, presides over literature, and yuh-kwang is the.diffuser of renovating influences. The third is Lao-tze. Shang-ti. Wan-chang is officially worshipped at every altar twice each ^^^_^^^^ year by representatives of the emperor. Part of the invocation to him runs thus ; " From generation to generation thou hast sent thy miraculous influenca down upon earth. Thou hast been the lord and governor of learning among men. In upholding that which is right, long hast thou brightly shone and stirred up hearts to thankfulness. . . . May the fumes of this sacrifice and the odour thereof be acceptable to thee Look down, we beseech thee, on our devotion and our humihty." Not only is imperial worship paid to Wan-chang, but there are temples in every city dedicated to him, often adjoining the colleges. In the prm- 158 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. cipal hall of the temple may be seen an altar and shrine, within which is " a venerable figure, seated in calm and dignified repose, a benign expres- sion manifested in the gilded features, and a flowing beard descending to the lap upon which the hands lie folded. In front stand the narrow per- pendicular tablets, set in deep frameworks of elaborate carving, which in- dicate the titles of the object of worship." In Canton alone there are ten of these temples. His principal temple is at Chu-tung-yun, where "Wan-' chang is said to have been born, or rather incarnated, for, as with many others of their gods, it is said that a star descended and became incarnate, PASSING THROUGH THE DOOK. not once, but many times, in virtuous men ; his representative in the heavens is a small constellation near the Great Bear. The great regard paid to this deity by the student class in China shows that Taoism has deeply influenced Confucians, in spite of the old antagonism between these two systems. The image of Ku-sing, the god of Literature, we figure, is placed directly in front of "Wu-chang's ; he represents a particular star. There is practically no end to the multitude of Taoist deities now Deified worshipped; and it is this, with their ancestor- worship, which natofaS-d gi^^^s rise to the saying that in China more gods are worshipped deified men. than there are people. They belong to two main classes, deified MODERN TAOISM. 159 powers of nature and deified men. There are sea and river gods, star gods, weather gods, agricultural gods. On the sea-coast may be found temples to the spirit of the sea, the king of the sea, and the god of the tide. Dragon-kings have th-eir shrines on the banks of the rivers ; they are sup- posed to reside partly in air, partly in water. Any remarkable phenomenon in the sky or water is often pointed at as a dragon. Many of the stars are worshipped as gods, and are regarded as sublimated essences of material things. The earth is described as made up of five kinds of matter, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth ; and these are all said to have souls or essences, which when highly purified rose to the starry heavens and became planets, Mercury being the essence of water, Venus of metal, Mars of fire, Jupiter SACRIFICE TO GOD OF KITCHEN. of wood and Saturn of earth. The fixed stars are also essences or souls of matter, and there are other invisible ones, which are also called stars by the Chinese. "In this way," says Edkins, " the word star has come to have, in the Chinese language, a meaning additional to the common one. A living material soul, the sublimated essence of matter, is so denominated." The Taoists see in the starry firmament the upper portions of the sea of ether of which our atmosphere forms the lower part. In it the star divinities revolve and powerfully infiuenoe the fortunes of men. So it comes to pass that alchemy and astrology, dealing with essences and stars, are so important in the Taoist religion and in Chinese thought. We cannot devote space to any fuller account of these deities. It is evident that the task would be endless, while a specimen suffices to indi- i6o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS cate their nature. Nor can we recount the numberless legends of imaginary ATaoist genii or spirits, some of islands and mountains, some celestial temple, ^^fj residing in various heavens. A complete Taoist temple makes provision for. all aspects of the popular Taoist beliefs. There are halls set apart for the superior and inferior divinities, corresponding to the heavens in which they are believed to dwell, and some of them are repre- sented by images. Among them are to be found ancestral worthies, hermits and alchemists, termed collectively Seen-jin ; and among higher deities the great god, Yuh-hwang Shang-ti, and the . Three Pure Ones already mentioned have the highest place. The former they identify with the Confucian Shang-ti, and make him out to be the ancestor of the hereditary chief priest of their religion, whose family name is Chang. The birthday of the god is kept on the ninth day of the first month. The Taoists have other trinities besides the Three Pure Ones ; one is that formed by the gods of happi- severai ness, rank, and old age. trinities. These are stars and star gods, and are very common sub- jects for Chinese paintings and carvings. Another trinity is the San-kwan, the three rulers of heaven, earth, and water, said to form in their unity one great god, and to send down good and ill fortune on men and save the lost. Another important divinity is the god of riches, worshipped by the trading classes, who believe he causes their profits and losses. The number of temples erected to BBiNGiNG BACK THE soTiL OF A SICK MAN INTO HIS him is Very great. There is even CLOTHES ON THE BAMBOO. ^ g^^j o£ Thievcs, worshipped by those who wish to gain wealth. The State gods have been readily adopted by the Taoists, who in most cases discharge the rites for them. Among Kwan-ti, the recent additions to the list is Kwan-ti, the god of war, who god of wax. .^as raised to the rank of a god in 1856, and made equal to Confucius in particular, because of a victory over the Tai-pings. The de- scription of many of the gods shows a Buddhist colouring, and the style of many of the prayers is Buddhistic, exhibiting similar views of the universe and of the interference of divinities in the affairs of men. A recent further development of Taoism adopts the Byiddhist ideas of transmigration of souls in a very gross form, together with an elaborate purgatory and hell. A book called the Divine Panorama, said and to be published by the mercy of Yu-ti (the same as Yu-hwang remission. g]jajjg..ti), that men and women may repent and make atonement for their sins, gives a full account of it. In it the souls of men are said to MODERN TAOISM. i6i live for ever, and retribution is declared for all evil done in this life. There are said to be ten courts of justice at the bottom of a great ocean under the crust of the earth, and pictures of the punishments inflicted are shown in the temple of the " Spirit of the Eastern Mountain," an ap-. pendage of the temple of the greater tu- telary deity of each provincial city. It is related that on the birthday of the saviour, Pu-sa (a brief Chinese rendering of the Buddhist Bodhi sattva, or one who has only to pass through one more human life be- fore attaining Buddhahood, but used by the Chinese for a deity in general, and here for the ruler of the infernal regions), as the spirits of purgatory were offering their congratulations, the ruler of the infernal regions said : " My wish is to release all souls, and every moon as the day comes round, I would wholly or partially remit the punishment of erring shades, and give them life once more in one of the six paths (the six kinds of existence, see .Buddhism later). But also the wicked are many, and the virtuous few. Nevertheless the punish- ments in the dark region are too severe and require some modiflcation. Any wicked soul that repents and induces one or two others to do likewise, shall be allowed to set this off against the punishment which should be inflicted. The judges of the ten courts then agreed that all who lead virtuous lives from their youth upwards shall be escorted at their death to the land of the immortals; that all whose balance of good and evil is exact, shall escape the bitterness of the three states (hell, pretas, and animals) and be born again among men ; that those who have re- paid their debts of gratitude and friendship, and fulfilled their destiny, yet have a balance of evil against them, shall pass through the various courts of purgatory, and then be born again among men, rich, poor, old, young, diseased or crippled, to be put a second time upon trial. Then, if they behave well, they may enter into some happy state; but if badly, they will be dragged by horrid devils . , , through ail the courts, suffering bitterly as they go, and wul again be born M ' TALL WHITE DEVIL." ' SHORT BLACK DEVIL." 1 62 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. to endure in life tlie uttermost of poverty and wretchedness, in death the everlasting tortures of hell." (Appendix to Griles's translation of " Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.") This relaxaition in severity of punishments, having been approved by the judges of the ten courts, was sanctioned by the ruler Pu-sa, and then submitted to Yu-ti, who authorised it, and added that any mortal who repented and had had two punishments remitted, if he succeeded in doing ' five virtuous acts, should escape all punishment and be born again in some happy state ; if a woman, she should be re-born as a man. More than five- such acts should enable a soul to obtain the salvation of others, and redeem his wife and family from hell. The description of the various courts as given is too long to quote. One of them has a great gehenna, many leagues wide, with sixteen wards. Horrible ^nd the following horrible punishments are said to be inflicted in puniamnents. them, still further exemplifying the Chinese genius for devising tortures. " In the first, the wicked souls have their bones beaten and then- bodies scorched. In the second, their muscles are drawn out and their bones rapped. In the third, ducks eat their heart and liver. In the fourth, dogs eat their intestines and lungs. In the fifth, they are splashed with hot oU. In the sixth, their heads are crushed in a frame, and their tongues and teeth are drawn out," and so on through a sickening catalogue of bar- barities. Contrast this with the original teaching of Lao-tze, and it will be seen how far a religion can degenerate, and how childish as well as de- graded must be the minds which can accept this as true. An exaggerated animism marks Taoism as well as Confucianism ; and a vast number of the spirits believed in are malevolent. The simple China- Dread of evu^^^'^ dreads spirits, and imagines them in all the sounds of the spirits, night and in many natural phenomena, as producing sicknesses and continually trying to deceive men. The Taoist priests, little elevated above Mongolian Shamans, except sometimes in cunning, are magicians who find occupation and wealth in overcoming the evil spirits by charms and spells. " The charms," says Dr. Legge, " are figures, and characters, single or combined, drawn and written in grotesque forms. The myriads .of doors on which you see them pasted shows the thriving trade that their writers must have. A few years ago, over a large extent of country, men were startled by the sudden and unaccountable disappearance of their pig- tails. An invasion of cholera could not have frightened the people more. It was the work of malevolent spirits ! There was a run upon the charm manufactories. It was thought that four characters, mysteriously woven together and wrapped up in the pigtail, warded the spirits off." In this connection we must mention the practices known as feng-shui, or wind and water, ceremonies by which the spirits of air and water are THe propitiated, and including the repose of the dead, the influence of feng-siiui. t]je (jea(j upon the welfare of the living, the selection of sites for dwellings, and of graves for the dead. Every individual has three souls, the rational in the head, the sensuous in the breast, and the material in the MODERN TAOISM. 163 stomacli. At death the first may become fixed in the memorial tablets, the second in the tomb, the third escapes into space and seeks to enter some other body. If proper observances are neglected, it will become hostile to the family. Incense sticks are kept constantly burning at the entrance of houses and shops, in order to prevent the entrance of these and other malignant spirits. The selection of a grave is of the utmost importance, and must be per- formed by persons skilled in interpreting signs or in inventing ggig^tjo^ ^^ them. " I have known bodies kept unburied," says Dr. Legge, graves^ and " lying in their large and carefully cemented coffins, for a long time, from the difficulty of selecting the best site for the grave. I have known 1 64 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. great excitement and expenditure in connection with tlie removal of a coflfin from a grave which had turned out nnpropitious, to one that was likely to enable its tenant to rest in peace, and leave his family circle unmolested." The same spirit pervades all kinds of practices. Good and evil spirits being continually passing to and fro, it is most necessary to build houses, make roads and bridges, canals and wells, in such a way as to obstruct the evil and aid the journeys of the good spirits. In every part of the country mines and quarries have been filled up owing to complaints that they have caused bad harvests by letting the demons pass. Neighbours accuse each other of having turned the good spirits aside by making changes on their lands. The planting of a tree on a favourable spot or a new tower rightly built, may bring fortune to a whole district. All straight lines are disastrous, while curves in anything promote prosperity ; good spirits come from the south, evil spirits from the north. No wonder that the Taoist priests are despised by the educated Chinese, and win their chief spoils from the ignorant ; but the extent to which they have received recognition by the Qovernment in connection with the State religion is undoubtedly an evil. The priests are supposed to study five years, but practically they do little but assist the acknowledged priests, learning their tricks and practices, and a certain amount of knowledge which wiU enable them to give proper " oracles " in answer to the prayers of the sick and dying. Their morals are low, and their nunneries are generally believed to be haunts of vice. There is scarcely any religion of a great people which can surpass Taoism in degradation. A volume could readily be filled with descriptions of their ceremonies and practices, but our space is exhausted. Mr. Doolittle's " Social Life of the Chinese " may be referred to for abundant information on this head. "We must briefly describe some of our illustrations, not otherwise referred to. " Passing through the Door " (p. 158) is an important cere- mony for children, performed more or less frequently till childhood is over. Taoist priests come to the house, arrange an altar, place on it censers, candle- sticks, and images of gods, especially that of the goddess " Mother " ; and also a table full of various eatables. Certain goddesses are invited by name to be present, by ringing of bells, beating of drums, and reciting'the names and residences of the goddesses. The priests recite prayers and invitations while the goddesses partake of food. The " door " to be passed thro-ugh is made of bamboo covered with red and white paper, and is seven feet high. After several ceremonies, a procession is formed to pass through the door, the head of the family and all the children following. This is repeated several times, the " door " being successively removed to all corners of the room, while the priest recites various formulas. Soon after, the door is cut to pieces and pubHcly burnt. The idea is, to benefit the children by causing them to recover, if sick, or to continue well if in good health. Incense and candles are regularly burnt before the god of the kitchen on the first and fifteenth of every month, morning and evening ; some do it daily. An annual sacrifice of meats (p. 159) is made to the kitchen god, MODERN TAOISM. i6S and, together with mock money, is put upon the kitchen furnace before a shp of paper representing the god. The Chinese believe that the kitchen god ascends to heaven and reports to the supreme ruler the behaviour of the family during the year. When a man is very ill and his spirit, or one of his . spirits, is believed to have left his body and to be hovering near, the Taoist priests repeat their formulas for his benefit, and attempt to bring back his soul by the following means (see p. 160). A long bamboo with green leaves at the end is taken, and a white cock is often fastened near the end. A two-foot measure is sus- i66 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. pended from the bamboo, and to it is fastened a coat recently worn by tbe sick man. A mirror is so arranged as to occupy the place wliere the bead would be, one of tbe family bolds the bamboo as shown in the illustra- tion, while a priest repeats his formulas, with the name of the sick person, to induce his spirit to enter the coat. If the pole turns round slowly in the hands of the holder, success is believed to have been attained, and bhe spirit can be taken back to the sick man ; the coat is then placed as soon as possible on his body. " Tall White DevU," and " Short Black Devil " (p. 161), are only foreigners' names for two of the five images of emperors or rulers who control epidemics, and which are paraded about the streets of Fu-chow. The image is formed of a bamboo framework in each case, covered with a garment, and carried by a man standing inside it. Our illustration (on p. 163) depicts a strange custom observed by many families soon.after a death. First has come the loud outburst of lamentation immediately following death. The deceased being believed to be unable to see how or where to walk, candles and incense are lighted to enable him to see. After the body has been laid out, the sons-in-law 'of the deceased erect a sort of bamboo chandelier as seen in our engraving, the body is on a table on one side of this, another table has candles and incense, and some large paper placards describe or depict the state of the departed. The long pole is pushed gently by the eldest son, followed by the married daughter covered by a veil, and the- rest of the family ; so the bridge-ladder is slowly pushed round several times, while the priests chant a liturgy to the sound of cymbals, and all lament and weep loudly. This is done in daylight. The object is to assist the deceased on his way to the abode of the dead, the pole or bridge aid- ing him to cross rivers, the tree-like ladder to climb steep places. After this wine and food are offered to the deceased by the eldest son ; the feelings of the dead man being manifested by the way in which their small copper " cash " behave when shaken out of his sleeve. Very many other cere- monies are obssrved by the truly devout before the body is consigned to the grave, everything being designed either to show the sorrow of the living or to comfort or help the deceased. Many of these customs are observed for months. They vary, like others mentioned, from district to district. On the forty-second day after death, it is believed that the spirit arrives at a certain place in the other world, whence he looks back on his old home and becomes for the first time aware of his own decease. He is then sup- posed to lose his appetite and to be unable to partake of the food provided for him, afterwards he is provided with one large last meal, signifying that he must thenceforth procure and cook his own food, and at the same time a large amount of mock paper money is provided for him and burnt. [In addition to works already quoted, Mr. H. A. Giles's " Gems of Chinese Literature," 1884, and " Chuang-tzu" (or Chwang-tze), 1889, may be consulted with advantage.] japan: presenting new-born babe in SHlN-1'0 TEMPLE. (The arc/iway in front is the general symbol of Shinto.) CHAPTER VI. Japanese less religious tban Chinese— The way of the gods — Sesemblance to Taoism— Erection of temples— Ancestral worship— Shin-to mythology — The sacred mirror— Modem reformers of Shin-toism— Results of the late revolution— Hlrata's views — The old liturgies— Hirata's ritual— The god and goddess of wind— Farted spirits — The rulers of the Unseen— The spirits of the dead — Classes of temples— The uji-gami — Household gods— Priesthood and services— Shin-to temples —The torii— The temples of Is6— Ritual— Ee-huilding of temples. JAPAN is by no means so interesting in a religious point of view as China. The people are as a whole less concerned about religious matters, and less under the influence of the dread of unseen powers. As in China, religions exist side by side without inconsistency or clash- Japanese less ing ; in fact, the vast majority of the people may be described as reu^ousthan Shin-toists as well as Buddhists, and few profess either religion exclusively, except in the province of Satsuma, from which the Buddhist priests have long been excluded. A philosophical ' system known as Siza, having some resemblance to Confucianism, is professed by many of the 167 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. tipper classes, wtile also adhering to Shin-toism ; it is essentially a system of moral truths and maxims. The term Shin-to literally means the way of the gods or genii ; bnt the Japanese word which renders the two Chinese characters Shin-to is The way of Kami-no-michi. There is no doubt whatever that it is properly the gods, described as animism, and is largely developed from ancestor- worship. Thus there is a remarkable resemblance in essence to Chinese Kesemwance Taoism and ancestor-worship, though the exaggerated features of to Taoism. ^^^ Chinese types are absent. The Shin-to cult is very ancient, probably dating from before the Japanese immigration, while the name Shin-to only came into use after the introduction, of Buddhism, as a means of distinguishing between the two. It is useless to speculate which origi- nated first, the worship of ancestors, or that of the nature-deities. From time immemorial offerings have been presented to the household or family spirits or deities, consisting of swords, food, clothing, horses, etc, aU of which are of the class usually offered to ancestral-spirits. Very early no doubt the spirit or spirits worshipped by the ruler acquired pre-eminence. When the wor- • ship of the spirits of trees, animals, rivers, rocks, wind, fire, mountains, and heavenly bodies arose, we cannot tell, but it could scarcely have been till a subsequent period that the Mikado's earliest ancestor was identified with Erection of the sun, for which a separate temple was erected at least fifteen temples, hundred years ago, and a daughter of the Mikado was appointed chief priestess. Then the erection of temples to ancestors became general, but they were of a simple character, and usually contained no image of the god, but merely a mirror as an emblem. These temples had priests who were either direct d.escendants of the deified ancestor or of his chief attendant ; Ancestral and this custom largely continues to the present day. Thus ances- worship. \:^2X worsliip is a very essential element in Japanese religion ; and, as Mr. Satow tells us, " in almost every Japanese house, by the side of the domestic altar to the Shin-to gods will be found the shrine of the favourite Buddhist deity, and the memorial tablets of dead members of the family, who immediately on their decease become ' Buddhas ' to whom prayers may be offered up." There can be little doubt that the most popular and most worshipped gods are those who are the reputed ancestors of the Mikado, and deified heroes even of modern times. So much is this the case that no separation or distinction is made by the Japanese Shin-to between the Shin-to mythology and their own national history. mythology. J^ational egotism makes Japan the first country created, and does not trouble itself about the rest of the world. The oldest cosmogony, the Kojiki, dating from the eighth century a.d., recounts that at the beginning of the world three gods came into existence in succession, named the Master of the Centre of Heaven, the August High- August-Producing Deity, and the Divine-froducing Deity. Then followed a series of pairs of deities, repre- senting the stages of creation, concluding with Isanagi and Isanami, the two parents of the earth, sun, moon, and all living creatures. A most fanci- ful origin of all these and of many things on earth from these two parents SHIN-TOISM {JAPAN). 169 is related. Amaterasii, the sun-goddess, was the ancestor of the first Japanese sovereign. Jimmu Tenno, descended from Ninigi-no-mikoto, the adopted grandson of the sun-goddess, is the early ruler from whom the sovereign known to Europeans as the Mikado is descended, the name by which he is known to the Japanese being Teushi, or Son of Heaven. "When the sun- goddess made Ninigi sovereign of Japan, she delivered to him " the way of the gods," and decreed that his dynasty should be immovable as long as the sun and moon should endure. She gave to him three sacred emblems, the mirror, sword, and stone, saying as to the first, " Look upon this The saored mirror as my spirit, keep it in the same house and on the same ™'^or. floor with yourself, and worship it as if you were worshipping my actual presence." The story is, that in the year 92 b.c. the reigning Teushi removed it to a temple, whence, after further removals, it was deposited in B.C. 4, in the Naiku temple or palace at Yamada, in the province of Ise. Most extravagant names are given to the various deities, each name being preceded by "Kami," which is applicable to a god, goddess, or spirit, while the Mikado's ordinary title is 0-Kami. It must be borne in mind that the translation god for this term, is liable to be misleading, for its real meaning- is simply " superior," and very varied significations may be given to it. A remarkable revival of pure- Shinto took place in the last and present centuries, endeavouring to discover and re-establish the ancient rehgious belief as it was before Buddhism and Confucianism modified it. jjg^grn It has produced several notable scholars, especially Mabuchi reformers of (1697-1769), Motoori (1730-1801) and Hirata (1776-1843). The " "'"'• latter published something like a hundred separate works. From the ninth to the seventeenth centuries Buddhism was paramount in Japan, including and absorbing most of the old Shin-toism. But the revival of the older views by these scholars caused a very marked reaction, the support of the Mikado and his court being obtained for them while the Shogun and his following disliked them. The new school hoped, at the revolution of 1868, to get Buddhism suppressed, and Shin-to made the one national rehgion ; but Western ideas and a- certain carelessness about religion combined to limit the reform to a liberation of Shin-toism from the fetters of jjeg^^g ^j Buddhism, and the separation of one from the other. The tueiate Buddhist priests were expelled from the Shin-to temples, and the excrescences and additions which they had imposed upon them were taken, away, ' including many treasures and architectural ornaments. Nevertheless Buddhism once more proved its power of overcoming obstacles and opposition, and has recently been regaining much of its former influence, while Shin-toisni has again declined. Still its temples are supported by the Government and by local revenues, and certain yearly festivals at court are attended by all the principal officials. Yet on the whole it occupies about the same position that it has done for a thousand years past. The result of Hirata's studies is, that in ancient times the celebration of the worship of the gods was the chief duty of the Mikado. When the flrst 17° THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. • Mikado descended from heaven, he was instructed by his divine ancestors Hirata's ^'^^ to rule the country. They taught him that everything in this views, -world depended on the spirits of the gods' of heaven and earth, and that consequently their worship was of primary importance. The gods (or spirits) who worked injuries must be appeased, so that they might not punish those who had offended them ; and all the gods must be worshipped, so that they might be induced to increase their favours. The art of govern- ment was termed " worshipping," and personal worship by the sovereign was essential. Consequently the early Mikados regularly prayed that the people might have sufficient food, clothing, and protection from the elements ; and twice a year they celebrated the festival of general purification, by which the whole nation was purged of calamities, offences, and pollutions. However firmly Hirata believed that he was relating the old beliefs before the influence of Chinese thought, we cannot fail to see here a similar The old idea to that of the Chinese State rehgion ; and thus we may date liturgies. \,q\}^ back to a period in the dim past when the Chinese and Japanese stocks had not yet separated. The rites of Shin-to for many centuries occupied a conspicuous place in the rules and ceremonies of the court, ten of the fifty volumes of the Yengi Shiki being devoted to them, including liturgies for the general festivals, the names of 3,132 gods in 2,861 temples at which the Court worshipped, either personally or by envoys. Every important matter was preceded by worship of the gods. Hirata says that, as it is the duty of subjects to imitate the incarnate god who is their sovereign, every maii must worship his ancestors and the gods from whom they spring ; but as the number of gods possessing different functions is so Hirata's great, it is convenient to worship only the most important by ritual, name, and to include the rest in a general petition. Those who cannot go through the whole of the morning prayers, may content them- selves with adoring the emperor's palace, the domestic spirits, the spirits of their ancestors, their local patron god, and the deity of their particular calHng. His view of the superiority of the Mikado's prayers is clearly shown in the following extract. " In praying to the gods, the blessings which each has it in his power to bestow are to be mentioned in a few words, and they are not to be annoyed with greedy petitions, for the Mikado in his palace offers up petitions daily on behalf of his people, which are far more effectual than those of his subjects. Rising early in the morning, wash your face and hands, rinse out the mouth, and deanse the body. Then turn towards the province of Yamato, strike the palms together twice, and worship, bowing the head to the ground. The proper posture is that of kneeling on the heels, which is ordinarily assumed in saluting a superior." Hirata gives the following explanation of the names of the god and ^ ^ , goddess of wind : Their first names mean Pillar of Heaven and goddess of Pillar of Earth, and they are given because the wind pervades ^'"^ the space between Heaven and Earth and supports the former, as a pillar supports the roof of a house. Part of the prayer to these deities SHIN-TOISM {JAPAN). 171 runs thus : " I say with, awe, deign to bless me by correcting the unwitting faults which, seen and heard by you, I have committed, by blowing off and clearing away the calamities which evil gods might inflict, by catising me to live long like the hard ?ind lasting rock, and by repeating to the gods of heavenly origin and the gods of earthly origin the petitions which I present every day, along with your breath, that they may hear with the sharp- earedness of the forth-galloping colt." Hirata classifies faults into those committed consciously and unconsciously. The latter, he says, are com- mitted by every one ; and if we pray that such as we have committed may be corrected, the gods are willing to pardon them. By evil gods he means bad deities and demons who work harm to society and individiials. These spirits originated, he states, from the impurities contracted by Izanagi during his visit to the nether world, and cast off by him during the processes of purification. They subsequently increased in number, especially after the introduction of Buddhism. The two deities of wind can, he says, blow away anything it pleases them to get rid of, including the calamities which evil spirits endeavour to infiict. Men are dependent- upon them for the breath which enables them to live ; and therefore it is right to pray to them for long hfe, and to carry their prayers to the gods. Another prayer given by Hirata, illustrates a curious Shin-to doctrine, according to which a god throws off portions by fissure, producing what are called Parted Spirits, with special functions. Thus a grand- Parted daughter of the god of fire and the goddess of soil is described Spirits, by eight different names, which signify that she is goddess of all kinds of food. Two of the parted spirits thrown off by her are named producer of all trees and parent of all grasses. Strange to say, we hear of the dead body of this goddess of food, from which dead body rice and other seeds, cattle, and the silkworm were produced. Consequently it early became a custom to worship this goddess on moving into a new house, built as it was of the wood and thatched with the grass of which she was the creator. The paired grouping of the gods is very noticeable in Japan. One ot the most noteworthy parts of Hirata's " Tama-dasuki " is that which refers to Oko-kuni-nushi, who rules the Unseen, and his consort Suseri- TheEuiersof bime. The term Unseen, he says, includes " peace or disturbance ^''^ Unseen, in the empire, its prosperity and adversity, the life and death, good and bad fortune of human beings, in fine, every supernatural event which cannot be ascribed to a definite author." A man's secret sins draw down upon him the hatred of the invisible gods, who inflict diseases, misfortunes, short life, etc. Conversely, the gods bestow happiness and blessings on those who practise good, giving them exemption from disease, good luck, long life, and prosperity to their descendants. Hirata's teaching here becomes 'more lofty, and worthy of all commendation. " Never mind the praise or blame of fellow-men," he ^ays, " but act so that you need not be ashamed before the gods of the Unseen. If you desire to practise true virtue, learn to stand in awe of the Unseen, and that will prevent you from doing wrong. Make a vow to the god who rules over the Unseen, and 172 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. cultivate the conscience implanted in you, and then you will never wander from the way. You cannot hope to live more than a hundred years under the most favourable circumstances ; but as you will go to the unseen realm of Oko-kuni-nushi after death, and be subject to his rule, learn betimes to bow down before him." We are told by Hirata that the spirits of the dead continue to exist in the unseen world, which is everywhere about us, and that they all become The spirits of gods (kami) of varying character and degrees of influence. While the dead. ^^^^ reside in temples built in their honour, others hover near their tombs, and continue to render services to their prince, parents, wife, and children as when they were in the body. Just as in China, we find chief provincial temples, city temples, and village temples ; and all new-born infants have to be presented to the local Classes of deity to be put under his protection. The local 'deity is correctly temples. ^^^^^ u g^^j q£ ^j^g native earth or land." There are other local deities (uji-gami) which really signify the common ancestor of a number of people who bear the same name, or one who has merited equivalent honours by benefits. The local differences between people, animals, and plants, are explained as being due to the different character of the patron god. All The the uji-gami are supposed to rule the fortunes of human beings uji-gami. -before and after birth, and even after death. In some pro- vinces it is customary before starting on a journey to proceed to the temple of the local uji-gami and beg for his protection. The priest then gives him a paper charm to protect him from harm on the road ; the traveller also takes a little sand from the site of the temple, which he mixes in small quantities with water and drinks on the journey whenever he feels uncom- fortable. The remains of the sand must be duly returned when he gets back, and naturally he returns thanks for the protection afforded. It is a still more serious event when a person removes his residence to another place. The uji-gami of his old home has to make arrangements with that of the new one, else aU will not be right. Consequently the man must take due leave of his old uji-gami, and pay a visit to the new one as soon as possible. Whatever may be the apparent reasons which a man may think have induced him to change his residence, it is said that there can be only two ; one being that he has offended the uji-gami of his 6ld home and is expelled, the other, that the uji-gami of the new home has arranged his removal. The household gods of the Japanese represent the most universally practised form of Japanese worship. Their shrine contains tablets covered Household with paper, on which are painted the titles of the gods of Ise, and gods. p£ other gods in whom the householder places his trust. Before these tablets the householder offers up on particular days, such as the first day of the year, the 2nd, 15th and 28th of the month, sake, the favourite Japanese drink, rice, and leafy twigs of the sacred tree {Cleyera Japonica) belonging to the camellia and tea order. Every evening a saucer of oil with a lighted wick in it is placed before the domestic shrine. The following is SH'IN-TOISM {JAPAN). 173 Hirata's version of the proper prayer to be made before it : " Reverently adoring tlie great god of the two palaces of Ise in the first place, the eight hundred myriads of celestial gods, the eight hundred myriads of terrestrial gods, all the fifteen hundred myriads of gods to whom are consecrated the great and small temples in all provinces, all islands, and all places of the G-reat Land of Eight Islands (Japan), the fifteen hundred myriads of gods whom they cause to serve them, and the gods of branch palaces and branch temples, and sohodo-no-kami (the scare-crow, reputed to know everything in the empire), whom I have invited to the shrine set up on this divine shelf, and to whom I offer praises day by day, I pray with awe that they will deign to correct the, unwitting faults which, heard and seen by them, I have - committed, and blessing and favouring me according to the powers which they severally wield, cause me to follow the divine example, and to perform good works in the Way." Shin-toism is remarkable for its lack of public services, for the incon- spicuous part played by its priests, and for the simplicity of character of its temples. The priests are not celibates, and may take up any other priesthood calling. They offer morning and evening sacrifices, and when so^""*^*'"^"^^- engaged wear a long loose gown with wide sleeves and a girdle, and on the head a black cap bound round the head by a broad white fillet. The priests recite prayers and praises of which we have given some types, and present offerings of rice, fish, fruits, flesh, sake, etc. A general purification service is held twice a year in many of the principal Shin-to temples, to wash away the sins of the people with water. Formerly it was practised also in indi- vidual cases ; and sins or crimes were expiated by the sacrifice of valuable gifts in proportion to the fault committed. Shin-to temples usually have a chapel of two chambers, the inner con- taining the emblem of the god, usually a mirror, sometimes a sword, or even a curious stone, which the priest himself may only see sMn-to rarely, and kept in a box within other boxes, covered with many ^^'^Pi*^- wrappings of silk and brocade. The outer hall contains an upright wand, from which hang pieces of white paper cut out to resemble the offerings of cloth anciently made at festivals. In front of the chapel, and connected with it by an ante-chamber, may usually be seen an oratory, sometimes with a gong over its entrance, by ringing which the worshipper calls the attention of his god ; sometimes this oratory is only a shed on four uprights, before which the worshipper bows and clasps his hands together, but utters no audible prayer ; he then throws a few copper coins on the floor and departs. The priests of these temples eke out their scanty income by selling slips of paper bearing the title of the god as charms. Near the main build- ing there may often be additional buildings dedicated to various Shin-to deities ; around the whole is a grove of trees. There is no elaboration of architecture or design or colouring in these temples, the type of which is said to be the primeval hut, many having thatched roofs, though some are tiled or have coppered roofs. Normally, they are made entirely of wood, of the finest quality ; the flooring is wooden, raised some feet above the 174 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. ground, allowing of a balcony all round outside, approached by a flight of steps. Another distinctive feature of a Shin-to temple is the torn, literally " bird-perch," an arch of very plain form at the entrance to the grounds, and often repeated at intervals up to the temple. It is never decorated with carving, but is sometimes made of stone or bronze, or painted bright red and inscribed with the names of the gods to whom the temple is dedicated. There were formerly many highly decorated temples, but this was the work of the Buddhists when they got control of them. In the precincts of many temples they erected pagodas, chapels to their deities, bell and drum towers, etc. All the distinctively Buddhist buildings in Shin-to grounds were, however, destroyed after 1808 ; but the chapels which they had built, to Shin-to gods were left untouched, so that many of these remain, highly decorated with carvings, gilt fastenings, and bright colouring. The famous temples of Ise at Yamato, the Naiku and the G-eku, show the pure Shin-to simplicity, and are among the most ancient shrines of the The temples religion. They are annually visited by great numbers of pil- ofis^.' grims. At these temples, says a recent visitor, are to be seen " no gTandeur of form or cunning workmanship, no sacrifices, hardly any symbols. Except that the main posts are supported on hewn-stone blocks instead of entering the ground, that the floors are raised, and that wooden walls have taken the place of mats, the buildings approximate in form and structure to the primeval Japanese hut. "Wood and thatch form the materials ; brass, bronze, and iron, scantily used, the sole adornments ; plain fences of posts, rails, and palisades the outer and inner cathedral enclosures. There is no patch of paint or scrap of carving — no colour but the browns and drabs' of thatch and weather-worn woodwork. For gateways there are merely open torii^ constructed of bare round logs, in the form with which the world is now familiar ; for gates nought but hanging screens of thin white silk ; for sacrifices, daily offerings of water, rice, fish, salt, and other simple products of the land and sea. The very lamps for the service of the temple are of coarse white paper, decorated only in black, with the chry- santhemum flower, which is the crest of the Son of Heaven. As for emblems, they too are of the same simple, and unaffected type. Rice-straw ropes and wisps, sprigs and wands of the rare and sacred sakdki tree {Cleyera Japonka), hanging slips of notched white paper — each symbolical of some incident in the well-known legend of the Sun-goddess's enticement out of the cave to which she had retired, in wrath and pain, from the Moon-god's violence — that is all. Though the sacred mirror and its copies are there too, they are never now seen by human eyes. For each there is a spruce- wood box, shrouded in a wrapper of plain white silk and covered by a wooden cage, which again is completely hidden under a voluminous silken mantle. Within the box reposes the mirror, in a sack of brocade, or rather in a succession of sacks, for, as soon as one begins to perish from age, a new one is added without removing it. SBIN-TOISM {JAPAN). 175 " Of public ritual at these shrines there is virtually none, except on occasional feast-days ; and even then it is of the most unpretending kind. Two or three plain-robed priests, calling the deity's attention by strokes upon a gong, recite short prayers and formulas for a few minutes, worship, bow the head, and retire. Now and then the Jcagura — a maiden dance of great antiquity, and said to be emblematic of the goddess Uzume's choragic feats before the , cave of Amaterasu — ^is performed in a building outside of the temple ; but it is not a feature of the ritual proper. And the lay-worshippers ; what of them ? Again the same tale of pro- found simplicity. First, purified by washing their hands in the neighbour- ing river, they advance to the silk screen at the fourth torii, cast a few coppers into the receptacle for tribute, clap their hands twice together, and then, with bowed heads and bended knees, or in a kneeling posture, remain for a minute or so in silent or muttered prayer. Petitions for prosperity and long life, for correction of faults, and exemption from evil, sin, calamity, and pestilence — these, with humble expressions of worship, all in the fewest possible words, form the Shin- to believer's prayer." These temples are allowed to decay by natural processes, although every part of the grounds is kept scrupulously neat and clean. But the buildings are renewed every twenty years, not by pulling down RebuUding one set and building another in its place, but by using a precisely °^ temples, similar site near by, and building the new temple on it, reproducing the old one most exactly in every detail. Thus two sites are alternately occu- pied. The trees in the surrounding groves are the finest in Japan. Such is the Shin-to system of Japan, which, evidently akin to the State and ancestral worship of China, falls short of it in the slightness of its associated moral teaching. Perhaps this is the reason why it appears to have on the whole but a moderate hold on the Japanese, and why they have shown so much readiness on the one hand to accept the more definite moral teaching and the more astounding marvels of Buddhism, and on the other to throw aside ancestral belief's, and seek a new philosophy and religion from Europe. ' [" Introduction to Murray's Handbook for Japan : Eeligions," by E. M. Satow. " The Eeyival of Pure Shin-to," and other papers in " Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan."] VARUNA (fhOM a native PICTUBE). BOOK III. BEAHMANISM. CHAPTER I. Analogies to Greek and Roman Religion— Date of the Rlg-Veda, anterior to writing— Language of Rig-Veda— Religious basis -The earliest hymns— Worship of powers of Nature personified— Dyaus and Prithivi (heaven and earth)— The origin of things- Mltra and Varuna— Indra, the god of the clear blue sky — The Maruts, or storm-gods— The sun-gods, Surya and Savitri— Pushan — Soma, the Indian Bacchus or Dionysus— Ushas, the dawn goddess— Agni, the god of fire— Tvashtrl— The Asvlns— Brahmanaspati— Vishnu- Yama, and a future life— Virtues rewarded by heaven— Future punishment— Transition to monotheism and pantheism— Visvakarman-Absence of later Hindu doctrines— Organisation of early Hindus— Morals — The other Vedas — The Brah- manas— Human sacrifice- Animal sacrifice— Tradition of a flood— Immortality— Idea of the sun's course— Origin of caste— Self-assertion of Erahmans — Nature of the Brahmanas— Household sacrifices— Purification- Fasting— Establishment of sacrificial fires— The Upanlshads — The syl- lable Om— The origin of the world In ether — The Atman, or self-existent— The Svetas-vatara — Transmigration of souls— Purpose of the Upanlshads. Analogies to "VXTHATEVEE, may have been the history of the Aryans, by ^RomMi"^ V V whom the Vedas ^ were produced, previous to their enter- reiigion. ing India, it is certain that when they did so, long before Budd- ' See Muir, " Original Sanskrit Texts " (M.) ; Max MtiUer, " History of Ancient Sanskrit Litera- . ture," "Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion," " Sacred Books of the East " (M. M.) ; Sir Monier Williams, "Indian Wisdom," "Hinduism" (M. W.) ; Sir W. W. Hunter, "India"; H. H. Wilson's works. ff6 THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 177 liism took its rise, in the sixth century B.C., they had developed religious ideas and conceptions which present singular analogies and similarities to those Avhich appear to be most primitive among the Greeks ; and which suggest, if they do not prove, that the European and Hindu Aryans sprang from a common stock. When we find their divinities termed " devas," or " the shining ones," and recognise the same word in the Latin Deus, divinity ; when we compare the Dyaush-pitar (Heaven-Father) of San- skrit, with Jupiter or Dies-piter of Rome, and the Zeus of Greece ; Varuna, the encompassing sky in Sanskrit, with Ouranos Uranus in Greek; and many other hke words, we cannot help realising that, strange as it might seem at first, Brahmanism and Greek and Latin religion sprang from a feimilar source. And it is not very important which is the older. We know that the Hindu sacred books, the Vedas, — at any rate some of them, — are among the oldest of extant human compositions, and exhibit to us some of the earliest human ideas that were handed down by writing. The best opinions place the date of the E,ig-Veda somewhere between 800 and 1200 b.c. The collection consists of ten books, containing altogether 1,017 hymns ; eight out of ten books begin with hymns addressed Date of the to Agni, and others addressed to Indra follow. It appears pro- Kig-veda. bable that at least two distinct generations or series of authors composed them, the later being more imitative and reflective ; and it is probable that some of the hymns date from a period earlier even than 1200 b.c. In the whole series there is no reference to anything connected with writing, and this suggests that they are relatively anterior to the Book of Exodus, where " books " and writing are distinctly mentioned. Even long after the period of the Eig-Veda, writing is never mentioned. Thus we must ascribe the preservation of these wonderful collections entirely to memory, Anterior to which is, no doubt, equal to the task. Many years, we know, writins- are stiU regularly spent by Brahmans in the slow, methodical learning and repetition of their sacred literature ; and there is every sign of this habit having been handed down from a period when no other means of preservirg the Vedas existed. In ancient compositions, later than the Eig-Veda, we are told in detail every event in the life of a Brahman, but there is no mention of his learning to write. It is not till we come to the Laws of Manu that writing is spoken of. The very language of the Eig-Veda is a further confirmation of its antiquity. The words are so difficult of explanation as to have given rise to extensive commentaries ever since. When the words are known. Language of great differences of opinion arise as to how they are to be con- Ris-^eda. nected together, or what idea they represent. Often the most puerile or irrelevant things (to us) are interspersed among the loftiest sentiments, and great verbosity alternates with the most terse and pregnant aphorisms. This precludes the idea of single authorship of any considerable portions. In fact, early Hindu literature was not concerned about authorship m the modem sense. The word Veda, meaning " knowledge," clearly refers to Divine knowledge, imagined as proceeding like breath from the self-existent 178 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Spirit, and inspiring a class of sages called Eishis ; and tliiis it is held to this day to be absolutely infallible. The general form of the Vedas is that of the simplest lyrical poetry, with a not very regular metrical flow ; and the matter is almost exclusively Religious religious. This fact is regarded as due largely to the character basis. . of the people. " No great people, surely," said Prof. Whitney, ' ' ever presented the spectacle of a development more predominantly reli- gious ; none ever grounded its whole fabric of social and political Kfe more absolutely on a religious basis ; none ever meditated more deeply and ■ ex- clusively on things supernatural ; none ever rose, on the one hand, higher into the airy regions of a purely speculative creed, or sank, on the other, deeper into degrading superstitions — the two extremes to which such a tendency naturally leads." Although the earliest^ Yedic hymns are so ancient, they must have been preceded by an indefinitely long period of growth and development The earUest of the race, for the language is fixed, complex, full-grown ; the hymns, ^jjga of gods was fully developed, iudeed their number seems to have been fixed as thirty-three, who are described as all great and old, and are besought not to lead their votaries far from the paths of their fathers. It may be said generally that in the earliest hymns each god that is mani- fested is for the time being contemplated as supreme and absolute, and not limited by the powers of the rest. Max Miiller says, " Each god is to the mind of the suppliant as good as all the gods. He is felt at the time as a real divinity, as supreme and absolute, in spite of the necessary limita- tions which, to our mind, a plurahty of gods must entail on every single god." In fact the early Hindu of the Vedas was a worshipper of the powers Worship of of Nature personified, and capable of being influenced by his ^Nature"* praises, prayers, and actions. Their qualities are not precisely personified, limited or distinguished from one another. While the gods are termed immortal, they are mostly not regarded as uncreated or self-existent, but are often described as the offspring of heaven and earth. There is no uniformity, however, on this point. But there are numerous passages recon- cilable with the view that some of these gods represent deified ances- tors, as where they are said to have acquired immortality by their acts, or their virtues, or by gift of Agni ; and it is even implied .that the gods named were the successors of others previously existing. Thus we find Indra thus invoked, " Who made thy mother a widow ? What god was present' iii the fray, when thou didst slay thy father, seizing him by the foot ? " and there is no doubt that at times the gods are represented as being at war with one another. As to the powers and prerogatives of the gods, they are above all mortals, who can by no means frustrate their decrees, they will reward dutiful worshippers, and punish the negligent. Heaven and Earth, the progenitors of the gods, are represented by Dyaus and Dyaus and Prithivi. Hymns addressed to them include the fol- (Heai^n lowing, " At the festivals (I worship) with offerings, and celebrate and earth), the praises of Heaven and Earth, the promoters of righteousness, THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 17.9 tlie great, the wise, the energetic, -who, having gods for their offspring, thus lavish, with the gods, the choicest blessings, in consequence of our hymn. With my invocations I adore the thought of the beneficent Father, and that mighty inherent power of the Mother. The prolific Parents have made all creatures, and through their favours (have conferred) wide immortality on their offspring." ... So closely did the old Hindus approach the Grreeks and Romans in their conceptions of Mother Earth and Father Heaven. In various passages, however, they are themselves spoken of as created, especially by Indra, who formed them out of his own body, and to whom they do homage. How then was the origin of things xhe origin imagined ? The following extract is -from Sir Monier Williams's "^ t^i^iffs. metrical rendering of one of the most remarkable Vedic hymns. " In the beginning there was neither nought nor aught, Then there was neither sky nor atmosphere above. What then enshrouded all this teeming universe V In the receptacle of what was it contained ? Was it enveloped in the gulf profound of water ? Then there was neither death nor immortality, Then there was neither day nor night, nor light nor darkness, Only the Existent One breathed calmly, self-contained. Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom. Next all was water, all a chaos indiscrete In which the One lay void, shrouded in nothingness." But Dr. Muir's literal translation gives a better notion of the original ; " There was then neither nonentity nor entity ; there was no atmosphere nor sky above. What enveloped (all) ? Where, in the receptacle of what (was it contained) ? Was it water, the profound abyss ? Death was not then, nor immortahty ; there was no distinction of day or night. That One breathed calmly, self-supported ; there was nothing different from, or above it. In the beginning darkness existed, enveloped in Darkness. All this was un- distinguishable water. That One which lay void, and wrapped in nothing- ness, was developed by the power of fervour. . . . Who knows, who here can declare, whence has sprung, whence, this creation ? The gods are subsequent to the development of this (universe) ; who then knows whence it arose ? From what this creation arose, and whether (any one) made it or not — he who in the highest heaven is its ruler, he verily knows, or (even) he does not know." From this we see that man in the ancient Vedic times had progressed almost, if not quite, as far in speculation as to the origin of things as the latest and most^advanced of men, and with as little definite result. Leaving aside Aditi, apparently a personification of universal Nature or Being, the mother of the gods (Adityas), and capable of setting people free from sin, but confessedly a difficult personification to explain, antra and we pass to consider the characters of Mitra and Varuna, sons vanma. of Aditi, frequently associated, and often interpretable as day and night. Varuna is sometimes represented as visible ; and the two deities are said to mount on a car drawn by horses, and soar to the highest empyrean, and behold all things in heaven and earth. Sometimes the sun is called the i8o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. eye of Mitra and Varuna ; and both jointty and separately they are termed king of all and universal monarch. Yaruna has attributes like those of the Greek Ouranos, Latinised as Uranus. He made the sun to shine ; the wind is his breath ; river courses are hollowed out by his command, and the rivers pour their water into the one ocean but never fill it. He knows the flight of birds in the sky, the path of ships on the ocean, the course of the far-travelling wind, and beholds all the sacred things that have been or shall be done. He beholds as if he were close at hand. Whatever two persons sitting together, devise, Varuna the king knows it, as a third. He has unlimited control of men, and is said to have a thousand remedies ; hence he is besought to show his deep and wide benevolence, and drive away evil and sin. Muir's verse translation, almost literal, is so attractive that it demands quotation. " The mighty Lord on high, our deeds as if at hand, espies ; The gods know all men do, though men would fain their deeds disguise. •Whoever stands, whoever moves, or steals from place to place, Or hides him in his secret cell — the gods his movements trace. Wherever two together plot, and deem they are alone, King Varuna is there, a third, and all their schemes are known. This earth is his, to him belong those vast and boundless skies ; Both seas within him rest, and yet in that small pool he lies. Whoever far beyond the sky shotdd think his way to wing, He could not there elude the grasp of Varuna the King. His spies descending from the skies glide all the world around, Their thousand eyes all-scanning sweep to earth's remotest bound. Whate'er exists in heaven and earth, whate'er beyond the skies, Before the eyes of Varuna, the King, unfolded lies. The ceaseless winkings all he counts of every mortal's eyes ; He wields this universal frame, as gamester throws his dice. Those knotted nooses which thou fling'st, God, the bad to snare All liars let them overtake, but all the truthful spare.'' In this and in many other passages Yaruna appears as a moral Bemg of high elevation. His forgiveness is implored by the Rishi or sacred bard ; and it is urged that wine, anger, dice, or thoughtlessness have led him astray. Yery much the same attributes are ascribed to Mitra and Yaruna together as to the latter alone. It will be seen later how closely the Zoroastrian Mithra resembles the Indian Mitra ; and there cannot be much INDEA. (fBOM a native PICIUBE). THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. ISI doubt that this conception of the Deity existed previous to the separation of the Indian from the Iranian (Persian) branch. Later, Varuna became specially associated with the rule over water, and was solicited to send flood and rain from the sky. Indra and Agni, at first less important than the foregoing, later grow in importance : they were born of parents, and have various striking qualities, and there are many features of personal description given. Indra, god of the clear sky, is handsome, ruddy or golden- god of the haired, with long arms, but has endless forms which he can °^*f^^^® assume at will. He rides on a shining golden car drawn by two golden horses, which move more swiftly than thought ; he has a thunderbolt and other weapons, and is exhilarated by the libations of soma offered by his worshippers. In many the known ef- passages fects of this favourite intoxicant were sup- posed to be felt by the gods. One of Indra's especial fianctions is to encounter and vanquish the hostile demons of drought. As Muir says, the growth of these ideas is perfectly natural and intelligible to those who have wit- nessed the phenomena of the seasons in India. " Indra is thus at once a terrible warrior and a gracious friend, a god whose shafts deal de- struction to his enemies while they bring de- liverance and prosperity to his worshippers. The phenomena of thunder and lightning almost inevitably suggest the idea of a conflict between opposing forces ; even we ourselves often speak of the war or strife of the elements. The worshipper would at one time transform the fantastic shapes of the clouds into the chariots and horses of his god, and at another time would seem to perceive in their piled-up masses the cities and castles which he was advancing to overthrow." Frequently Indra is saluted as the god most powerful over the external world, "the most adorable of the adorable, the caster down of the unshaken, the most distinguished of living things." His worshippers are enjoined to have faith in him, and his power is asserted against denials of scepticism. He has a love for mortals, and is the helper of all men, a wall of defence and a deliverer, hearing and THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. answering prayers. He is supposed to be capable of bestowing all kinds of temporal benefits, and in fact arbitrarily to control the destinies of men. Yet tlie simplicity of the worshipper is sometimes shown by prayers that the god will prove his prowess, and statements that "little has been heard of as done npon earth by one such as thou art." Indra is especially the champion and guardian of the Aryan Hindus against the darker races whom they subjected. It appears almost as if the conception of Indra expanded with the advance of the Aryans over India, while that of Varuna declined, who is more directly related to the early common Aryan belief before India was reached, and which appears also in the Zoroastrian Ormuzd and the G-reek Ouranos. Another view regards Dyaus as the god whom Indra threw into the shade ; answering to the difference between the time when in the more elevated and mountainous regions of Central Asia, the brilliant radiance of heaven was the holiest and most desirable thing, and the later time, in India, when the rainy sky was most longed for, and its representation as Indra became most popular. Passing by Parjanya, the thundering rain god, and Vayu, the wind, as less important deities, we find the Maruts, Eudras, or storm gods, many The M t ^'^ number, often associated with Indra and with Agni. Some or storm- ' extracts from one of the hymns addressed to them will give a better idea of the conceptions attached to them than a description. " They shake with their strength all beings, even the strongest, on earth and in heaven. . . . They who confer power, the roarers, the devourers of foes, they made winds and lightnings by their powers. The shakers milk the heavenly udders (clouds), roaming around they fill the earth with milk (rain). . . . Mighty you are, powerful, of wonderful splendour, firmly rooted like mountains, (yet) lightly gliding along ; — you chew up forests like elephants. . . . Give, Maruts, to the worshippers strength glorious, invincible in battle, brilliant, wealth-conferring, praise- worthy, known to all men. Let us foster our kith and kin during a hundred winters." (M. M.) The gods personifying the Sun, under different phases, are Surya and Savitri, who are praised and described in the Veda with appropriate epithets ; The Sun- '^^1 ^^® drawn in cars by numerous horses, preserve all things, gods, Surya enable men to perform their work, and see all things, both the ■ good and the bad deeds of mortals. Surya is sometimes said to be dependent on Indra, who causes him to shine and prepares his path. Pushan is another solar deity, a guide on roads and journeys, a protector and multiplier of cattle and of human possessions generally. A hymn addressed to him runs thus : " Conduct us, Pushan, over -our road ; remove distress, son of the deliverer ; go on before us. Smite away from our path the destructive and injurious wolf which seeks after us. Drive away from' our path. the waylayer, the thief, the robber. ... god who bringest all blessings and art distinguished by thy golden spear, make wealth easy of acquisition. Convey us past our opponents ; make our paths easy to traverse; gain strength for us here." Another hymn more em- TE'E EARLy VEDIC RELIGION. 183 phatically prays the god for personal favours : " Bring to us wealth suitable for men, and a manly suitable householder who shall bestow on us gifts. Impel to liberality, glowing Pushan, even, the man who would fain bestow nothing ; soften the soul even of the niggard. Open up paths by which we may obtain food ; slay our enemies ; let our designs succeed, glorious god." With him is sometimes associated Soma, and the two are celebrated together as the generators of wealth and preservers of the world. Soma, the god animating the exhilarating juice of the soma plant, probably a species of Asdejaias, seems to represent Dionysus or Bacchus among the early Indian gods. The whole of the hymns, 114 in number, of the ninth book of the Eig-Veda are dedicated to him. mdian Prof.' Whitney says of him : " The simple-minded Aryan people ^^o^^jl^/^^"'' had no sooner perceived that under the influence of this liquid the individual was prompted to and capable of deeds beyond his natural powers, than they found m it something divine ; the plant which afforded it became to them the king of plants ; the process of preparing it was a holy sacrifice; the instruments used therefore were sacred." The worship of Soma was very ancient, as it is mentioned in the Zend-avesta. To Soma are attributed almost all divine power and honours, especially in reference to his influence on the other gods and on his human votaries ; but his worship declined and almost wholly passed away with the early Vedic worship. Ushas, the goddess of dawn, has many of the most beautiful hymns addressed to her. She is describsdt as restoring consciousness, smiling like a flatterer, awakening all creatures to cheerfulness, rousing into ^gjias, the motion every living thing, born again and again, revealing the ^^J^^ ends of the sky. " Blessed Ushas," says the worshipper, " thou who, animated by strength, shinest forth with wonderful riches, may I obtain that renowned and solid wealth which consists in stout sons, numerous slaves, and horses." (M.) Ushas is most usually described as the daughter of the sky, and is said to have the sun for her lover. The name Ushas (Ushasa) is identical with the Greek 'Hm (Eo^) and the Latin Aurora ( = Ausosa). Agni, the god of fire (the Eoman Ignis, the Slavonian Ogni), is a most prominent deity, being only paralleled, in the number of hymns addressed to him, by Indra. His characteristics aptly portray the wonder ^gj^^ t^e with which our forefathers viewed fire. Agni is an immortal s°^ °* ^"^«- and messenger from and to the gods, who has taken up his abode with man. He is both sage and sacrificer, supreme director of religious ceremonies and duties. " Agni, thou from whom, as a newborn male, undying flames proceed, the brilliant smoke goes towards the sky, for as messenger thou art sent to the gods : thou whose power spreads over the earth in a moment, when thou hast grasped food with thy jaws,— like a dashing army thy blast goes forth; with thy lambent flame thou seemest to tear up the grass. Him alone, the ever youthful Agni, men groom like a horse in the evening and at dawn ; they bed him as a stranger in his couch." (M. M.) The world and the heavens are made manifest at his appearance, after having been i84 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. swallowed up in darkness. He is all-devouring, has a burning head, is thousand-eyed and thousand-horned ; his flames roar like the waves of the sea, he sounds like thunder, and roars like the wind. He is described as having the highest divine functions of all kinds, and his votaries prosper and live long. He protects and blesses the worshipper who sweats to bring him fuel, or wearies his head to serve him. Prayers were made to him for all kinds of blessings, and for forgiveness for any sin committed through folly. The same simple familiarity in speaking to the gods which we have noticed before is seen in such an address as this : "If, Agni, thou wert a mortal, and I were an immortal, I would not abandon thee to wrong or to penury. My worshipper should not be poor, nor distressed, nor miserable." That there was also an association of Agni with a future may be gathered from the following paraphrase. (M. W.) " Deliver, mighty lerd, thy worshippers, Purge us from taint of sin, and when we die, Deal mercifully with us on the pyre, Burning our bodies with their load of guilt, But bearing our eternal part on high To luminous abodes and realms of bliss, For ever there to dwell with righteous men." Tvashtar is the artisan and skilful con- triver, and in many ways answers to He- -phaistos and Vulcan. He sharpens the iron axe of Brahmanaspati and forges the thunderbolts of Indra. All kinds of created powers are attributed to him. The Asvins are the earliest bringers of light in the morning sky, be- ' fore the dawn, and are often con- nected withSurya; they were enthusiastically worshipped and praised, being hailed as chasers away of darkness, and described as the guardians of the slow and hindmost, as physicians restoring the lame, blind, and sick, as placing the productive germ in all creatures, and as capable of renewing the youth of all. Consequently they were supplicated for varied blessings, and were begged to overwhelm and destroy the niggard who offered no oblations. It is thoUght by good author- ities that these gods represent deified mortals who were at the same time swift in their movements and appeared to possess remarkable healing powers. A somewhat later god than these is variously known as Brihaspati and Brahmanaspati, and personifies the worshipper, represented by the priest Brahmanaa- and sacrificer interceding with the gods, thus showing a distinct patt advance in moral ideas. The word Brahman is one of the most difficult in all Sanskrit, having been very diversely derived and explained ; Tvashtar. BRABMA (from A KATIYE PICTCEE). but while in its highest use it came to denote the objective Self or Cause THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. '85 of the universe, it may have originally represented the impulse and striving towards the gods, then every sacred word, formula, ceremony, or act, and finally the priest. Brahmanaspati is represented as the god of prayer, aiding Indra in conquering the cloud demon, and in some instances appear- ing to be identified with Agni. He is the oifspring of the two worlds (Heaven and Earth), and is the inspirer of prayer, and by prayer ac- complishes his designs ; he mounts the chariot of the ceremonial and proceeds to conquer the enemies of prayer and of the gods. He is the guide and protector of the pious, whom he saves from calamities and blesses with wealth. Vishnu is a god comparatively little mentioned in the Rig- Veda, but attaining great importance later. He is most characterised of old by the three steps by which he strode over the world ; by his threefold existence as fire on earth, as lightning in the atmosphere, and as the sun in the sky ; or as the sun in his three positions of rising, culmination, and setting. Triple power and functions are variously asserted of him, and he is said to assist other gods. Only sometimes is he adored independently, as thus : " Our hymns and praises have proceeded to Vishnu, the worker of many wonders : he is the wide-stepping, the exalted, whose primeval, creative wives are indefatig- able." Often he is closely associated with Indra. How different a position he after- wards assumes we shall see later on. Most of the goddesses mentioned in the Veda we must omit reference to', as they are of less importance. It is in the later portions, the ninth _ and tenth books, of the Eig-Veda, that ---- (^«°" ^ ''^^^^^ "^^''»^)- we find a marked reference to the ideas of immortality and a future life, although they are not entirely wanting previously, as in passages y^ma and a where mortals are said to have attained immortahty, or to have f^t^^e life, gone to the gods, who prolong their lives. Sometimes, too, the souls of ancestors, the fathers existing with the gods, are invoked. These ideas are in the later books especially connected with Yama, the divine ruler of the spirits of the dead, by sortie supposed to represent the first man, and having a twin sister, Yami (Max Miiller dissents from this view). Sir Monier "Williams thus represents Yama in verse :— " To Yama, mighty king, be gifts and homage paid. He was the first of men that died, the first to hrave Death's rapid rushing stream, the first to point the road To heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode. No power can rob us of the home thus won by thee. 1 86 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. king, we come ; the born must die, must tread the path That thou hast trod — the path by which each race of men, In long succession, and our fathers, too, have passed. Soul of the dead ! depart ; fear not to take the road — ■ The ancient road — ^by which thy ancestors have gone ; Ascend to meet the god — to meet thy happy fathers. Who dwell in bliss with him. Tear not to pass the guards — The four-eyed brindled dogs — ^that watch for the departed. Eeturn unto thy home, soul ! Thy sin and shame Leave thou behind on earth ; assume a shining form — ■ Thy ancient shape — ^refined and from all taint set free." The two four-eyed dogs are of interest in comparison witli Cerberus, the dog of Tartarus. Yama is not represented in the Rig- Veda, though he is in the later mythology, as having anything to do with the future punishment of the wicked. His dogs are said to wander about among men as his messengers, and to guard the road to his abode ; the dead are advised to hurry past them with all speed. When the remains of the dead one have been placed upon the funeral pile, Agni, the god of fire, is besought not to scorch or consume him, but to convey him to the fathers as an offering. " Let his eye go to the sun, his breath to the wind. Go to the sky and to earth, according to nature ; or go to the waters, if that is suitable for thee. As for his unborn part, do thou (Agni) kindle it with thy heat ; with those forms of thine which are auspicious convey it to the world of the righteous." The spirit is then imagined to enter upon a more perfect life in which all desires ara fulfilled ; occupation will also be found in fulfilling the pleasure of the gods. It must not be supposed that in a time when even the gods are represented as marrying and indulging in soma, the heaven of the departed would be idealised. The following passage will give an idea of the virtues for which heaven was given : " Let him depart to those who through rigorous abstraction are invincible. Let him depart to the combatants Virtii63 . ... rewarded by in battles, to the heroes who have there sacrificed their lives. Heaven. ^^ ^ those who have bestowed thousands of largesses. Let him depart, Yama, to those austere ancient fathers who have preached and promoted sacred rites." These fathers are in some hymns held up as objects of admiration to their descendants ; their descendants supplicate their good will, deprecate their wrath, and pray for their protection. They are asked to give them wealth, long life, and offspring. They are supposed to rejoice in libations and sacrificial food, and to come in thousands to the sacrifices. As to future punishment, Indra is in the tenth book of the Kig-Veda prayed to consign to the lower darkness the man who injures his worshipper ; Future but it is not always certain that this lower darkness signifies a punisument. place of punishment. In the ninth book Soma is said to hurl the hated and irreligious into the abyss ; but references to future punishment are confessedly vague and indistinct in the Eig-Yeda. One of the finest of the hymns of the Eig-Yeda is the 121st in the tenth book, thus translated by Max Miiller : — THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 187 " In tlie beginning there arose the Source of golden Hght — He was the only born Lord of all that is. He established the earth, and the sky ; — Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? (This last clause is repeated after each verse.) " He who gives life, He who gives strength ; whose blessing all the bright gods desire ; whose shadow is immortality ; whose shadow is death. " He who through His power is the only King of the breathing and awakening world ; He who governs all, man and beast. " He whose power these snowy moiintains, whose power the sea pro- claims, with the distant river — He whose these regions are as it were His two arms. " He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm. He through whom the heaven was established, nay the highest heaven. He who measured out the light in the air. " He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm by His will, look up, trembling inwardly ; He over whom the rising sun shines forth. " Wherever the mighty water-clouds went, where they placed the seed and lit the fire, thence arose He who is the only life of the bright gods. " He who by His might looked even over the water-clouds, the clouds which gave strength and lit the sacrifice, He who is God above all gods. " May He not destroy us. He the creator of the earth ; or He the righteous who created the heaven ; He who also created the bright and mighty waters ! " Thus we have contemplated in the earliest Vedic hymns a series of conceptions of distinct deities associated with the powers of Nature, and correspondingly named. It is only later that the idea seems to Transition to arise that these were all representations of different aspects of ™°°^^*^^'° one power, and sometimes this appears to proceed from a desire to pantheism, magnify the particular god whose praises are being specially celebrated ; later, new names were used to signify these more enlarged conceptions, such as Visvakarman and Prajapati, not limited to any particular department, but believed to be the divine powers governing the earth. Another kind of expression shows an early form of pantheism, identifying the godhead with Nature : Thus " Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the air, Aditi is the mother and father and son. Aditi is all the gods and the five classes of men. Aditi is whatever has been born. Aditi is whatever shall be born." (M.) Visvakarman (at first a name of Indra), the great architect of the universe, is in the tenth book of the Rig- Veda represented as the all-seeing god, who has on every side eyes, faces, arms, and feet, the father visva- generator, who knows all worlds, and gives the gods their names, i^arman. Similar attributes are in other hymns ascribed to other divine beings, such as Brahman, Prajapati, etc. ; these being probably by different authors. We see here the .product, of the most advanced thought among these early Aryans, including a singular variety of attempts to express the thoughts to which the great phenomena of the universe gave rise in their minds. That these conceptions should be vague and often discordant and confused, and THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS.. should include much that is puerile, is to be expected, when we remember that the sum of human thought up to the present day is "man cannot by searching find out God." Sir Monier Williams thus expresses his mature conclusions on some important points : " The Vedic hymns contain no allusion to the doctrine of Absence of ^^^iismigration of souls, which is a conspicuous characteristic of later Hindu the Hindu creed in the later system. Nor do they afford any sanction to the prohibition of widow marriages, the encouragement of child-marriages, the iron rules of caste, and the interdiction of foreign travel. Nor is there in them any evidence that the personifications of the forces of nature were represented by images or symbols carved out of wood or stone." Animals were killed for sacrifices as well as for food, and we find no trace of the objection to eat the fiesh of cows, which became so strong at a later period. The people of the Vedas appear to have inhabited the Punjab, and to have only gradually extended their power into the tracts watered by the Organisation J^™^^ ^-^^ Ganges. Every father of a family at first was entitled of early to. act as priest in his own family, every chief in his own tribe ; but as the hymns or prayers or offerings began to grow elaborate, there was a tendency to restrict worship, especially on important occasions, to special priests, who knew the approved hymns or the prayers which had been believed to be successful. In time it became a part of the chief's credit to retain about him favourite or noted priests, and their of&ces, like those of the chiefs, tended to become hereditary. . Great gifts were lavished upon the priests by the kings, and many of the Vedic hymns commend this practice. Some of the hymns themselves were composed by kings ; and the Rishis gradually asserted themselves so far as to claim superior rank to the temporal rulers, and erect themselves into a distinct caste of Brahmans ; this position was not, however, acquired without a struggle. Special families were dis- tinguished by symbols, such as the number and arrangement of their locks of hair, or their being shaven in peculiar ways. As to morals under this regime., it appears that one wife was the rule, while a plurality was tolerated ; women might marry a second time, and appear to have had some freedom of choice. Immorality was by no means unknown, and Indra is said to have declared that " the mind of a woman was ungovernable, and her temper fickle." Untruth was con- demned, and the gods were said to punish lying ; thieves and robbers are mentioned as infesting the highways or stealing secretly. Liberality and fidelity were held in high esteem. How forcible is the contrast between the beneficence and the bright- ness, the helpfulness and the kindliness of the ^ods, as imagined by the earlier Aryans, and the severity, the ruthlessness, the cruelty, afterwards associated with Hindu gods. Direct access to the gods, direct benefits in return for prayer and offerings ; intensity of prayer and meditation, fervency of petition, inevitably securing blessing, these are cardinal features of the early Hindu religion. THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 189 The Sama-Veda, and the Yajur-Veda are smaller collections formed mainly out of the Eig-Veda,. but considerably modified ; the former in verse, relating to the Soma offering, the latter in prose, relating to the The other other sacrifices. The Yajur-Yeda belongs to a period when the Vedas. Aryans had progressed into Eastern India, and when the Brahmans had acquired supremacy. The fourth great Yedic collection, the Atharva-Yeda, belongs to a still later period, probably that of the Brahmanas, and contains the hymns and services then in use, modified or developed from the Yedic time. They exhibit a growth of belief in evil powers, and contain a series of formulas designed to protect against these, and against diseases and noxious animals and plants, together with cursings of enemies, and magic verses about all kinds of daily events, designed to counteract unfavourable events. This Yeda contains a great number of words used by the people. Not yet within the region of dates and relation to known persons, we come to the next great division of ancient Hindu literature, the Brahmanas, which exhibit to us a fully developed sacrificial system, and are The intended for the use of the priests or Brahmans. "We find here a brahmanas. series of prose compositions describing the connection of the sacred songs and words with the sacrificial rites. They may date from the seventh or eighth centuries B.C. We see in them, as in the case of so many priesthoods, the tendency to elaborate, to develop a ritual^which could only be carried out by an hereditary caste, and which furnished a means of demanding large contributions from the votaries. The length of the Brahmanas themselves is wearisome, and is matched by their dogmatic assertion and their complex symbolism. Each of the collections of Yedic hymns has its proper Brahmanas, there being no fewer than eight Brahmanas to the Sama-Yeda. Besides ceremonial directions, these Brahmanas contain numerous materials for tracing the growth of Hindu religious ideas. In one story of a Human king who had no son, after extolling the benefits that a son sacrifice, brings, the king ofiPers, if a son be born to him, to sacrifice him to Yaruna. When the son was born and was told of his destiny, he refused, and left his father's home. Disappointed of his victim, Yaruna afflicted the father with dropsy. The son wandering for years in the forest, at last found a Brahman hermit in distress, whose second son voluntarily offered to be sold in order that he might be sacrificed instead of the king's son. Finally the substitute, by the virtue of Yedic prayers, was released from sacrifice. Another narra- tive describes how the gods killed a man for their victim, and the Animal part of him fit for sacrifice entered successively into a horse, an sacriflce. ox, a sheep, and a goat, which were all sacrificed in turn. The sacrificial element remained longest in the goat, which thus became specially fit for sacrifice. Here we may see how an introduced human sacrifice may have been replaced by animal sacrifice. In the Satapatha-Brahmana, perhaps the most interesting of all these books, there is found an early tradition of a flood. Manu, a holy Tradition of man, was warned by a fish that a flood would sweep away all crea- ^ ^°°^- tures, but he would rescue him. He was directed to build a ship and enter 190 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. it wlien the flood rose ; he did so, and fastened the fish to the ship, and was drawn "by it beyond the northern mountains. When the flood subsided Manu was the only man left ; a daughter was mysteriously born to him by virtue Of religious rites, and ultimately the world was peopled with the sons of Manu. In later times it was said that the fish was an incarnation of Brahma, who assumed that form in order to preserve Manu. The doctrine of immortality is more definitely presented in the same Brahmana than in the Vedic hymns. The gods had by toilsome religious rites' become immortal. Death complained to the gods that men 'would follow their example. The gods enacted that no being should thenceforward become immortal in his own body, but should first present his body to Death. A remarkable passage shows that the ancient Brahmans had a very advanced conception about the sun : " The sun never sets nor rises. When Idea of the people think to themselves the sun is setting, he only changes sun's course, about after reaching the end of the day, and makes night below and day to what is on the other side. Then when people think he rises in the morning, he only shifts himself about after reaching the end of the night, and makes day below, and night to what is on the other side. In fact he never does set at all." There seems little doubt that the origin and' establishment of the caste system was largely due to the successful assertion by the Brahmans of their Origin of superior rank, combined with the growth of a class of cultivators caste. distinct from the warriors who at first were the great majority of the people. By this time the conquering Aryans had spread themselves over the basin of the Jumna and Ganges, and the Brahmans found it necessary and advantageous to show that they had a more noble, powerful, and important rehgion than the aborigines whom they conquered. Con- Seif-assertionsequently we meet with such assertions as the following : " Verily of Braiinians.^];^e go^jg (Jq j^q^ g^t the food offered by the king who is without a purohita (family priest)." In the Atharva-Veda, " May perfect, unceasing and victorious power accrue to those whose purohita I am. I perfect their kingdom, their might, their vigour, their strength. With this oblation I cut off the arms of their enemies." This development was accompanied with the development of ceremonial to such an extent that several classes of priests were required. It is exceediugly difficult, without entering into great detail, to give an idea of the contents of the Brahmanas. Assuming the older ceremonials to Nature of the be known, they comment upon every detaU supposed to require Brahmanas. explanation, discuss the meaning of particular verses or even of the metres used, and furnish explanations of the origin of the sacrifices, frequently consisting of legends and myths, often told very diffusely. A few extracts, somewhat abbreviated, from Mr. Eggeling's translation of parts of the Satapatha-Brahmana may give some notion of their contents. Every Brahmanical householder, from the period of setting up a house- hold fire of his own, was enjoined to perform two monthly sacrifices one at THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 191 new the other at full .moon, each lasting two days. The first was a fast day, in which the fire-places were swept and trimmed, and the fires Household lighted, and the Brahman and his wife took the vow to abstain sacrmoes. froni meat and some other foods, to cut off the beard and hair, except the crest-lock ; to sleep on the ground in one of the chief fire-houses ; and to observe silence. " He who is about to enter on the vow touches water, while standing between the (sacrificial) fires, with his face turned towards the east. The reason why he touches water is, that man is (sacrificially) impure on account of his speaking untruth, — and because by that act an internal purification is effected, for water is indeed (sacrificially) pure. . . . Looking towards the fire, he enters on the vow, with the text, ' Agni, Lord of Yows ! I will keep the vow ! May I be equal to it, may I succeed in it ! ' For Agni is Lord of Vows to the gods, and it is to him therefore that he addresses these words." As to the fasting, it is contended that the essence of the Vow consists in fasting ; for the gods see through the mind of man, and when lie takes the vow they „ , ° ' . •' Fasting, know that he means to sacrifice to them next morning, and betake themselves to his house. It would then be unbecoming in him to take food before they have eaten, and he may only eat what is not offered in sacrifice, which must be only what grows in the forest. Every night and morning a burnt-offering of fresh milk had to be made io Agni, and on the morning of the sacrificial day, the householder chose his Brahman or superintending priest, an official who now becomes pro- minent — this class having indeed been no doubt the originator of the modern Brahmans. Then follows a most complex series of directions and explanations as to the various offerings. Equally elaborate are the directions given for the ceremony of establish- ing sacrificial fires by a young householder. Four officiators were required besides the sacrificer ; they erected two sheds or fire-houses by Estabiish- strict rules, and the fire was to be produced afresh by friction, g™c^^oiai or from certain definite sources, and placed upon the carefully Ares, purified fire-place. Towards sunset the sacrificer invoked the gods and ancestors thus : " Gods, fathers, fathers, gods ! I sacrifice, being whom I am ; neither will I exclude him whose I am ; mine own shall be the offering, mine own the toiling, mine own the sacrifice ! " He and his wife then entered the respective houses, and received with various ceremonies two pieces of wood specially prepared for reproduging the sacred fire the next morning. The offerings which followed were chiefly of rice and clarified butter. Later the sacrificer, having honoured the priests by washing their feet and giving them perfumes, etc., and given to each his share, invited them t6 eat. The Soma ceremony, according to the Brahmanas, is still more developed ; but it is quite impossible to compress an account of it into a short space. The Vedas and the Brahmanas in time proved insufacient for securing the hold of the priestly class on the people. The next great Tas> group of compositions were the TJpanishads or mystical doctrine, u^amsiiads. Some of these are contained in a class of writings supplementary to the 192 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Brahmanas, known as the Aranyakas, or forest-books, intended for those Brahmans who, after having performed all the duties of a student and a householder, retired to the forest to spend their remaining days in con-^ templation. The word Upanishad is said by native authorities to mean " to set ignorance at rest by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit " ; its real etymological meaning is a session, especially of pupils round a teacher. These books consequently became the most important Vedic treatises for learned Hindus. Max Miiller considers that although the Upanishads are later than the Brahmanas, their germs already existed in «__ ' V , -i. Tte - '-■'^ >H#£i^M EBAHMA, VISHND, AND SIVA, FROM THE ELLOEA CAVKS. the Eig-Veda ; and the earliest of them, he says, will always maintain a place in the literature of the world among the most astounding pro- ductions of the human mind in any age and in any country. The Khandogya Upanishad, which continues the succession of the Sama-Veda, is one of the most important Hindu philosophical books. It The syuabie begins by the astonishing advice (to the Western mind), " Let a. oni- man meditate," or as some translate it, " Let a man ' worship ' the syllable Om." The real meaning is, first, that by prolonged repetition of the syllable, the thoughts should be drawn away from all other subjects and concentrated on the subjects of which that syllable was the symbol. THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. 193 It was the beginning of the Veda, and the essence of it, the symbol of all speech and all life. Om therefore represented man's physical and mental powers, and • especially the spirit or living principle, and this is identified _ later with the spirit in the sun or in nature ; and the beginning of this Upanishad teaches that no sacrifices, however perfectly performed, can secure salvation, while meditation on Om alone, or what is meant by it, will secure salvation or immortality. Finally the discussion reaches the highest philosophical subjects. The declaration that the origin of the world is ether, "for all beings take their The origin of rise "from the ether, and return into the tue world in ether ; ether is older than these, ether is their rest," has a striking significance when com- pared with the sentiments and speculations of philosophers at the British Association in 1888. But there is a further elevation of the ether, which includes more than the physical, for after defining Brahman as the immortal with three feet in heaven, the Upanishad says : " The Brahman is the same as the ether which is around us ; and the ether which is around us is the same as the ether which is within us. And the ether which is within, that is the ether within the heart. That ether in the heart is omnipresent and unchanging. He who knows this obtains omnipresent and unchangeable happiness." (M. M.) The highest doctrine of the Upanishad, accord- ing to Max Miiller, is that the human Brahman recognised his own Self or "Atman" as jjie Atman a mere limited reflection of the Highest or seif- T . o 1 r> existent. Self, and aimed at knowing his own belt in the Highest Self, which may be identified with the Divine Being, the Absolute, of "Western philo- sophers. Through that knowledge he was to re- turn to the Highest One and to regain his identity with it. " Here to know was to be, to know the Atman was to be the Atman, and the reward of that highest knowledge after death was freedom from new births, or immortality." This Atman was also the source of aU visible existence^ identical with the Brahman and the Sal, the true and real, which exists in the beginning and for ever, and gives rise to every kind of existence. Although there is much associated with this philosophy that seems trivial or fancifal, it contains the essence of pan- theism ; modern philosophers find it hard to advance really further than the ancient Hindus. There are many references to the sacrifices and to par- ticular gods, and it is said that he who knows or meditates on the sacrifices FIGUBB OF HINDU PEATINS. (Prom Temple at Madura.) as enjoined, has his reward in different worlds with the gods for certain ' 194 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. periods of time, till at last he reaches the true Brahman. In this state he neither rises nor sets, he is alone, standing in the centre ; to him who thus knows this doctrine " the sun does not rise and does not set. For him there is day, once and for all." The meditation on the five senses is one of the most striking ; but the one which follows must be quoted as expressing one of the essential exposi- tions of Brahman philosophy. " All this is Brahman. Let a man meditate on that (visible world) as beginning, ending, and breathing in it (the Brahman). " Now man is a creature of will. According to what his will is in this world, so will he be when he has departed this life. Let him therefore have this will and belief. " The intelligent, whose body is spirit, whose form is light, whose thoughts are true, whose nature is like ether (omnipresent and invisible), from whom all works, all desires, all sweet odours and tastes proceed ; he who embraces all this, who never speaks, and is never surprised, — " He is my self within the heart, smaller than a com of rice, smaller than a corn of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a canary seed, or the kernel of a canary seed. He also is my self within the heart, greater than heaven, greater than all these worlds. " He from whom all works, all desires, all sweet odours and tastes pro- ceed, who embraces all* this, who never speaks and who is never surprised, he, my self within the heart, is that Brahman. When I shall have departed from hence, I shall obtain him (that Self)." (M. M.) In the Talavakara Upanishad occurs the following notable passage : " That which is not expressed by speech and by which speech is expressed, that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore: That which does not think by mind, and by which, they say, mind is thought : That which does not see by the eye, and by which one sees the eyes : That which does not hear by the ear, and by which the ear is heard : That which does not breathe by breath, and by which breath is drawn, that alone know as Brahman, not that which people here adore." (M. M.) This Upanishad is asserted to rest on penance, restraint, and sacrifice ; " the Yedas are its Hmbs, the True is its abode. He who knows this Upanishad, and has shaken off all evil, stands in the endless unconquerable world of heaven." The Svetasvatara contains a more fully developed doctrine, although it at times identifies the Brahman or highest self with several of the lower The svetas- divinities. It teaches the unity of souls in the one and only vatara. ggjf . ^q unreality of the world as a series of figments of the mind, as phenomenal only. There is no evolution of the Brahman ; he is absolute and does not directly create. He deputes that ofS.ce to Isvara or Deva, the Lord, Brahman under the semblance of a personal creating and governing god. It is interesting to compare the pantheism of this Upanishad with previous expressions. Thus " I know that great Person of sunlike lustre THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. i95 beyond the darkness. A man who knows him truly, passes over death ; there is no other path to go. This whole universe is filled by this Person, to whom there is i nothing superior, from whom there is nothing different, than whom there is nothing smaller or larger, who stands alone, fixed like a tree in the sky. That which is beyond this world is without form and without suffering. They who know it, become immortal, but others suffer pain indeed. ... Its hands and feet are everywhere, its eyes and head are everywhere, its ears are everywhere, it stands encompassing all in the world. Separate from all the senses, yet reflecting the qualities of all the senses, and it is the lord and ruler of all, it is the great refuge of all." (M.M.) Certain of the narratives incidentally introduced into the Upanishads show a still further development of what is dimly visible in the Eig-Veda, and still more clearly expressed in the Brahmanas, namely, a struggle between the good or bright gods (devas) and the evil spirits. In one of these Indra, as chief of the devas, and Virokana, chief of the evil spirits, are represented as seeking instruction of Prajapati, as a supreme god. Prajapati said, " The self which is free from sin, free from old age, from death and grief, from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing but what it ought to desire, and imagines nothing but what it otxght to imagine, that it is which we must search out, that it is which we must try to understand." (M. M.) The two seekers desire to reaUse that self, and are led on by successive stages of illusion, Virokana being easily satisfied with the idea that the body is the self ; but Indra persists in inquiries, and finally learns that the real self is the knower or seer as distinct from the mind or the eye as instruments. Another Upanishad introduces in full expression the doctrine of trans- migration. The immortality of the Self is taught, and that after death some are born again as living beings, some enter into stocks and Transmigra- stones. " He, the highest Person, who wakes in us while we are*^°" °' ^°'^*- asleep, shaping one lovely sight after another, he indeed is called the Bright, he is called Brahman, . . . There is one eternal thinker, thinking non- eternal thoughts ; he, though one, fulfils the desires of many. The wise who perceive him within their Self, to them belongs eternal peace. . . . He, the Brahman, cannot be reached by speech, by mind, or by the eye. He cannot be apprehended, except by him who says : lie is. "When all desires that dwell in the heart cease, then the mortal becomes Immortal, and obtains Brahman." Max Miiller sums up the purpose of the Upanishads as being " to show the utter uselessness, nay the mischievousness of all ritual performances ; to condemn every sacrificial act which has for its motive a desire purpose of or hope of reward ; to deny, if not the existence, at least the ^p^^^^^^^^^ exceptional and exalted character of the devas, and to teach that there is no hope of salvation and dehverance, except by the individual self recognising the true and universal Self, and finding rest there, where alone rest can be found." WOKSHIPPINO THE GAHGES. CHAPTER II. Cl)e §5i'aJ)mam'5m of ti)t Colicsi. Tlie Sutras— EationaJlBt pMlosophers— The six Shastras — Common tenets— How to attain emancipa- tion— Tlie banefulness of activity— The Santhya philosophy— The Yoga philosophy— Early rituals —Gautama's Institutes— Kites of purification- The four orders of Brahmans— The ascetic— The hermit— The householder's duties— Kings— When the Veda is not to be recited — Various restric- tions — The duty of women — Outcasts— Penances and penalties— The laws of Manu — Date— Alleged origin— Self-repression Inculcated— Study of the Veda a privilege— The gods in Manu— New births and hells— Duties of the four castes— Lofty claims of the Brahmans — The four periods of Ufe— The student— Some liberal sentiments— The householder — The chief dally rites — Sacrifices for the dead — Position of women— Gifts— Spiritual merit— The hermit in the forest — The mendi- cant ascetic— The duties of a Mng — The Brahman's superiority — Crimes— Punishments and pen- ajioes— Falsehood excused— Caste— Growth of mixed castes— Transmigration of souls— Efficacy of the code— Code of Yajnavalkya. THE very mass of the Vedic sacred literature became its bane. No one could learn it all and understand it all. There arose a need for con- densed statements of the revealed truth and the laws of ceremonial, and we have these in the form of Sutras, or collections of aphorisms tersely giving the most needful information ; and these were com- posed by different authors for different Brahmanical families, and are exceed- ingly numerous. They are based upon the Vedas and the subsequent Brahmanas, and exhibit many of the peculiarities of the Vedic language. They give us for the first time a full account of the castes, composed at a time contemporaneous with the rise and spread of Buddhism. During the same period, probably about 500 B.C., there arose, contem- 196 The Sutras. THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 197 porary with Buddha, a number of rationalist philosophers, who, while accept- ing the authority of the Yedas and the supremacy of the Brah- nationalist mans, speculated freely on questions of philosophy and the moral P^ii°^°pJie^3. government of the universe. Finally these were arranged in six main systems of teaching, sometimes called the six Shastras. Which ^he six of these is the earlier cannot yet be considered settled. But a suastras. great deal is common to most of the systems, and is stiLl held by the majority of educated Hindus. Such articles of common belief are : the common eternity of the soul, both the supreme soul or Brahman and the terete, individual soul or Atman ; the et'ernity of matter, or that substance out of which the universe is evolved ; that the soul can only exercise thought and will when invested with some bodily form and joined to mind, and has in successive ages become manifest as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, etc., and in the form of men ; -that the union of the soul with the body is a bondage, and in the case, of men produces misery ; that consequences inevitably follow acts, whether good or bad, and- these are partly suffered in heaven or hell, and partly have to be worked out through continual transmigrations of the soul in varied animal, material, or higher forms ; that this transmigration is the explanation of all evil, but the soul bears the consequences of its own acts only, though these may have taken place in an inconceivable number of past existences, not recollected ; and finally, that the great aim of philosophy is to produce indifference in thought, feeling and action, and to enable the individual to return to the condition of simple soul. The terseness of these Sutra philosophies may be illustrated, from the Nyaya of Gautama (a philosopher distinct from the great Buddha). Deliver- ance from the misery of repeated births is to be thus attained : " Misery, birth, activity, fault, false notions ; on the removal of attain eman- these in turn (beginning with the last), there is the removal also °*^ ""^ of that which precedes it ; then ensues final emancipation " (M.W.). A Hindu comment on this is as follows : " From false notions proceed partiality and prejudice ; thence come the faults of detraction, envy, delusion, intoxication, pride, avarice. Acting with a body, a person commits injury, theft, and unlawful sensualities — becomes false, harsh, and slanderous. This vicious activity produces demerit. But to do acts of charity, benevolence, and ser- vice with the body ; to be truthful, useful, agreeable in speech, or given to repetition of the Veda ; to be kind, disinterested, and reverential — these pro- duce merit. Hence merit and demerit are fostered by activity. Banefuiness This activity is the cause of vile as well as honourable births, of activity. Attendant on birth is pain. That comprises the feeling of distress, trouble, disease and sorrow. Emancipation is the cessation of all these. "What in- teUigent person will not desire emancipation from all pain ? " This system, with its supplement, the Vaiseshika, teaches the eternity of material atoms, and also of the supreme Soul and of individual souls. The Sankhya philosophy is still more positive on these points, and The sanknya says : " There cannot be the production of something out of no- pimosopuy. thing ; that which is not cannot be developed into that which is." It recog- 198 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. nises that there is a being or essence wliicli evolves or produces everything else, together with Souls which neither produce nor are produced, but become united with the world-evolver in varied degrees. The development of these ideas in later Hindu theology and philosophy will be referred to hereafter. The Yoga philosophy is the foundation of much of the asceticism of the Hindu. It directly acknowledges the supreme Being, and aims at teaching The Yoga t^6 human soul to attaia perfect union with the supreme Soul. phUoBophy. Ill i^ -^e \sM& the fuller development of the benefits of contem- plating the syllable Ojw, the symbol of the deity. Mental concentration is facilitated by bodily restraint and postures, religious observances, suppres- sion of the breath, restraint of the senses, etc., and by these in their varied forms, the devotee is supposed to attain union with the supreme Being, even in the present life. The remaining chief systems of philosophy, the Jaimini and the Vedanta, are mainly concerned with ritual. The former may be said to have made a god of ritual, and appealed to the Veda as infallible. The Vedanta professes to be based upon the Upanishads and their pantheism. Much of the ceremonial of the Hindus was also very early condensed in Sutra form, and every school had its own form. Several of these,- preceding the celebrated laws of Manu, have come down to us. They are a ' kind of manual composed by the Vedic teachers for use in their respective schools, and only later put forward as binding on Aryans gener- Gautama's ^1- The " Institutes of the Sacred Law," ascribed to Grautama, Institutes, begins by acknowledging the Veda as the source of the sacred law, and proceeds to fix the period and mode of initiation of a Brahman, and the rites of purification after touching impure things. Here is a speci- men of these rites. "Turning his face to the east or to the north, he shall purify, himself from personal defilement. Seated in a pure place, placing his right arm Eites of between his knees, arranging his dress (or his sacrificial cord) in purification, the manner required for a sacrifice to the gods, he shall, after washing his hands up to the wrist three or four times, silently, sip water that reaches his heart, twice wipe his lips, sprinkle his feet and his head, touch the cavity in the head with his right hand, and place it on the crown of his head and on his navel." Students of the Vedas had to study each for twelve years, but might restrict their study to one Veda only. After the Veda had been studied, he The four ™igl^* choose which order of Brahmans he would enter ; that of orders of the student, the householder, the ascetic, or the hermit iu the ^^' woods. The ascetic was required to live by alms, to restrain every desire, and maintain an attitude of indifference towards all creatures, whether The ascetic '^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ '^W^^^i or kindness. The hermit was to live in e asce ic. ^^ forest, and subsist on roots and fruits, practising austerities. He was to worship gods, manes (ancestor worship), men, goblins, and Eishis ^gjjgj^j. (great Vedic teachers). He must not enter a village, nor step on ■ ploughed land ; his dress must be made of bark and skins. IHE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. i99 For the householder, marriage and its rites are of the utmost im- portance, and full directions are given as to the choice of a wife and the ceremonies attending marriage, which vary according to the kind ^^^ nouse- of marriage. The offspriag of marriages with other castes give "^^^^ rise in each case to a distinct caste. Complex domestic cere- monies are prescribed, with offerings to the .deities presiding over the eight points of the horizon, at the doors of the house to the Maruts, to the deities of the dwelling inside the house, to Brahman in the^ centre of the house, to the Waters near the water pot, to the Ether in the air, and in the evening to the "beings walking about at night. A kindly courtesy is shown in the direction that a householder before he eats shall feed his guests, infants, sick people and women, aged men, and those of low condition. A Brahman is allowed to earn his hviag by varied occupations in times of distress ; but he is forbidden to sell a great many specified kinds of goods. The authority of kings is upheld in Gautama's Institutes, but at the same time high privileges are demanded for Brahmans, who, if ^^^^^ of high rank and religious character, must not be corporally punished, imprisoned, fined, exiled, or reviled. Truth-speaking and the ascertaiument of truth are strongly inculcated. One of the most curious chapters in these Institutes details a multitude of circumstances in which the Veda is not to be recited ; as for instance, if the wind whirls up the dust in the daytime, or if it is audible at .^^^^ ^^ night, if the barking of many dogs and jackals or the braying of veda^isnotto many donkeys is heard, when the reciter is riding in a carriage or on beasts of burden, in' a burial ground, in the extremity of a village, when it thunders and rains, etc., etc. Equally curious are the particulars of the gifts which may be accepted from twice-born persons (i.e., pure Aryans). If the means of subsistence cannot be otherwise various obtained, it may be accepted from a Sudra (one of the slave or restrictions, subject races). A householder may not eat food into which a hair or an insect has fallen, nor what has been smelt at by a cow, nor what has been cooked twice, nor what has been given by various people of bad character performing low offices. The classes of animals that may not be eaten re- mind one of the ceremonial restrictions of Leviticus ; but in fact the principle of tabooing certain things to those who belong to a higher or select order is found in many parts of the world. The mHk of sheep, camels, and entire-hoofed animals was forbidden to the Brahmans. Five-toed ammals were not to be eaten, except the porcupine, the hare, the boar, the iguana, the rhinoceros, and the tortoise; nor animals with a double row ol teeth those covered with an excess of hair, those with no hair, entire-hoofed animals, and indeed whole groups of creatures. . , , i . • 4.1 Women were enjoined to fulfil their duty to their husbands strictly, and restrain their tongues, eyes, and actions; yet much that Christians would revolt against is declared lawful and right for her to do. The duty of Early betrothals are enjoined. The crimes for which a man be- _ comes an outcast are Very varied, including murder and many crimes 200 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. against Brahmans, and association with outcasts; thus boycotting is almost jj as old as Brahmanism, if not older. " To be an outcast," says Gautama, "means to be deprived of the right to follow the lawful occupations of twice-born men, and to be deprived after death of the rewards of meritorious deeds." Numerous and severe penances for various offences are enjoined. He who has killed a Brahman must emaciate himself and thrice throw himself Penances and iiito a fire, or remaining chaste he may, during twelve years, penalties, enter the village only for the purpose of begging, carrying the foot of a bedstead and a skull in his hand, and proclaiming his deed ; thus standing by day, sitting at night, and bathing thrice a day, he may be purified in twelve years, or by saving the life of a Brahman. It is most striking how vigorously the Brahman literature maintains the sanctity and inviolability of its priests, and claims to exert throughout the life of the Aryans a minute authority scarcely paralleled by the Church of Epme. Some of the severest penalties are those inflicted for touching spirituous Uquor. Thus " they shall pour hot spirituous liquor into the mouth of a Brahman who has drunk such liquor ; he wiU be purified after death." Severe secret penances are enjoined on those whose siiis are not pubhcly known. It is not to be supposed that the worship of the gods is intentionally lowered by these regulations; but the very great importance assumed by ceremonial observances and penances naturally tended to lower the dignity of the gods and raise that of the Brahmans. It is not wonderful, therefore, that Budd- hism should have arisen. THE LAWS OF MANU. We have not space to compare this lawbook with later ones which bear the names of Vasishtha, Baudhayana, and Apastamba, or to give an account of the Grihya Sutras or books specially on domestic ceremonies ; but must pass on to the celebrated Laws of Manu, a metrical version of the whole Brahmanical scheme, dating, according to some authorities, from the fifth century B.C. ; but Prof. Bilhler does not consider it certain that it existed in its present form earlier than the beginning of the second century a.d., though undoubtedly it is derived from earlier versions containing substantially the same matter. It results, in fact, from the gradual transformation of the teaching of a school into a general law- book. But in process of time this book became surrounded by a multitude of fictitious legends designed to support its divine authority and secure the obedience of all Aryans. The first chapter of Manu is an apt illustration of this, and we therefore quote a portion from Biihler's translation. " The great sages approached Manu, who was seated with a collected mind, and having duly worshipped him, spoke as follows : — Alleged " ' Beign, divine one, to declare to us precisely and in due origin, order the sacred laws of each of the four chief castes and of the intermediate ones. " Tor thou, Lord, alone knowest the purport'(i.e.) the rites, and the THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. knowledge of the soul, taught in this whole ordinance of the Self-Existent, which is unknowable and unfathomable ! " ' He who can be perceived by the internal organ alone, who is subtile, HINDOO BELIGIOUS MENDICANT. indiscernible, and eternal, who contains all created, beings and is incon- ceivable, shone forth of his own will. " ' He, desiring to produce beings of many kinds from his own body, first with a thought created the waters, and placed his seed in them. THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. " ' That seed became a golden egg, in brilliancy equal to the sun ; in tbat (egg) he himself was born as Brahman, the progenitor of the whole world.' " After a very fanciful account of the derivation of all creation and of the relations of the creator to the creatures, it is stated that the creator himself composed these Institutes and taught them to the author, Manu, who deputes Bhrigu his pupil to recite them. It appears that the introduction ' of the Laws of Manu as a general authority was due to the great accumulation of older works, having but a local and limited authoritiy, and to the gradual extension of the iniiuence of a particular school of general religious and legal instruction. No doubt one factor which contributed to its wide reception was the extended description of the duties and powers of the king and of the administration of justice, and another was its general relation and suitability to all Aryans, whatever their caste. Their authority was clenched and upheld by their being given out as the work of Manu, the typical man, the offspring of the self-existent Brahman, and consequently of double nature, diviae and human. Hence he was invoked as Lord of created beings, and even as identical with Brahman, the supreme Soul. In the Eig-Veda he is frequently termed Father Manu, and it is stated that "the five tribes" or " the races of men " are his off- spring. We have already referred to the legend in the Satapatha-brahmana in which Manu is said to have been saved from a great flood which de- stroyed all other creatures. He thus naturally represents social and moral order, and is the type of the temporal ruler, the inspired teacher and the priest combined. In many passages of the Eig-Veda his sacrifices are men- tioned, and the gods are begged to accept the offerings of the priests as they accepted those of Manu. That writing was known and in considerable use when the Laws of Manu were compiled, is evident from several passages, and also from the com- plex translations which are mentioned, which would have been impossible without writing. The number of archaic phrases and the primitive customs described show that it is based on earlier works ; and by careful study a very good idea of its development may be formed. In giving some account of the Laws of Manu an endeavour will be made to dwell principally upon their religious aspect ; but it is difficult for the ^ Western mind to realise the extent to which every detail of a religious Hindu's life and conduct is connected with and supported by his religious belief. In fact the Christian ideal, that the whole life should be religious, has long been practised by a vast number of Hindus, although the form, basis, and nature of the religions differ so widely. The assent of the heart is the inner sanction of the Hindu law, sup- ported by the authority of Manu, the Veda, the Vedic teachers, and the ^gg customs of holy men. The desire of rewards is declared to be sion incui- not laudable in itself, but it is recognised and utilised ; and the cated. j^g^^ ^-j^Q discharges his prescribed duties is promised the attain- ment of the deathless state, and even in this life the realisation of all his desires. How completely the system was directed to self-repression and the THE- BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 203 production of passivity in this life may be seen by tbis verse : " That man may be considered to have really subdued bis organs, wbo, on bearing and toucbing and seeing, or tasting and smelling anytbing, neitber rejoices nor repines." Tbe privilege of being instructed in tbe Veda is strictly g^^ ^^ fenced in, but tbe bmitations may be relaxed by presents of theveda money. Even in times of dire distress, however, a Vedic teacher was rather to die with his knowledge than sow it in barren soil . The Brahman unlearned in tbe Veda is stigmatised as useless, like a wooden elephant, having nothing but the name in common with bis kind. The Veda is, indeed, extolled to a position which is only rivalled by those whom some have called Bibliolaters. Thus we read that the Veda is tbe eternal eye of the manes, gods and men, and beyond human comprehension. Everything not founded on it is founded on darkness, and produces no reward after death ; the eternal lore of tbe Veda upholds aU created beings. He only who knows the Veda deserves royal authority, the office of a judge, the command of armies. By knowledge of the Veda the taint arising from evil acts is burnt out of the soul. A Brahman wbo retains tbe Rig- Veda in his memory is not stained by guUt, though he may have destroyed the three worlds. Study of the IJpanishads is mentioned as necessary to the attainment of union with the supreme Soul. As to the gods other than this universal Spirit or Soul, they scarcely go beyond the hsts already given in the Vedic period, such as Indra, Surya, tbe Maruts, Yama, Varuna, Agni, etc., whose energetic action the The gods m king is to emulate ; but they appear to occupy a very moderate ^^'^^ place in tbe scheme, the Supreme Spirit and the Brahmanic rites being chief. Indeed, there is a manifest leaning towards pantheism, it being frequently declared that everything proceeds from Brahma the universal Soul, and will ultimately be absorbed once more in tbe same. The whole philosophy is affected by the doctrine of transmigration of souls, new births in New births the same or a lower order of creation or in hells being tbe result ^^ ''*^^- of evil conduct, and absorption in the Supreme Soul being the grand result of the greatest merit. The hells described, though terrible, are consequently only temporary. Among the torments are "being devoured by ravens and owls, tbe heat of scorching sand, being boiled in jars," etc. Altogether, theology is largely absent from Manu. But it must be remembered that the constant study of the Veda is everywhere inculcated. There is scarcely any reference to pubHc worship or to temples ; and from its whole tone we see how the family was the keystone of the Brahmanic religion. The influence of the Brahmans over the domestic life of the people was pro- found and sufficient at the time when the code of Manu was composed. The original castes are stated to be four, the Brahman, tbe Kshatriya or warrior, tbe Vaisya (cultivator), and the Sudra or servant ; and (as in the tenth book of the Rig- Veda) they originated respectively from Duties of the tbe mouth, arms, thighs, and feet of Brahma, who assigned them fo^^ castes, their separate duties. To Brahmans be assigned teaching and studying the Veda, sacrificing for their own benefit and for others, and giving and 204 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. accepting of alms ; to Ksliatriyas the protection of the people, the bestowal of gifts, the offering of sacrifices, the study of the Veda, and abstinence from sensual pleasures ; to the Yaisyas tending cattle, the bestowal of gifts, the offering of sacrifices, the study of the Veda, trading, lending money, and the cultivation of land ; to the Sudras simply to serve the other three. The Brahman caste is exalted far above the others, having sprung from the mouth of Brahma, being the first-born, the preserver of the Veda, and Lgj^. jgjjjjg having the right of expounding it. "What created being can of the surpass him, through whose mouth the gods continually consume the sacrificial viands and the offerings to the dead ? " The most distinguished Brahman is he who fully performs his duty and knows the Brahman ; he in fact becomes one with Brahma the creator. The most ex- travagant claims of lordship over all creatures, of possession of everything, are made on his behalf. In fact, not only is everything bestowed upon him, his own already, but other mortals are stated to owe their subsistence to the benevolence of the Brahmans. In some passages of Manu a Brahman is even lifted to the rank of a divinity, whether he were ignorant or learned, and even if he were occupied in a mean occupation. A Brahman who studies Manu and faithfully performs his duties is said to be never tainted by sins of thought, word, or "deed, and to sanctify any company he may enter, together with seven ancestors and seven descendants. Surely more arrogant self-assertion was never advanced and admitted than by these Brahmans. The king is warned not to provoke them to anger, for it is asserted that they could instantly destroy him and his army, by their power over all creation, and by the utterance of magic texts. Yet inconsistently enough, it is allowed that just as Kshatriyas cannot prosper without Brahmans, so Brahmans cannot prosper without Kshatriyas. Their persons are de- clared inviolable, and the crime of threatening a Brahman with a stick will be punished in hell for a hundred years, while the actual striker of a Brahman will remain in hell a thousand years. Still more extravagant is this further threat : " As many particles of dust as the blood of a Brahman causes to coagulate, for so many thousand years shall the shedder of that blood remain in hell." This system could of course only be maintained by the receipt of heavy fees. The repetitions of the Veda, and the perform- ance of the sacrifices were made to depend upon the gifts to the officiating Brahmans. No taxes were to be paid by them ; and any king who suffered a learned Brahman to die of hunger would have his kingdom afflicted by famine, while the meritorious acts of any Brahman whom he protected would increase the king's wealth, length of Hfe, and kingdom. Yet, if after aU these injunctions, a Brahman failed to receive proper patronage and support, he might become a soldier, a cultivator, or a trader. We must give some further detail of the Brahman's life and course of study ; for although it only partially applies to the other classes of Hindus, The four ^*' ^^epresents that ideal which they continually looked up to and periodsof life, revered, and is as characteristic of Hindu religious life as that of The student. , i i p i • n the clergyman oi the present day is of our own. We cannot THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES 205 fail to be astonished at the lengthy student period which the Brahman must go through. Studentship might last for nine, eighteen, or thirty-six years, or even for the whole of life. The most important of the numeroiis preliminary rites was the investiture with the sacred cord or sacrificial string, which must be of three threads of cotton, twisted to the right, and worn over the left shoulder and across the body to the right hip. The ceremony HINDU SUTTEE (sATi), OB THE SELr-IMMOLATION OE A WIDOW. commenced with taking a staff as tall as the pupil, and worshipping the sun whUe standing and walking round the sacred fire, after which he begged alms and food in succession of each person present according to a fixed order. After having eaten, and purified himself with water, a series of formalities is required before the teacher begins to instruct his pupil in the Veda, the syllable Om being always pronounced at the beginning and end of a lesson. 2o6 THE WORLDS RELIGIONS. Once initiated, regular batlung, with libations of water to the gods, the inspired Eishis, and deceased ancestors, is required of the Brahman student, and he must reverence the deities (explained later to mean, " worship the images of the gods "), and place fuel on the sacred fire. He must Live a chaste life, refrain from meat and all sensuality, from dancing, singing, and playing musical instruments, must never injure any living creature, must not wear shoes or use. an umbrella, and must refrain from anger, covetousness, idle disputes, and gambling. The regulations for securing reverent behaviour towards the teacher are very elaborate ; and parents and elders generally are to be highly regarded. It is declared that the trouble and pain which parents undergo on the birth of their children cannot be compensated even in a hundred years, and obedience to them and to the teacher are the best forms of austerity ; the son must rejoice to do what is agreeable and bene- ficial to them ; by honouring them the three worlds are gained ; for him who honours them not, all rites are fruitless. Somewhat surprisingly, in the midst of these stringent regulations we come upon the following liberal sentiments : " He who possesses faith may Some iiuerai receive pure learning even from a man of lower caste, and an sentiments, excellent wife even from a base family." " Even from poison nectar may be taken, even from a child good advice, even from a foe a lesson in good conduct, and even from an impure sub- stance gold. " Excellent wives, learning, the knowledge of the law, the rules of purity, good advice, and various arts may be acquired from anybody." Finally, the Brahman who has not broken his vow during his student stage is promised after death the highest abode, and that he will not be born again in this world. The stage of a householder being at length reached, the Brahman must marry a wife of equal caste, free from bodily defects and having vari- Tue OT^s good qualities; but polygamy is allowed though not recom- househoider. mended, and when the first wife is one of equal caste, another wife may be taken from each of the inferior castes. Eight different forms of marriage, four laudable and four blamable, the chief diflferences being in the matter of dowry and attendant circumstances, the highest rank being accorded to a marriage where the parent of the bride offers her with costly garments and jewels to a learned Brahman ; the son of such a wife is said to liberate from sin ten ancestors and ten descendants if he does meritorious works. The Brahman householder had to perform daily five chief rites ; (1) muttering the Veda ; (2) offering water and food to ancestors ; (3) a burnt The cMef offering to the gods ; (4) an offering to all creatures, including aged dauy rites, parents, good and evil spirits, consisting of the scattering of rice- grains on the housetop or outside the door; (5) an offering to men, consisting of Sacrifices for hospitable reception of (Brahman) guests. This last was naturally the dead, considered of great importance, as it afforded the chief means of support to the students, ascetics, and hermits. Sacrifices for the dead were THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 207 required to be performed every new moon, and at these times learned Brah- mans were specially entertained. A long list of those who must not be invited or who must be shunned on these occasions is given, including physicians, temple-priests (implying that these were rising in importance and were considered to have interests opposed to those of the domestic Brah- mans), sellers of meal, actors or singers, one-eyed men, incendiaries, drunkards, gamblers, those who had forsaken parents. The great importance assigned to these celebrations for deceased ancestors, — being declared much more im- portant than the rites in honour of the gods, — seems to indicate that ancestor worship among the Aryans was later than nature worship. The funeral sacrifices further acquired importance to the Hindus as affording the basis of their law of inheritance. All who offered the funeral cake and water together were bound in one family, represented by the eldest male, although the living family had a joint interest in the family property. This part of the subject we cannot here detaU, although intimately connected with and enforced by the religious sanction. An astonishing number of daily rites and of things to be avoided is laid down for good Brahmans, and this can only be matched by the extreme of early Pharisaic restriction ; but although the eating of meat is forbidden in general, it is expressly enjoined on certain occasions. As regards the position of women in Manu, it is one of complete sub- jection ; the husband was not to eat with his wife, nor look at her when she ate ; women were forbidden to repeat the Veda, or to perform position of any religious rite separately ; they must continually feel their w-omen. dependence on their husbands. The wife must worship her husband as a god. Women were credited with many inbred evils. When unfaithful to her husband she is born of a jackal in the next life, and tormented with diseases. No repudiation or divorce of a wife was (originally) recognised, and if sold or repudiated she could not be the legitimate wife of another. There is no ground for the long-current statement that Manu or the Vedas supported or enjoined the burning of widows (Sati^). The re-marriage of widows is mentioned, but with censure, and a widow who remains chaste is rewarded with heaven. Very early marriage of girls was permitted if a suitor was distinguished and handsome. Householders are enjoined to be Liberal in gifts. " If he is asked, let him always give something, be it ever so little, without grudging ; " the giver receives corresponding rewards, either in worldly prosperity ^ or in future existences. Truthfulness is highly recommended : "he who is dishonest in speech is dishonest in everything." Griving no pain to any creature, the householder is to slowly accumulate spiritual merit, the only lasting companion. " Single is each being born ; single spiritual it dies ; single it enjoys the reward of its virtue ; single it suffers ™^"*- the punishment of its sin. . . He who is persevering, gentle, and patient, shuns the company of men of cruel conduct, and does no injury to living creatures, gains, if he constantly lives in that manner, heavenly bhss." ' Sati means, "she who is faithful," and is a feminine form of the root seen in " sooth "= truth. 2o8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The hermit and ascetic periods of hfe were held up to Brahmans as the culmination of their existence. We do not know how many Brahmans The hermit went through this disciphne ; but it is recommended to the house- in the forest. jj^Q;[(jgj.^ that when his skin becomes wrinkled and his hair grey, and he has grandchildren, he should go and live in the forest, taking with him the sacred fire and implements for the domestic sacrifices which he is still to "perform, and there live in control of his senses, wearing his hair in braids, and the beard and nails undipped. He was stiU to recite the Veda, and to be patient of hardships, friendly towards all, of collected mind, compassionate to all living creatures. He must feed only on special kinds of vegetables. A considerable number of austerities are enjoined on him, including exposure to fires in summer, living under the open sky and clothed in wet garments in winter, with other performances conducive to short life, much study not being forgotten. Finally he may, subsisting only on water and air, walk straight on " until his body sinks to rest " ; then, having got rid of his body, he is exalted in the world of Brahma, free from sorrow and fear. The forest dweller who has not found liberation may become a mendi- cant ascetic, absolutely silent, caring for no enjoyment,"ihdiflferent"to every- The mendi- 'thing, but concentrating his mind on Brahma. " Let him not cant ascetic, desire to live, let him not desire to die ; let him wait for his appointed time as a servant waits for the payment of his wages." " Let him patiently bear hard words, let him not insult anybody, and let him not become anybody's enemy. . . . Against an angry man let him not in return show anger, let him bless where he is cursed." These are only a few of the numerous precepts for promoting the high spiritual life of the ascetic. Meditation, self-repression, equability, contentment, forgiveness, honesty, truthfulness, abstention from anger, purification, etc. — these may be said to sum up the moral law for all Brahmans. "We can only lightly dwell on the duties of a king and of government as described in Manu. The king represents Agni and Indra, the Maruts, The duties Varuna, Yama and other gods, out of all of whom he is supposed , of a Mag. to be framed ; thus he is "a great deity in human form." He has divine authority, is to protect all creatures, and be an incarnation of the law. He must have seven or eight ministers, the chief of whom must be a Brahman. Punishment is his chief instrument, indeed the only maintainer ^g of the law. He is, however, to be obedient to the Brahmans, Brahman's and be determined not to retreat in battle. The Brahmans superior! y. ^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ judges, either by themselves, or as assistants to the king. The criminal code is marked by much severity, and not a little incon- sistency. Offences by the low-born against the higher classes were very severely punished, often with great cruelty ; while Brahmans were very leniently treated. A Brahman's life was not to be taken, however grave or numerous his crimes. Among " mortal sins " are : killing a Brahman, drinking spirituous liquor, stealing the gold of a Brahman, adultery with a G-uru's (spiritual teacher's) wife, associating with THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. 209 those who did those things, falsely attributing to oneself high birth, falsely accusing one's teacher, forgetting or reviling the Yedas, slaying a friend, giving false evidence, stealing a deposit, incest and fornication ; but the yOQIS (HINLU KELIGIOUS FANATICS;. classification and punishments" show a very crude estimate of Punishment their relative importance. Many punishments are designed as ^^^ penances, penances, to remove the guilt of the offender. Various ordeals are pre- 2IO THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. scribed to ascertain if a witness speaks the trutli, such as fire and water, Altogetlier, the rules of evidence do not inspire us with the idea that the early Brahmans had invented very excellent machinery for discovering Falsehood truth ; and such statements as the following are not calculated to excused, gj^ow them in a favourable light. In some cases a man who, though knowing the facts to be different, gives false evidence from a pious motive, does not lose heaven. Whenever the death of a Sudra, a Vaisya, a Kshatriya, or of a Brahman would be caused by the declaration of the truth, a falsehood may be spoken. In cases of violence, of theft and adultery, of defamation and assault, the judge must not examine witnesses too strictly. But he is to exhort all witnesses to speak the truth, pro- mising them bliss after death and fame here below, while false witnesses are firmly bound by Varuna and are helpless during one hundred exist- ences. Reverting once more to the question of castes, we may note that the Brahman was supposed to have three births ; the first his natural birth, the second his investiture with the girdle of Munga grass, the third his initiation to perform the greater sacrifices ; the Kshatriyas or warriors, and the Vaisyas or cultivators, were only twice born, the second birth happening on their investiture with the sacred thread. We may recaU here that the term caste is not an original Hindu or even an ancient word. It is believed to be an adaptation of a Portuguese word, casta, race or family, from the Latin castus, pure. The word used in Manu is varna, or colour, while in later Hindu phrase caste is denoted by jati or jat, meaning birth. The code of Manu was forced to recognise that wide departures took place from the original purity of caste, although maintaining ^that only Growtii of those born of wedded wives of equal castes were to be considered mixed castes, ^g belonging to the same caste as their fathers. Hence distinct names were given to the offspring between the different castes ; some of these are declared to be ferocious in manners and delighting in cruelty. These had already been assigned to distinct occupations, which increased as the Hindu life grew more settled and diversified. Some of them are said to be inherently fit only for low and degrading offices, and unworthy to receive the sacramental rites. The modern development of the caste system must be dealt with later. Finally, as to the important belief in the transmigration of souls, which in the Hindu system plays so large a part, it appears to have been wielded Transmigra- by the Brahmans very much as a mode of influencing actions on tion of souls, earth. Evil actions done with the body were to be punished by being born next in something inanimate, those done by speech were followed by birth as a bird or a beast, while sins of the, miud, such as covetousness, evil thoughts, and adherence to false doctrines, led to re-birth in a low caste. Self-control in aU these respects led to emancipation from all births and final blessedness. This scheme is elaborated in great detail, many grada- tions being fixed in descending order, each the just recompense for some THE BRAHMANISM OF THE CODES. fault. The specific reason for many of these cannot be imagined, although some are intelligible enough, such as these: "men who delight in doing injury become carnivorous animals ; thieves, creatures consuming their own kind ; for stealing grain a man becomes a rat, for stealing meat, a vulture," etc. Sensual men are said to suffer in a succession of dreadful hells and agonizing births, slavery, imprisonment in fetters. The last pages of Manu are devoted to further glorification of Brahmans who do their duty, and to the extolling of the Self or Soul in all things ; " for he who recognises the universe in the SCnLPItlEED FIGBRES IN IHB OAVE AT ELEPHANTA. Self, does not give his heart to unrighteousness. . . . He who thus recog- nises the Self through the Self in all created beings, becomes equal-minded towards all, and enters the highest state. Brahman. A twice-born man, who recites these Institutes, revealed by Manu, will be always virtuous in conduct, and will reach whatever condition he desires." It must be owned that the system thus developed in Manu does not fail for lack of penalties or of precise directions. Its ef&cacy is to be sought in its gradual growth, its accordance with the ideas of creation. Efficacy of supreme power, and morality which had long been current, and ^^ '=°^s- its promulgation by those who had most intellectual power and most capa- bility of swaying the conduct of men. Thus we may imagine the extra- ordinary influence which the sacred class of Brahmans attained in early Indian history, an influence which has been sufficient to perpetuate itself THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. to our own times, which remains very great, and which more than two thousand years ago was sufficient to produce by exaggeration and reaction the remarkable religion of Buddhism. But looking on it calmly, while admitting the loftiness of many of its precepts and imaginings, it cannot be said that its general moral elevation was great. The scheme was powerful enough to bind together society for centuries, but not powerful enough to diffuse itself widely among other races, or to become more than a Hindu religion. There is one other code to which we must refer, besides that of Manu, namely the Darma Shastra of Yajnavalkya, possibly dating from the first Code of century a.d. It is still the chief authority in the school of Yajnavalkya. Benares. It is much shorter than that of Manu, is more syste- matic, and represents a later stage of development. It adds to the sources of authority the Puranas and various traditional and scholastic authorities. To some extent caste is carried farther, and a Brahman is forbidden to have a Sudra as a fourth wife. "We have reached a period when writing is in 'regular use, and written documents are appealed to as legal evidence; coined money is in use. It is evident that Buddhism has arisen, and that the shaven heads and yellow garments of its votaries are well known ; the king is also recommended to found monasteries for Brahmans, an evident imi- tation of Buddhists. Compare the following philosophy with that of Manu. " The success of every action depends on destiny and on a man's own effort ; but destiny is evidently nothing but the result of a man's act in a former state of existence. Some expect the whole result from destiny or from the inherent nature ; some expect it from the lapse of time ; and some from a man's own effort ; other persons of wiser judgment expect it from a combination of all these." (M. W.) But there is no sufficient difference in the nature of the precepts to make it necessary to quote further. We may here refer briefly to the celebrated rock-temples of India, excavated in solid rock many centuries ago, but by no means confined to Hinduism, having often been excavated by Buddhists and Jains. Some of them display surprising skill in construction as well as in sculpture. Many are ornamented with figures- of the gods or scenes from their supposed adventures. The majority of the Brahmanic temples are dedicated to Siva. The most famous are those of Elephanta, an island in Bombay harbour ; one of them contains a colossal trimurti, or three-faced bust, represe^iting Siva in his threefold character of creator, preserver, and destroyer. Many other caves, scarcely less famous, -are at EUora in the Nizam's dominions. LAKSHMI. DnRGi'.. . {From a native picture.) SAKASVATI. KARTIKEYA. CHAPTER III. ittolirin l^mtinism I. Beactlon from Bralimanism— Triumph of Buddhism— Downfall of Indian Buddhism— The caste system — The Mahabharata— The Bhagavad-gita — Krishna — Incarnations of the Deity — Immortality taught— The Eamayana— Partial inoamations— Conquests of Kama — Resistance of Brahmanism — Kumarila Bhatta — Sankara— Worship of the supreme Brahman — The Smartas — Vishnu worship — The Furanas— The Vishnu Purana — Description of the Supreme Being— Great Vishnuite preachers — Kamanand— Kabir — Chaitanya — Influence of Buddhism — The linga and the salagram — Brahma — Vishnu the preserver— Incarnations of Vishnu — Rama— Krishna— Buddha — Jagan- nath — Lakshmi — Siva the destroyer — Ascetic Sivaites — Durga — Kali— Ganesa — Gangsa — Local deities and demons— Worship of animals and trees— Deification of heroes and saints. IN our chapter on Buddhism, it will be shown that the new religion which deposed Brahmanism from supremacy in India, and Reaction ffreatlv depressed it for more than a thousand years, was partly from "^ „ ■, ■, 7, Cii-ni Brahmamsm. a natural reaction from the haughty sway ol the Brahmans, and their reliance on ritual and sacrifice, and partly the development of 21S 214 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. a movement which had already risen within the older system. The edu- cated Brahmans came to see that the Vedic gods were poetic imaginations which could not all be true, and that whereas various gods — the Sun, the Encompassing Sky, the Dawn, etc. — were represented as independent and supreme, they must be emanations of one supreme Cause. While they continued to uphold the popular ideas about the gods, and to conduct the customary sacrifices, they began to develop a theological literature, of part of which we have already given an account, the Upanishads and the Puranas, teaching the unity of God and the immortality of the soul, still mingle'd with many myths and superstitions. Their new system involved the brotherhood of man ; but it was reserved for Gautama to break through all the old conventions, and to found the great system of Buddhism. AH Triumph of classes found in it something that was lacking in Brahmanism, Buddiism. and rejoiced in the upsetting of many things that had been irk- some. From the third century b.c. to the fourth century a.d.. Buddhism in- creasingly triumphed, until it was professed by the majority of the Indian people. But in the fifth century the Buddhists were persecuted by the adherents of the old religion. By the end of that century the Buddhist leaders had taken refuge in China, and many of its priests had carried the faith to new lands. As late as the twelfth century a few remained in India, but now they are non-existent, unless Jainism be regarded as representing the old Buddhism. But the influence of Buddhism upon Brahmanism had been profound, and modern Hinduism is a very different thing from the religion of the Vedas and Brahmanas. Indeed, Sir W. W. Hunter terms modern Hinduism the joint product of Buddhism and Brahmanism. The latter was active and slowly changing during all the time of the predomin- ance of the former, and we have the testimony of Greeks in Alexander's time and later, and of Buddhist priests from China who visited India in the fifth and seventh centuries, that Brahman priests were equally honoured with Buddhist monks, and temples of the Hindu gods adjoined the Buddhist religious houses. The Hindus date the final triumph over Buddhism from the preaching of Kumarila, a Bengal Brahman, who powerfully advanced the Vedic Downfau of teaching of a personal Creator and supreme Being, against the Indian impersonal negations of Buddhism ; but he also shone as a per- Buddaism. , r^. -^^ -.-^^ __ ' xr secutor. bir W. \\' . Hunter, however, traces the change which followed to deeper-seated causes— such that the rise of Hinduism was a natural development of racial characters and systems. According to him it rests upon the caste system and represents the coalition of the old Vedio faith with Buddhism, as well as with the rude rites of pre-Aryan and Mongolian races. We cannot here give an account of the caste system. The immense subdivision of castes is the result partly of intermarriages, partly of varied occupations, partly of locality, partly of the introduction of The caste outside tribes to Hinduism. Eeligious exclusiveness and trades system, unionism, once grasped, made easy progress, and converted India into a, vast grouping of separate classes. Caste is a powerful instrument MODERN HINDUISM. 215 for personal discipline and the maintenance of convention and custom, but it is a weakener of united popular action and national unity. Its great force is in its hereditary instincts and in social and religious excommuni- cation. The offender against caste laws may be fined by his fellow-mem- bers, may be forbidden to eat or intermarry with them, and may be boy- cotted by the community. We cannot understand the growth of modern Hinduism without refer- ence to the two great Indian epic poems, the Mahabharata and the Rama- yana. The former is a vast aggregation of poems and episodes, Tiie arranged into a continuous whole, and is the longest poem in the MaUabnarata. world, being fourteen times as long as the Iliad. It includes many portions dating back to Vedic times, with others of later date up to a comparatively modern time. It includes the whole cycle of Hindu mythology since the Vedas, and practically represents a deification of human heroes, side by side with views of Divine incarnation. Its central story relates a prehistoric struggle between two families descended from the Moon god for a tract of country around Delhi. It is believed to have existed in a considerably developed form five or six centuries before Christ, but it has been greatly modified by subsequent Brahmanic additions, especially didactic and religious in their nature, teaching the submission of the military to the Brahman power. The Bhagavad-gita, or song of Bhagavat, is the most important episode of this great epic, Bhagavat being a term applied to Krishna, one of the incarnations of Vishnu, the Pervader and Preserver. Krishna TheBha- makes a revelation to the hero Arjuna, just before a great battle, gavad-gita. in order to remove his scruples about destroying human life. This revela- tion in effect teaches the supremacy of the soul over the body, and in fact its eternity of existence in the supreme Being, so that death cannot harm it. Duty to caste and its obligations is highly extolled; but the poeni is most remarkable to us for its exposition in poetry of the Vedantist phil- osophy of Pantheism, which teaches that all the universe is indeed Brahma, from whom all proceeds and to whom all returns. Krishna in giving an account of himself to Arjuna, says (we quote from Sir Monier- Williams's " Indian Wisdom ") : — "I am the ancient sage, without beginning, I am the ruler and the all-sustainer, I am incomprehensible in form, More subtle and minute than subtlest atoms ; I am the cause of the whole universe ; Through me it is created and dissolved, I dwell as wisdom, in the heart of all. I am the goodness of the good, I am Beginning, middle, end, eternal time, The birth, the death of all. I have created all Out of one portion of myself. Think thou on me. Have faith in me, adore and worship me. And join thyself in meditation to me. Thus shalt thou come to me, O Arjuna ; 2l6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. KriBlina. Thus shalt thou rise to my supreme abode, "Where neither sun nor moon have need to shine, For know that all the lustre they possess isj^mine." Among other revelations of Krishna, lie states that he is born on earth from time to time for the establishment of righteousness. In lauding work, Krishna says : — " Know that work Proceeds from the supreme. I am the pattern Tor man to follow ; know that I have done All arts already ; nought remains for me To gain by action, yet I work for ever TJnweariedly, and this whole universe Would perish if I did not work my work." It] will be evident from these quotations that the Bhagavad-gita contains much lofty thought ; indeed, it has been praised as un- equalled for sublimity of conception, reasoning, and diction. Yet it is in no slight degree parallel with Buddhist ideas, in preaching deliverance through self-renuncia- tion and devotion, end- ing in absorption in the Deity. Although women are not raised by it, yet the declara- tion of Krishna is, that all who resort to him will reach the highest. He says : " I have nei- ther friend nor am the same to all all who worship me dwell in me and I in them. To them that love give that devotion by which they come at last to me. No soul that faith, however imperfect the attainment, or however the soul have wandered, shall perish, either in this world or in another. He shall have new births till, purified and made perfect, he reaches the supreme abode." The repetition of incarnations of deity is an important feature in this mcamationsts^c^i^ig; ^'^^ from this root has developed the great " avatar " of the deity, or incarnation idea of the Hindus, the idea being that the deity IS continually being manifested for the guidance and protection of his THE KRISHNA ATATABA. (From a native jncture.) foe ; I and me MODERN HINDUISM. 217 people. Througliout tte transition period, from Brahmanism to Hinduism, varying forms of Krishna, as the incarnation of Vishnu ^ are continually described. He appears as the protecting hero and saint and sage, the overcomer of evil spirits, the popular wonder-worker. From some of the characteristics of Krishna it has been imagined that he has been derived from Christ ; but there is no proof of this, and, indeed, the multiplication and varying form of the incarnations tells against this idea. In fact, the belief proceeds from a date before the Christian era. The meaning of the word Krishna, " black," also makes against the Christian relationship ; it rather points to respect for common humanity of black and white alike ; for Krishna is the teacher of Arjuna, " white." This doctrine about Krishna brings into view the essential Immortality link by which taugnt. the intellectual Brahmans connected their higher philosophy with the com- mon behefs of the people. Krishna manifests the noblest traits of Hindu ge- nius ; he also condescends to the most ordinary pur- suits of men and children, and even to sportive re- creation. The higher doc- trine of immortality is preached in such passages as the following in the Bhagavad-gita, " There is an invisible, eternal exist- ence, beyond this visible, which does not perish when all things else perish, even when the great days of Brahman's creative life pass round into night, and all that exists in form returns unto Grod whence it came ; they who obtain this never return. . . . Bright as the sun beyond darkness is He to the soul that remembers Him in meditation, at the hour of death, with thought fixed between the brows,— Him the most ancient of the wise, the primal ruler, the minutest atom, the sustainer of all,— in the hour when each finds that same nature on which he meditates, and to which he is conformed. . . . ' Vishnu is a god named in the Kig-Veda as a form of the sun striding across the heavens in three paces. Q^^ ^P m^^W_ !i!^/i 17 tt^/^':-*-^2*?ii^^ jj*^^^^|^p5^^j^^^^K itr^S'^'^c. '^^^'^^^'^'^'^^^^^^^'^^ Wte^ii'-^-fe'^ r M'^ yS^ir r^ \ lii'^^^ ^^•^..fi*^^^ 1 * r^'^^^ ^^^-jgV^ ^^^^m ^^^^^pf VISHNU. (From a native 'i)icture.) 2l8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. They who put their trust in Me, and seek deliverance from decay and death, know Brahma, and the highest spirit, and every action. They who know me in my being, my person, and my manifested life, in the hour of death, know me indeed." The other great epic poem, the Eamayana, or the goings of Eama, is a chronicle which relates primarily to another region of Aryan conquest, Oudh, The and then recounts the advance of the Aryans into Southern India. Ramayana. jt represents perhaps a later stage than the earlier parts of the Mahabharata, but was arranged into something Kke its present form a century earlier — perhaps about the beginning of the third century b.c. Like the sister epic, it presents the Brahman idea of the Grodhead in the form of an incarnation, Eama, of Vishnu, to destroy a demon. Briefly stated, the story is as follows. It begins by relating the sonlessness of the king of Oudh, a descendant of the sun-god. After a sacrifice to the gods, Partial ^ovcc sons were born of incarnations, j^jg three wivBS, the eldest, Rama, having one-half the nature of Vishnu ; the second, Bharata, one- fourth ; and two others, twins, having each one-eighth. This ex- emplifies the Brahman doctrine of partial incarnations, Krishna being a full incarnation ; and, beyond this, there might be fractional incarna- tions of the Divine essence, in men, animals and even inanimate objects. The wonderful youth, marriage to Sita, and exile of Eama, are next told and the refusal of Bharata to -take the kingdom on his father's death. Eama. continuing an exile, Eavana, the demon king of the south, heard of his wife's beauty, and Conquests Carried her off in a magical chariot to Ceylon. Eama then makes of Rama, alliances with the aboriginal peoples of Southern India, invades Ceylon, slays Eavana and delivers his wife, who has to undergo the farther trial of being suspected of infidelity and banished. She is^ the type of womanly devotion and purity, and after sixteen years' exile is ''reconciled to her husband, with whom she is after all translated to heaven. Such was the framework in which the change from ancient Brahman- ism to modern Hinduism was developed and taught. These epics bear witness to the fact that notwithstanding the great extension of Buddhism in India, there was no time when Brahmanism was not working with great skill and intellectual force to adapt itself to the changed conditions. At Resistance of ^ council of the Buddhist monarch Siladitya at Kanauj on the Brahmanism. Ganges in A.D. 634, while a statue of Buddha was installed on the first day, on the second an image of the Sun-god, on the third an SIVA, BEAHMA, AND VISHNU. MODERN HINDUISM. 219 image of Siva, the product of later Brahmanism, was inaugurated. A great series of Bralaman apostles arose simultaneously with the decay of Buddhism, beginning with Kumarila Bhatta, about a.d. 760, who revived the old Brahman doctrine of a personal God and Creator, and reconverted Kumarua many of the people. He was the first of a long line of influential Bhatta. religious reformers, who all solemnly cut themselves off from *the world like Buddha, and give forth a simple message, readily understood, including in essence, according to Sir "W. W. Hunter, " a reassertion, in some form, of the personality of God and the equality of men in His sight." Sankara Acharya was the disciple of Kumarila, still more famous than his master ; „ , ' SanKara. he popularised the late Vedantist philosophy as a national religion, and " since his short life in the eighth or ninth century, every new Hindu sect has had to start with a personal God " (Hun- ter). He taught that the supreme God Brahma was distinct from the old Brahman triad, and must be worshipped by spiritual medi- tations, not by sacrifices ; and he perpetuated his teaching by found- ing a Brahman sect, the Smartas. However, he still allowed the practice of the Vedic rites, and worship of the deity in any popu- lar form ; and it is claimed by popular tradition that he founded many of the Hindu sects of the present day. Siva worship is sup- posed to be specially his work, though it existed long before; and he has ever been represented by his followers as an incarnation of Siva. Siva is, as we have said before, the Eudra or Storm-god of the Eig- SIVA. {¥vom> a native picture Veda, recognised as the Destroyer and Reproducer. He was worshipped contemporaneously with the Buddhist ascendency and is highly spoken of in the Mahabharata ; but Sankara's followers elevated his worship till it became one of the two chief forms of Hinduism. The doctrine of Sankara just referred to, that Brahma or Brahman, is the supreme God, distinct from the triad Brahma, Vishnu, and Worship of Siva, who are manifestations of him. The supreme Brahman is t^|^^Pf^« the absolute, having no form, nor shape, self-existent, lUimit- able, free from imperfection. There are but a few worshippers of Brahman 220 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. or Brahma alone. As creator he is believed to have finished his work, and there is now only one temple to him, at Pushkara- in Ajmir. "Ward, in 1818, wrote : " The Brahmans in their morning and evening worship repeat an incantation containing a description of the image of Brahma ; at noon they present to him a single flower; at the time of burnt-offering, ghee is presented to him. In the month of Magh, at the full moon, an earthen image of him is worshipped, with that of Siva on his right hand and Vishnu on his left." The Smartas of Southern India are a considerable sect who follow the philosophic teaching of Sankara. There are numerous religious houses con- nected with The Smartas. , , . ^ , this sect, acknowledging the headship of the monas- tery of Sringiri, in the western Mysore hills; and the chief priest of the sect, the head of this monastery, is spe- cially acknowledged by all Sivaite worship- pers, who regard San- kara as one of the in- carnations of Siva. " The worship of Vishnu," says Sir "W. Vishnu W. Hunter, worsiiip. "in one phase or another, is the religion of the bulk, of the middle classes ; with its roots deep down in beautiful forms of non- Aryan nature -worship, and its top sending forth branches among the most refined Brahmans and literary sects. It is a religion in all things graceful. Its gods are heroes or bright friendly beings, ^ ^ , who walk and converse with men. Its legends breathe an almost Hellenic beauty." This is the lofty position assigned to Vishnuism by one of the most learned and most impartial students — a very different opinion from that which regards the car of Juggernaut as the representative of all that is vile. The doctrines of modem Hinduism, in their learned aspect, are con- tained in the Puranas (in Sanskrit), a series of eighteen treatises, in which The various Brahmans expound, in lengthy dialogues, the supremacy Puranas. ^f Yighnu Or Siva. The chief of them is the Vishnu Purana, EAVANA. iJFrom a native picture. See accownt o/Eamoyana.) MODERN HINDUISM. dating from the eleventh century, but containing, as the word '' purana " signifies, ancient traditions, some of which descend from Vedic jhe visimu times ; and others are traceable to the two great epics. " It Parana, includes a complete cosmogony or account of. primary creation, accounts of the destruction and renovation of worlds, genealogies of gods and patri- archs, the reigns of the Manus, the institutes of society, including caste and burial rites, and the history of the princes of the solar and lunar races, a life of Krishna, and an account of the end of the world. It is not necessary to dweU upon its contents, which would require a volume. Pantheism is woven into the general scheme, God and Nature being identified, and Vishnu, as supreme God, being incarnat- ed in Krishna. The style of the Vishnu "''^^~ Description of ana tlie supreme Being, o n its philosophical side may be ga- thered from the following ex- tracts, relating to the, supreme deity, as trans- lated by H. H. Wilson: "Who can describe him who is not to be appre- hended by the senses, who is ■ • n x- the best of aU things, and the supreme soul, self-existent ; who is devoid of all the distinguishing characteristics of complexion, caste, or the like, and is exempt from birth, vicissitude, death, or defcay ; who is always, and alone ; who exists everywhere, and in whom all things here exist ; and who is thence named Vasudeva (the resplendent one in whom all things dwell). He is Brahma, supreme lord, eternal, unborn, imperishable, undecaymg ; of one essence • ever pure as free from defects. He, that Brahma, was all thines comprehending in his own nature the indiscrete (spirit) and the discrete (matter). He then existed in the forms of Purusha and Kala. KALI DiNCING ON SIVA. {Fxord a native iiicture.) THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Purusha (spirit) is tlie first form of the supreme. Next proceeded two other forms — the discrete and the indiscrete ; and Kala (time) was the last. These four the wise consider to be the pure and supreme condition of Yishnu. These four forms, in their due proportions, are the causes of the production of the phenomena of creation, preservation, and destruction. Vishnu being thus discrete and indiscrete substance— spirit and time— sports like a playful boy, as you shall learn by listening to his frolics." Here it should be noted that the creation of the world is very commonly considered by the Hindu to be the sport or amusement of the supreme Being. The life of Krishna, as given by this Purana, is so full of fabulous marvels as to read like an Arabian Night's story, without its charm. It Great ^^ sufficient to say that this Purana did not work the ^reat vishnuite development of Vishnu worship, which was due to a series of Vishnuite preachers, beginning with Eamanuja in the 12th century, rising against the cruel doctrines of the Sivaites. It was not till the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century that the great development of popular religion in the name of Vishnu took place, under the apostolic leadership of Eamanand. This teacher had his headquarters in a monastery at Benares, and travelled from place to place in Northern India. He chose twelve disciples from the despised castes of the barbers, leatherdressers, weavers, and the like, who, like the Buddhist monks, had to forsake the world, and depend solely on alms, while they went about teaching religion. They addressed the people in the vernacular Hindi, and largely helped to make it a literary language. The inclusion of lower-caste men among Eamanand's chief disciples is a proof that his reaction was directed against Brahman exclusiveness ; and it embraced many features of Buddhism, including the monasteries or retreats for the mendicants. Kabir, the greatest of Ramanand's disciples, is notable for his effort to combine the Mohammedans with the Hindus in one religious fraternity. The caste system and Brahman arrogance, as well as image- worship, found in him a strong opponent. He taught that the god of the Hindu is the same as the god of the Mahometan. " To Ali (AUah) and to Rama " (writes one of his disciples) " we owe our life, and should show like tenderness to all who live. What avails it to wash your mouth, to count your beads, to bathe in holy streams, to bow in temples, if, while you mutter your prayers or journey on pilgrimage, deceitfulness is in your heart ? The Hindu fasts every eleventh day ; the Mussulman on the Ramazan. Who formed the reniaining months and days, that you should venerate but one ? . . . Behold but one in all things. He to whom the world belongs, He is the father of the worshippers alike of Ali and of Rama." Kabir recognised in all the varied lots and changes of man, his hopes and fears and religious diversities, the one Divine Spirit ; when this was re- cognised, Maya, or illusion, was over, and the soul found rest. This was to be obtained, not by burnt-offerings or sacrifices, but by faith and meditation on the Supreme being, and by keeping his holy names for ever on the lips MODERN HINDUISM. 223 and in the heart. Kabir had a vast number of followers, especially in Bengal ; the headquarters of his sect is the Kabir Chaura at Benares. The worship of Juggernaut, more properly Jagannath (literally, the Lord of the world) dates only from the beginning of the 16th century, being mainly propagated by Chaitanya, who was so great a preacher of the Vishnuite doctrines that since his death he has been widely worshipped as an incarnation of Yishnu. He preached a religion of faith to Hindus and Mohammedans alike ; but he laid great stress on obedience to religious teachers. By contemplation rather than ritual he taught that the soul would find liberty from the imperfections and sins of the body. After death the soul of the believer would dwell for ever in a heaven of perfect beauty, or in the presence of Vishnu himself, known in his supreme essence. After the death of Chaitanya there appeared teachers who lowered the spiritual level of Yishnuism, some preaching the religion of enjoyment, others giving increased importance to the idea of physical love ; one adoring the infant Krishna as the cowherd. Vallabha-Swami (sixteenth century) was one of the chief of these ; he established a ritual of eight services in which the image of Krishna as a lovely boy is bathed, anointed, sumptu- ously dressed and fed, and in which beautiful women and other sensual deUghts figure largely. Such a religion appealed largely to the well-to-do, the luxurious, and the sensually minded, and was made the pretext for self- indulgence. Before particularising the forms of modern Hindu worship, we must briefly indicate the influence which Buddhism and other popular religious of India have, had on Hinduism. The brotherhood of man is influence of implicitly if not explicitly recognised by many of the Hindu buddhism, sects ; the Buddhist communities or monasteries are reproduced in the monastic houses of many Bindu brotherhoods. Sir "W. Hunter describes the rules of the Vishnuite communities as Buddhistic, with Brahmanical reasons. One of the brotherhoods, of Kabir's followers has as its first rule the very Buddhistic one that the life neither of man nor of beast may be taken, the reason being that it is the gift of God. Truth is enjoined as the great principle of conduct ; for all ills and ignorance of God spring from original falsehood, Eetirement from the world is commended, worldliness being hostile to tranquillity of soul and meditation on God. Similarly the Buddhist trinity of ideas, Buddha, Dharma (the Law), and Samgha (the congregation) is largely present, more or less openly, in Hinduism. ISTot the least strange conjunction of Hinduism with other religions is that in which Siva-worshippers visit Adam's Peak in Ceylon to worship the foot- prints of their deity. Buddhists revere the same impression as the impression of Buddha's foot, whUe Mohammedans revere it as a relic of Adam, the father of mankind. This is but a Specimen of the common resorts of Hindu- pilgrims, where Mussulman and Hindu alike revere some sacred object. Hindus also absorbed or adopted many rites and superstitions of non- 224 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Aryan peoples, sucli as tlie serpent and dragon worship of the Nagas, re- verence for crocodiles and generative emblems, fetish and tree andtte worship, etc. The worship of generative emblems (linga) agram. £q^j^^ ^ wide field among the Sivaites, whose god was the reproducer as well as destroyer ; while the fetish, or village or local god, in the shape of- an unhewn stone (known as salagram) or a tree, usually the tulasi plant, became the usual symbols of the Vishnuite. In not a few cases their rites are little elevated above those of primitive savagery as conducted by low-caste Hindus. Coming now to , a description of the chief Hindu gods as popularly worshipped, we find Brahma, the creator, represented as a red man with four heads, dressed in white, and riding upon a goose. Brahma's wife, Sarasvati, the goddess of wisdom and science, is depicted as a fair young woman with four arms ; with one right hand she presents a flower to Brahma ; in the other she holds a book of palm-leaves ; in one of her left hands she carries a string of pearls. In the Mahabharata she is called the mother of the Vedas. She is worshipped once a year in the same month as Brahma by all who have any learning ; and with this worship are connected pens, ink, paper, books, etc. Women take no part in this festival. Vishnu is adored by the Vishnuite sects as the equal or even the superior of Brahma, and is especially termed the Preserver, exempt from impatience and passion. Various legends in the Puranas describe the other gods as submitting to Vishnu, who is termed om- niscient and almighty. In pictorial representations Vishnu usually appears as a black man with four arms : in one hand a club is held, in a second a shell, in the third a discus, in the fourth a lotus, and he rides upon the Garuda bird. Sir Monier-Williams describes both Vishnuism and Sivaism as forms of monotheism, because they set aside the coequal trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Siva in favour of their special god : but it may be doubted whether many of the Vishnuites can be called intelligent monotheists, rather than superstitious worshippers of they know not. what. The opinion of this great Indian scholar, that Vishnuism " is the only real religion of the Hindu peoples, and has more common ground with Christianity than any other non-Christian faith," must be taken as having but a limited application wheii he has to qualify it by referring to "the gross polytheistic supersti- tions and hideous idolatry to which it gives rise." We must acknowledge . the distinguishing merit of Vishnuism to be, that it teaches intense devo- tion to a personal god, who exhibits his sympathy with human suffering and his interest in human affairs by frequent descents (avatars) upon earth. Of these we must give a brief account. As many as twenty-eight avatars of Vishnu have been enumerated in the Puranas. They represent the descent into human bodies, by birth from Incarnations earthly parents, of a portion or the whole of the divine essence of of Vishnu, the god ; they do not interfere with the divine body of the god, MODERN HINDUISM. 225 whicli remains unclianged. Of tliese we may enumerate (1) the Fish, whose form Vishnu took to save Manu, the progenitor of mankind, from the universal deluge. Manu obtained the favour of Vishnu by his piety, was warned of the coming deluge, and commanded to build a ship, wherein he was to take the seven Eishis or patriarchs and the seeds of all Hving things. When the flood came, Vishnu, as the Fish, dragged the ship, by a cable fixed to a horn on his head, to a high crag where it was secured till the flood went down. The avatars of the tortoise, the boar, the man-lion, the Q 22 6' THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. dwarf, and Rama witli the axe, we must pass over. The great Rama, Eama- chandra, or the moon-like Eama, has been already referred to as the subject of the Eamayana. " Every man, woman, and child in India," says Sir Monier- Williams, probably with some exaggeration, "is familiar with Rama's exploits for the recovery of his wife, insomuch that a common phrase for an ignorant person is ' one who does not know that Sita was Rama's wife.' From Kashmir to Cape Comorin the name- of Rama is on every one's lips. All sects revere it, and show-their reverence by employing it on all occasions. For example, when friends meet, it is common for them to salute each other by uttering Rama's name twice. No name is more commonly given to children, and no name more commonly invoked at funerals and in the hour of death. It is a link of union for all classes, castes, and creeds." But Krishna is the most popular of aU the incarnations of Vishnu, and. is represented as manifesting his entire essence. He is especially the god Krishna the of the lower orders, having been brought up among cowherds preserver, ^j^^ other peasants, with whom he constantly sported. A mul- titude of marvellous stories are told about him ; but it is evident from the history of Krishna literature and practices that he, like Rama, is a deified hero. Sir Monier-Williams identifies him as a powerful chief of the Yadava tribe of Rajputs in central India east of the Jumna, while the original of Rama was a son of a king of Oudh. So possible is it to trace gods adored by multitudes of human beings to the exaggeration and deification of heroic men. Thus we shall be little surprised to find Buddha adopted as one of the incarnations of Vishnu. The Brahmans account for this by saying that Vishnu, in compassion for animals, descended as Buddha in order to discredit the Vedic sacrifices. The Brahmanical writers, says Wnidns,. " were far to shrewd to admit that one who could influence men as Buddha did could be other than an incarnation of deity ; and as his in- fluence was in favour of teaching opiposed to their own, they cleverly say that it was to mislead the enemies of the gods that Buddha promulgated his doctrine, that they, becoming weak and wicked through their errors, might fall an easy prey." Not content with incarnations that have taken place, the Vishnuites look for a future descent which they call the Kalki avatar. He is to appear at [the end of the Kali age (which began with his descent as Krishna), when the world has become utterly wicked, and wUl be seen in the sky, seated on a white horse, wielding a drawn sword, for the destruction of the wicked and the restoration of the world to purity. "We have not included Jagannath among the incarnations of Vishnu, both because it is believed that he is an appearance of Vishnu himself, and also because it is probable that he was originally the god of Jagannath. a -i o ./ o a non- Aryan tribe adopted into Hinduism. It is a sight of this god that is so vehemently desired, whether as he is bathed or dressed, or being drawn on his car. Chaitanya, the reformer, is another incarnation of MODERN HINDUISM. 227 Vislmu, according to the popular notion, alttough. lie lived in almost modern times. Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, is very considerably wor- j_jjjgjj„ji_ shipped as the goddess of Love, Beauty, and Prosperity. She is represented as of a bright golden colour, seated on a lotus, and having only the ordinary number of arms. Siva, the destroyer, is naturally represented as of a stern and vindictive disposition ; but yet this is compatible with his being regarded as a bene- ficent deity. Death being the transition to a new form of life, the siva, tue Destroyer is truly the Ee-creator, and this accounts for the mean- destroyer, ing of his name — the Bright or Happy one. Siva is exclusively a post-Yedic god, though he has been identified by the Hindus with the Eudra of the Yedas, and numerous features of Siva's character and history are developed from those of Eudra. In the Eamayana, Eudra (Siva) is represented as marrying Uma, the daughter of Daksha ; it is this same Uma who it much more widely known under the names of Parvati, Durga, and Kali. It is stated that a great quarrel arose between Siva and Daksha, his father-in-law. In this quarrel Uma gave herself voluntarily to the flames, and became a sati (suttee), and was reborn as Parvati. Siva then became an ascetic, liviug with Parvati in the Himalayas, destroying demons. He is represented sometimes with Parvati, wearing round his black neck a serpent and a necklace of skulls, and with an extensive series of emblems, such as a white buU on which he rides, a tiger's skin, etc. ; he has three eyes, one being in his forehead. As Mahadeva (the great god), which is his most usual name, he may be shown as an ascetic with matted hair, living m meditation and self-discipline in a forest. It is said that Siva, in a quarrel with Brahma, cut off his fifth head, which, however, stuck to the destroyer's hand. To escape from a pursuing giant created by Brahma, Siva fled to Benares, where he became absolved from his sin and freed from the head of Brahma, thus causing Benares to become a specially sacred city. In consequence of Siva's patronage of the bull as his steed, a strange custom has arisen in connection with the funerals of Sivaites. Whenever it is possible, a bull is set free to wander, and has a sacred character, so that no one dares to injure it ; sometimes as many as seven buUocks are thus set free. This is behoved to secure the favour of Siva. Similarly, since he was' an ascetic, many of his followers pay court to him by a life of austerity and painful suffering. This was much more frequent in former times than now, for the British aovernment has discouraged or prohibited many of the most painful exhibitions. Formerly many Siva worshippers would be swung from iron hooks fixed in their backs, or would jump from Ascetic a height upon the edges of shai-p knives. But it is not easy to siyaites. put down such practices as the maintenance of the arms and legs m one position for years, the holding of the fist clenched till the naUs grow through the palm, the keeping of silence or the fixing of the eye continuously upon the sun. There are still many thousands of these devotees m India. Intoxication is also fireely indulged in by Sivaites during then- worship this being behoved to be pleasing to the god. After all, Siva is most 228 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. worshipped under the emblem of the Linga, although, he is said to have a thousand names. The wife of Siva occupies a comparatively subordinate position as Uma and Parvati ; but as Durga she is a powerful warrior, with many stem jj^ and fierce qualities. In this character she is represented to have appeared in many incarnations, and is very widely worshipped. The name Durga was given to her as having slain a demon named Durga. The tales about this are of the most mythical and exaggerated nature. Not- withstanding her powers, Durga is portrayed with a gentle and beautiful face and a golden colour ; but she has ten arms, holding various weapons, while her lion leans against one leg and her giant against the other. Of the various forms of Durga we can only refer to Kali (the black woman), prob- ably some tribal goddess adopted into the Hindu series. She won a victory over giants by drinking their blood with the aid of Chandi, another form of Kali. The account' of the image of Kali given later in describing one of the Bengal festivals will ex- Kali BKAHMA AND SAEASTATI. plain some of her qualities. Former- ly human beings, as well as considerable animal sacri- fices, were offered to KaU, a human sacrifice being said to please Kali for a thousand years. Cutting their flesh and burning portions of their bodies were among the ac- tions by which worshippers sought to please the goddess. The great number of Hindus who bear the name of Kali or Durga or Tara indicates her popularity down to the present day. Ganesa, the elder son of Siva and Parvati, the god of prudence and policy, having an elephant's head, indicating his sagacious nature, is the god of Bengal shopkeepers ; he has a trunk, one tusk, a;n ?78 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Jobedience to. a Supreme Euler of tlie world, or a Creator, and consequently Moral Jiot based upon any duty of human beings to obey a Supreme precepts.^ Euler. In fact tbis moral law is entirely utilitarian, taking its , stand solely upon benefits obtainable by tbe doer, or punishments to be incurred by him. Further than this, that we hear of no one being repelled by Buddha who sought to learn the truth, it does not appear that Buddhism concerned itself with the mass of mankind even so far as to give precepts available for them aU, or to preach deliverance to them all. It is evident that this has not hindered the very wide spread of the society ; and the declaration that they had a message only for those who recognised their evil state and desired deliverance no doubt acted as a stimulus to the outer masses so far as they were in an intellectual state capable of aspiring after something better. But Buddhism did not lay itself out to tell all people that they ought to do or to be so-and-so every day, always, everywhere. Only when they sought discipleship, lay or mendicant, did Buddhism furnish them with a code of observance, which included moral duties, undertaken for the purpose of elevating their own state.- Thus " He who speaks or acts with impure thoughts, him sorrow follows, as the wheel follows the foot of the draught horse. He who speaks or acts with pure thought, him joy ■ foUows, like his shadow, which does not leave him." The third to the sixth portions of the noble eightfold path more specially concern morals. The first and second, correct views, free from superstition or delusion, and right aims or correct thoughts, worthy of an intelligent man, are specially intellectual. The third, right -speech, per- fectly truthful, as well as kindly ; the fourth, right conduct, pure, honest, peaceable ; the fifth, a right mode of gaining a livehhood, doing harm to no living thing; and the sixth, right effort, self-control, self-training, embrace the sum of Buddhist morals. The seventh and eighth, mindfulness and contemplation, are again purely inward. The whole moral code may thus be expressed as uprightness in word, deed, and thought; but the great importance of wisdom as the crown of uprightness is fully expressed. A great portion ^of the Buddhist morality, however, was negative, made up of prohibitions. Five special hindrances, veils, or entanglements iiegative ^i*® specified, which must be mastered, namely, lustful desire, ■ morality. ,malice, sloth, self-righteousness or pride, and doubt. Five main commands are often repeated. The Buddhist must (1) kill no living thing, (2) not steal, (3) live chastely, (4) speak no untruth, (5) not drink intoxica- ting drinks. But in the rules for the monks, we find such positive additions as the following : — " The cudgel and the sword he lays aside ; and full of modesty and pity, he is compassionate and kind to aU creatures that have life. What he hears here, he repeats not elsewhere to raise a quarrel. . . . He lives as a binder-together of those who are divided, an encourager of those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of peace. . . . Whatever word is humane, pleasant to the ear, lovety, reaching to the heart, urbane, pleasing to the people, such are the words he speaks. . . . Putting away Ibolish talk, he abstains from vain conversation. In season he speaks; THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 279 lie speaks that which is ; he speaks fact . . . that which redounds to profit, is well defined, and is full of wisdom. He refrains from injuring any herb or any creature. He takes but one meal a day. He abstains from dancing, singing, music and theatrical shows " (S. E. xi.). It cannot be said that the Christian virtue of love is taught by Buddhism. There is sometimes some approach to it, but it is not clear. The virtue enjoined by Buddhism is rather the extinction of hating than gg^g^oigugg positive love. Thus, " He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver. . . . Let a man overcome anger by not becoming angry ; let a man overcome evil by good ; let him over- come the greedy by liberality, the Kar by truth." " Enmity never comes to an end through enmity here below ; it comes to an end by non-enmity ; this has been the rule from all eternity." A notable story is found in the Mahavagga, which illustrates this last doctrine. But the benevolence which- an early Buddhist felt was far removed from Christian benevolence. His body, which might be hurt by others, was not really himself ; so he felt no bitter resentment at anything done to it. " Those who cause me pain and those who cause me joy, to all I am ahke, and affection and hatred I know not. In joy or sorrow I remain unmoved ; in honour and dishonour throughout I am alike." This benevolence was not a spontaneous sympathy rising in the good man's heart, but a result of meditation and intentional mental exercise ; and this benevolence, radiating from him, is said to exert a kind of magical influence, bringing about harmonious.relations between Buddhists and all people and even animals. But what of beneficence, so highly esteemed in Christianity ? To out- ward appearance, it was just as highly esteemed in early Buddhism ; but the forms of its exercise were different. From aU that we can gather, ^^^^^^^^^ poor people, in the sense of those wanting daily food or means to get it, were by no means abundant at that time in India ; and the higher modes' of Christian beneficence were not yet dreamt of. Joining the Buddhist order itself gave rise to the very practical step of renunciation ; but in the case of those who were already married and had families it released the adherents from, their family responsibilities and cares. This renunciation can scarcely be called beneficence, for it was not done m order that other persons might be benefited. Practically the chief beneficence ex- ercised by Buddhists was by the lay adherents, who were expected to show Hberality to all individual monks and to the Order generally. This benefi- cence was for the sake of their religious profession, however, and can hardly be called pure beneficence. And aU through early Buddhism the special vir- tue of beneficence is overshadowed by the broader and deeper necessity for renouncing every worldly possession ; even lay adherents were not to count things their own, by which they might confer on the Order needed benefits. In some of the narratives a little later than the earliest, the gmng away of wife and children is represented as of no moment compared with winning the Buddhahood. We see clearly that it was not by means of beneficencO that the character advocated by Buddhism was to be acquired. 28o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. That discipline was essentially internal. " Eouse thyself by thyself, ex- amine thyself by thyself, . . , curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good Self-disci- horse. . . . Cut oflf the five senses, leave the five, rise above piine. ^iie five. ... In the body restraint is good, good is restraint- in speech, in thought restraint is good, good is restraint in all things" (S.E. X., Dhammapada). Everything is to be done with a self-conscious effort, and watchfulness. Self-examination is to be practised after every contact with the world, after every begging excursion ; and all emotions or desires, which are stigmatised as evil and treacherous, are to be suppressed. In no religion is it more sternly insisted on that the character is the inn6r self. "All that we are is the result of what we have thought ; it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts," says the first verse of the Dhammapada. Temptation to evil is associated with a personal spirit or essence caUed Mara, not believed to be the originator of evil and sorrow — for on^that point Temptation, Buddhism had no behef — but the chief tempter to evil in thought, Mara, -^ord, and deed. He, like Yama in the Brahman system, is Death or the King of Death, and so is king of all the pleasures of this world. The foundation of the Buddhist Order is a deadly blow at this kingdom, and con- sequently the Buddhistsare objects of his continual attack. He offers Buddha himself the rule over the whole earth, if he will renounce his spiritual mission. He is tempted by Mara's daughters. Desire, Unrest, and Pleasure, and resists their temptations. In all the narratives addressed to the people generally, Mara appears as a real personage, not everlasting, but capable of attacking every one. The higher Buddhist philosophy sees Mara in everything which is subject to change. " "Wherever there is an eye and form, wherever there is an ear and sound, wherever there is thinking and thought, there is Mara, there is sorrow." (0.) But in the details relating to the tempter, as given by the Buddhist books, we find nothing grand, nothing great even in evil. The attacks made upon Buddha and his followers are comparatively simple, and are easily foiled. Buddha was, it is related, tempted with a kingdom in order that he might do what he asserted to be possible, " rule as a king in righteousness, without killing or causing .to be kiUed, without practising oppression or permitting oppression to be practised, without suffering pain or inflictiug pain on another," and he is told that he could turn the Himalayas into gold if he chose. Buddha answers : " What would it profit a wise man if he possessed even a mountain of silver or of gold ? He who has comprehended sorrow, whence it springs, how can he bend himself to desire? He who knows that earthly existence is a fetter in this world, let him practise that which sets him free therefrom." Then Mara, the Evil one, said, " The Exalted One knows me, the Perfect One knows me," and disconcerted and disheartened he rose and went away. Other narratives represent Mara as constantly watching the avenues of the senses that he may gain access to the mind ; and this continual siege is only to be met by continual watch- ftilness, which will at last make Mara give up the hopeless task. Dr. Oldenberg graphically describes the struggle between the individual THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 281 soul and the sorrow-producing chain of suffering, and the tempter Mara, as pictured by the early Buddhists. " The struggle is neither slight nor brief. From that moment forward, when first the^dSfJf conviction dawns upon a soul, that this battle must be fought, °"^^^<"^ that there is a deliverance which can be gained— from that first beginning of the struggle up to the final victory, countless ages of the world pass away. Earth worlds and heavenly worlds, and worlds of hells also, pass away as they have arisen and passed away from all eternity. Gods and men, all animated beings, come and go, die and are born again, and amid this endless tide of all things, the beings who are seeking deliverance, now advancing and victorious, and anon driven back, press on to their goal. The path reaches beyond the CASKET CONTAINING BUIHIHA's TOOTH, IN THE TEMPLE OF DALAEA MALIGAWA, KANDY, CEYLON. range of the eye, but it has an end. After countless wanderings through worlds and ages the goal at last appears before the wanderer's gaze. And in his sense of victory there is mingled a feeling of pride for the victory won by his own power. The Buddhist has no god to thank, as he had previously no god to invoke during his struggle. The gods bow before him, not he before the gods." The place of prayer in other religions is in Buddhism taken by abstraction, meditation, withdrawal as far as possible from the world of sense. How far this may proceed by an artificial system we may states of see later. Some portions of the Buddhist scriptures describe austraction. methods of producing self-concentration ; and frequently they approach pathological or morbid conditions. It is no wonder that hallucinations of 282 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. the senses should arise in men who have torn themselves from every home tie, and devoted themselves to homelessnessand abstraction. But heavenly- visions, heavenly sounds, forms of supernatural beings are only rarely seen ; rather the condition commonly attained was that known as clairvoyant, in which the spirit was believed to be peculiarly refined, pure, pliant, and firm. Then the monks imagined they saw the past clearly, even their own past existences, saw into the thoughts of others, acquired miraculous powers, be- ,came invisible and again appeared on earth. Many of these may be paralleled by various accounts in the Bible ; but there are no parallel results flowing from them. Among the monks no gradation was at first recognised except the higher order of those who had attained deliverance ; but later four grades The four "^®^® acknowledged : (1) the lowest, those who had attained the grades of path, and were not liable to re-birth in the lower worlds (hells, ■ world of animals, spirit worlds) ; (2) those who return once only to this world — these have destroyed desire, hatred, and frivolity ; (3) the non- returning, who only enter the higher worlds of the gods, and these attain Nirvana ; (4) the Saints (Arhats). But these. grades did not give those who had attained them any special place in the Order, A special grade was occupied by those who gained participation in the Buddhahood by their own inherent force, having won the knowledge bring- ing deliverance by their own exertions. They were believed to have lived chiefly in the ages previous to Buddha himself ; but they were not equal to the " universal Buddhas " of whom Gautama was one. The position claimed by and assigned to Buddha is peculiar in that he had no special commission from a . supreme Being, and did not put The person himself forward as the representative of the invisible powers, of Buddha. He was simply, in the present order of things, the first who had obtained universal Buddhahood. He taught to others the truths that he had himself discovered. He was their helper, but it was by their own effort and meditation that it could really be received by them. And yet the claims attributed to Buddha are nothing less than omniscience and perfection. He says: "I have overcome all foes; I am all-wise; I am free from stains in every way ; I have left everything ; and have obtained emancipation by the destruction of desire. Having myself gained know- ledge, whom should I call my master ? I have no teacher ; no one is equal to me ; in the world of men and of gods no being is like. me. I am the Holy One in this world, I am the highest teacher, I alone am the perfect Buddha ; I have gained coolness by the extinction of all passion, and have obtained Nirvana." (Mahavagga, S.E. xiii.) " He appears in the world for salvation to many people, for joy to many people, out of compassion for the world, for the blessing, the salvation, the joy of gods and men." But Buddha is by no means represented as the sole person who has attained Buddahood. Many Buddhas had been before him and would come after him ; but they were supposed all to be born in Eastern India, and to be all of the Brahman or soldier (Kshatriya) castes ; and their teaching prevailed THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 283 for longer or shorter periods, after which faith vanished for a time in the earth. Thus we see that Buddha was the starter of the new religious life, and essential to it ; but by no means a god, or a heaven-sent messenger. TRE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES. Those which are pre-eminently worthy of this designation, as being the oldest and purest, are the Pali books preserved by the Ceylonese Buddhists. They are arranged in three collections or " Baskets " (pitakas). The first, or Vinaya-pitaka, includes books containing regulations for the external life of the order of monks. The second, or Sutta-pitaka, contains a number of miscellaneous works, each composed of suttas or short pithy sentences, some relating sayings of Buddha, others legends and stories of the preceding Buddhas. The third contains various disquisitions, an enumeration of the conditions of life, etc. The most interesting of all these, and the most deserving of attention for its literary excellence, is the Dhammapada, or Path of Virtue (or Foot- step of the Law), from which we have already quoted. The word The DUam- subsequently came to mean generally " a religious sentence." Its iiiapada. date, like that of the rest of the scriptures, is stated by the Buddhists to be fixed by the first Council of the Church immediately after the death of Buddha ; what appears to be certain is that this book existed before Asoka's council, about e.g. 242, after which date it was introduced into Ceylon by Mahinda, Asoka's son. And we may take the Dhammapada as having been believed to have been personally uttered by Buddha. Even if he did not compose it (which there is nothing to prove positively), it was composed soon after his death, by some one or more persons whose genius rose as high as his. A point of great importance in judging of this whole canon is that it contains no mention of Asoka's council, but does mention the first and second councils (of Eajagaha and Vesali), and describes them at the end of the Kullavagga. We will now give some further extracts from the Dhammapada, to illustrate its literary character, apart from the special points we have already drawn attention to. Sometimes we find in it dogmatic teaching quite straightforwardly put, thus : " He who wishes to put on the yellow dress without having cleansed himself from sin, who disregards also temperance and truth, is unworthy of the yellow dress." " By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another." " That deed is not well done of which a man must repent, and the reward of which he receives gladly and cheerfuUy." "Do not speak harshly to anybody ; those who are spoken to will answer thee m the same way." Here we have the Eastern representative of the Proverbs of Solomon. How much wisdom is to be found in the following : " Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are very difficult to perceive, very artful, and they rush wherever they Ust." " The fool who knows. Ms foolishness is wise at least so far. But a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool 284 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. indeed." " One's own self conquered is better than all other people." Here is a condensed censure of asceticism : " Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust, not sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires." The following is a varied selection of these gems. "Bad deeds, and ■deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do ; what is beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do." " This world is dark, few only can see here ; a few only go to heaven, like birds escaped from the net." " Health is the greatest ■of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships. Nirvana the highest happiness." " If any thing is to be done, let a man do it, let him attack it vigorously. A careless pilgrim only scatters the dust ■of his passions more widely." Similes of great aptness or beauty abound. " As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village." " Like a beautiful flower, full of colour, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly." " There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed." " The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is ■difficult to perceive ; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler." "If a fool be associated with a wise man even all his life, he will perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup." It is. natural to find in these pithy sayings the pervading truth of the ^miversality of suffering and the vanity of life. " Before long, alas ! this body will lie on the earth, despised, without understanding, like a useless log." "As a cowherd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do Age and Death drive the life of men." Old age is thus depicted : "Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined together, sickly, full of many thoughts, which has no strength, no hold. This body is' wasted, full •of sickness and frail ; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed •ends in death." We are told to "look upon this world as a bubble, as a mirage." But watchfulness and the true knowledge preserves a man in safety. One of the later sentences gives a fine picture of a stoic. " Him I call indeed a Brahman who, though he has committed no offence, endures reproach, bonds, and stripes, who has endurance for his force, and strength for his army." Indeed the whole section on the true Brahman is fine : he is tolerant with the intolerant, mild with faultfinders, free from passion among the passionate, is thoughtful, guUeless, free from doubts, free from attachment, and content. THE BUDDHIST ORDER. Some attention must now be given to the great Order of mendicants or monks which perpetuated Buddha's influence and extended his teaching. Very early in Buddha's career they became an organised Brotherhood ; and a formal system of admission and rules of conduct were framed as need arose. At first candidates who professed belief in this doctrine were THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 285 simply admitted by the great teacher, but it is a natural development that this should be delegated to others as the Order grew. The The Mahavagga, one of the oldest Pali books, contains the records Mahavagga. of these events, and of the regulations imposed on the Order, preceded by a narrative embodying many of the early events in Buddha's preaching, including not a few marvels and miracles. Soon it became customary to hold meetings of the Order twice a month, at the periods of full Fortnightly and new moon, already sacred periods in India, observed by "meetings. Brahmans with ceremonies of long standing. The special purpose of these Btiddhist meetings was the confession of faults one to another and the acceptance of the due penance. A list of common or^ possible confession offences was drawn up, and- read out at each meeting, every ^""^p""^"®- member present being called upon to answer three times as to his innocence of each offence. Among these offences are some which show how strictly from the first Buddhist monks were regulated. Even in building strict a hut it must be of prescribed measurement ; no extra robes must regulations, be kept ; no rug or mat with silk in it must be used by a monk, and a rug must last six years ; spare bowls must not be possessed ; no monk must encroach on the hospitality already given to another ; no monk might take more than one meal at a public rest-house. The members of the Order had to go into the neighbourhood of houses completely clad, clean, with downcast eye, making but little noise, not swaying the limbs about with excited gestures. Their heads must be un- covered. Various observances are connected with taking the food given to them. They were not to preach the Buddhist doctrine to persons in unseemly attitudes, nor to any one sitting. After Buddha's death a different system of receiving monks of course arose. The following is the profession of faith which early became pre- valent : " To Buddha will I look in faith ; he, the Exalted, is the holy, supreme Buddha, the knowing, the instructed, the blessed, who knows Profession of the worlds, the Supreme One, who yoketh men like an ox, the ^aith. Teacher of gods and men, the exalted Buddha. " To the doctrine will I look in faith ; well preached is the doctrine by the Exalted One. It has become apparent ; it needs no time ; it says 'Come and see ' ; it leads to welfare ; it is realised by the wise in their own hearts. " To the Order will I look in faith ; in right behaviour lives the Order of disciples of the Exalted One; in proper, honest, just behaviour lives the Order of the disciples of the Exalted One, the four coxiples, the eight classes of believers ; that is the Order of the disciples of the Exalted One, worthy to have men Hft. their hands before them in reverence, the highest place in the world, in which man may do good. "In the precepts of rectitude will I walk, which the holy love, which are uninfringed, unviolated, unmixed, uncoloured, free, praised by the wise and hot counterfeit, which lead on to concentration." Although we have spoken of the Buddhist Order, somewhat as if it 286 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. were a body corporate, it never became strictly so. No central authority or Not a body representative councU was ever constituted; no person was corporate, deputed by the founder of the religion to represent him after his death. And indeed mankind had not then arrived at the conception of a Pope, or a general authority exercising sway through widely dififerent No head after and separate regions. The only device that then occurred to Buddha, ^jj^g monks was to attribute every new regulation which they wished to enforce, to Buddha himself. He was the one person to whom authority was conceded ; and in so far as his authority was acknowledged, his supposed behests were likely to be obeyed. The only other way of Assemblies or imposing new regulations was by means of assemblies or councils councils. q£ monks', but though sometimes spoken of as general councils as of a Church, they were only assemblies of monks at a particular centre at one time, not called from all Buddhist centres, and not representative. Probably the first of these, said to have been held at E.ajagaha immediately after Buddha's death, included the most prominent and revered of his followers ; but there was no way of imposing its decisions on those who were not present, except by a purely intangible influence. The same was the case with the later councils. No doubt they were assembled because evils had arisen, or questions required decision. But the more Buddhism spread, the more independent spirits entered its ranks, the. more difficult was it to heal divisions or to prevent divergences of doctrine and practice from arising. And this went on, antagonised only by the cohesion pro- duced by the sacred books, the devotion and reverence for Buddha, the greater or less consciousness of a common interest to advance and a common battle to fight. Hence it was that, as its founder predicted. Buddhism was destined to die in India, and to maintain itself in other countries in widely different forms from those in which it had originated. At first no limitations were imposed as to admission to the Order ; any applicant was received. But it was soon necessary to lay down certain ,, .» 4. rules of exclusion. Criminals, those afflicted with serious de- Limitations ' to formities, soldiers and servants of kings, debtors and slaves, and sons whose parents refused their consent, were thus excluded. No youth might enter the first stage till twelve years old, or might be fully received as a monk till twenty. Two stages were marked, the preliminary reception or outgoing from lay life or from another sect of ascetics, and the complete entry (Upasampada) into the Order. The latter was conferred Form of at a general meeting (Samgha) of monks in any place, a resolu- reception. \^-^q-^ asking for it being proposed, and any one who objected being required to declare his objection. The petitioner was asked if he had certain diseases, if he was a freeman, if he had no debts, if he had a proper alms-bowl and robes, if his parents consented, if he was in the royal service^ etc. He had further to offer some experienced monk as his sponsor or The four teacher. He was then proposed for formal reception ; and if no resources, monk objected, he was declared to be received. He was next formally told what were the four resources of the Order, (1) morsels of food THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 287 given in alms, (2) a robe made of rags taken from a dust heap, (3) dwelling at the foot of a tree, (4) the filthiest liquid for medicine. All other food, drink, shelter, and clothing were to be regarded as extra allowances. After this, four great prohibitions were communicated : (1) the command xne four to live a chaste life, (2) not to take even a blade of grass that had pronibitions. not been given to him, (3) not to take the life of even the minutest creature, (4) not to boast that he possessed any superhuman perfection. Thus the whole reception was confined to declarations on the part of both the can- •didate and the assembly. Nothing like prayer, special initiation, or confer- ment of power was included. It followed that it was equally easy to leave the Order. This was a. direct consequence of Buddha's teaching, which was only open to those who voluntarily received it. Perhaps no Order ever held its Quitting the members so lightly ; and in this lay one of the secrets of its Order. ;strength. The monks were bound to lead a very temperate life, but their subsistence was sure so long as the Order had any repute ; the thoughts to which they were exhorted chimed in with their own natural pre- its j)OSsessions, and an undoubted position of respect and influence advantages, was occupied by every monk. Then again, while not coercing any one to stay (a monk might leave on simply declaring that he wished to return to relatives, or home, or a worldly life), the Order had a considerable hold on him by reason of the censure and the exclusion which . it might pronounce. The breaking of any of the great prohibitions caused exclusion, provided any monk took notice of it and brought the case before an assembly. So the double mode — forcible exclusion, and voluntary retirement — were in easy operation, and thus the Order, retaining only voluntary and well- behaved members, was strong. In one thing Buddhist monks differed from many other Orders : they were strictly forbidden to acceptor possess silver or gold, or even to treasure them for the Order. Thus they were kept far from " the root of no silver or .all evil." If a monk nevertheless accepted such a gift, he was &°i^ compelled to hand it over to some lay adherent in the neighbourhood, who was to purchase with it butter, oil, or honey, for the use of the monks, the guilty receiver excepted. Or' again the gold or silver might be cast away. Such a severe restriction was steadfastly maintained for centuries. Another distinction of the Buddhist monks from other Orders, in India and elsewhere,- was in the seemliness of their outward appearance. Far from cultivating dirt or unseemliness in any form, they were ^^^^^ .scrupulously careful about bathing, the care of _the body, ventila- ^°^^^^^^ tion, and other things conducive to health. Their garments, though they might be very poor, were to be seemly and decent, and it was not forbidden to accept a sufficiency of food and clothing from any lay adherent. The whole pictixre of the Buddhist monks of early times is a remarkable one in its preservation of the medium between asceticism and excess, a resolute choice which has no doubt preserved it from the extremes of Hindu asceticism, though it has not always kept it equally free 288 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. from excesses of other kinds. Shelter was always obtainable and allow- able and even comfortable quarters were not disdained. Everything was, as far as known, conducted on sanitary principles, in many points reminding- us of the domestic legislation of the Jews. The seniors and teachers were especially revered and well attended to, their pupils and the novices who •on- were their proteges being expected to travel ahead of them and snip. prepare quarters for them when on their, journeys, and to do every kindly of&ce for them. Solitude in fact was discouraged. "We every- where hear of groups of monks residing together, helping one another in difficulties sickness, or temptation, and looking after one another's spiritual welfare. For five years after his admission to the Order each monk had to be under the tutelage of two monks of ten years' standing whom Tutelage. ^^ ^^^ ^^ accompany and attend upon, and from whom he was- to receive instruction. "Where many monks resided together, offices became somewhat subdivided, but only in relation to domestic matters ; thus different individuals were charged with the distribution of fruit, of rice, the care of " the sleeping and assembly rooms, etc. It is noteworthy how little importance the Buddhist monks attached to labour apart from absolute necessities. Like the strict Brahmans, to whom the recitation of the Vedas was all-important, the monks and regarded the repetition of Buddha's sayings and discourses and discussions. ^^ rules of the Order as essential. But this was varied with discussions on points of difficulty or the fuller exposition of the leading doctrines : " He who abides in the Order talks not of many topics and talks not of vulgar things. He expounds the word himself, or stirs up another to its exposition, or he esteems even sacred silence not lightly." (0.) On the whole we have a picture of an Order living in the world, yet not of the world almost daily contemplating the turmoil and distractions of a suffer- ing changeful life, yet never taking part in its affairs ; a standing witness to self-seeking quarrelling people that something existed far better than their life that passions could be quelled, that there was a life which- gave relief from sorrows and produced a philosophic calm. Perhaps and love of in this life too there was more pure love of nature than was always nature, acknowledged ; and the rule as to sparing life was certainly in accord with this. Some of their poets have beautifully expressed this love of nature. " The broad heart-cheering expanses, crowned by Tcareri forests, those lovely regions, where elephants raise their voices, the rocks, make me glad. Where the rain rushes, those lovely abodes, the mountains where sages walk, where the peacock's cry resounds, the rocks, make me glad.. There is it good for me to be, the friend of abstraction, who is struggling for salvation. There is it good for me to be, the monk, who pursues the true good, who is struggling for salvation." (0.) The fortnightly meetings already referred to (p. 285) were almost the only regular assemblies of Buddhists, and confession and questioning of -g^ one another was almost the only religious form. We must con- ceremonies, stantly keep in mind the burdensome and expensive nature of THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 289 the Bralinian observances, and likewise the authority which the Brahmans claimed over all kinds of concerns of other people. Thus the contrast to the latter was very evident in Buddhism : little ceremony, retired life, modest demeanour, pure living, no profession of supernatural power, no assumption of authority. Herein was a great part of its strength. It is surely one of the most remarkable phenomena in the world that a religion — if it can be truly called a religion, — which professes no knowledge and inculcates no worship of a god, and which is not bound in reverence to a supernatural Person, should have, obtained sway over one-third of Reverence to the population of the globe. Buddha, it is true, is ever held in Buaina. WOKSHIPPERS BBFOKE THE ENIBAUOE TO THE SHEINE OP THE TOOTH, CEYLON. reverence, but he is not believed in as existing ; he is m Nirvana, but whether Nirvana is a state of present existence or not is doubtful, and thus there is no prayer to Buddha, no answer to prayer by Buddha; yet his memory is fresh, his name is sanctified, his teaching is influential as ever. The only thing in early Buddhism approaching the pilgrimages and acts of worship in other religions, is the holding in reverence of the four notable places in Buddha's life: his birthplace, the «P«^ ,^l^^,^%i^„^f^fj»^ he attained knowledge and perfect insight, the /^^^ jj^^^/^ ' ' "' " '^ started the kingdom of righteousness, and the place of ^^^ death. Those who died while journeying to these places were promised that their re-birth 290 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. should be in heaven. The care of Buddha's relics, the building of monu- ments to contain them, and the holding of festivals in their honour were entirely left to lay members. Perhaps the institution most nearly parallel with the Buddhist assemblies is the class-meeting among the Methodists as instituted by John The Wesley. The " leader " of the meeting was the monk of longest confessional, standing in the district, and every member of the Qrder was to be present, even if HI, unless he were able to . send by another monk his assurance of freedom from the faults which the sacred form (Pattimokkha, the words of disburdenment) inquired into. No woman, no lay member, no novice, might take part in or be present at this solemnity. Three times every question must be put, and silence was an assertion of purity. In later times it was held necessary that every monk should have previously confessed his fault and done the appropriate penance (unless it were one for which exclusion was the punishment) ; and it was the duty of any brother who knew of an offence committed by another to demand his confession and performance of penance. A full procedure (contained in the Kullavagga) gradually, grew up to meet all cases of transgression. Buddhist monks, like other human beings, THe proved themselves liable to err, and we find recitals such as this KuUavagga. ^^ the beginning of various sections of the Kullavagga : " Now at that time the venerable Seyyasaka was stupid, and indiscreet, and full of faults, and devoid of merit, and was Jiving in lay society in unlawful associa- tion with the world, so much so that the monks were worn out with placing him on probation and with throwing him back to the beginning of his probationary term," etc. (S. E. xvii.) The various narrations show that Offences and some monks at times were guilty of almost every kind of offence penances, qj, frivohty, and so regulations for warning, punishing, or ex- cluding them were devised. If an individual, even a lay person, had been offended or put down, his pardon had to b'e asked. Suspension was the punishment for not acknowledging and not atoning for an offence. How severe this "cutting" could be, is shown by the following recital: "And the monks did no reverence to him, rose not from their seats to welcome him, rendered him not service, offered him not saltitation, paid not respect to him, offered him not hospitality, nor esteemed him, nor honoured him, nor supported him." The various penances and forms connected with them are too numerous for us to attempt a further account of them. One other simple annual ceremony there was, known as the Pavarana or invitation. At the end of the rainy season, before commencing the season The Pavarana of itinerancy, the monks met in assembly, each sitting down on or Invitation. -tj^g ground, raising his clasped hands, and inviting his brethren to charge him with any offence he might be suspected of, promising, if he had been guilty, to make atonement. If any monk happened to be isolated, he could hold this service by himself. Thus utterly devoid of show, of stately formality, of imposing accom- paniments, was Buddhism ; priestless, templeless, agnostic as to the supreme THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES. 291 Being, its undeniable power and influence drew to it multitudes of ad- herents ; and they were not all sound or docile fish that came to the net. Hence we early hear of dissensions in the Order, and whole chapters in the sacred books are devoted to their consideration. There are procedures for settling disputes, for dealing with charges against the innocent, the insane, etc. ; and when peaceable reconciliation proved impossible, matters were to be decided by a vote of the majority, unless the subject was too trivial, or a V'ote would lead to an open schism. The " nuns," or " sisters," of Buddhism were regarded as constituting a separate Order, with their own fortnightly assemblies, yet in complete subordination to the monks, so that none of the higher cere- The nuns, or monies were complete without the co-operation of monks. Every sisters, sister had to Ibow reverently, rise, and raise her clasped hands before every monk, however newly admitted. Both the confession meetings and the preaching of the true Buddhist doctrine had to be conducted for them by the monks ; and the nuns, after having held their own annual meeting, had to send to the corresponding meeting of monks asking them if they had any fault to reprehend in them. They were forbidden to revile or scold monks, or to accuse them. Ordination of the sisters, penances for transgressions, settlement of disputes, all had to be performed or arranged by the monks. Every fortnight the sisterhood had to obtain audience of a monk who had been appointed by his assembly to instruct and admonish them ; but he was strictly forbidden to enter their abode, or to journey or have any intimate companionship with them. No sister might live alone, or in a forest ; they lived within the walls of towns and villages, and never seem to have been at all comparable in numbers or influence to the monks. Indeed, it would have been against the spirit of the Buddhist system that they should be so; for it could only exist by the keeping up of family Hfe, the provision of food and dwelling-places, which could not be continued if women made a practice of living in nun-like separation. The relations between the Order and the laity were unlike those of almost every other church. Lay believers must have been very numerous, to admit of the support of such large numbers of monks, and the extensive dedication of parks and buildings to their use ; but the monks never thought it necessary to institute a formal method of admitting lay adherents, nor to keep a roll of them. Practically in each district the followers of Buddha were well known, and it was not desirable to exclude any one from the class of givers without some potent reason. It was usual however for a declaration to be made to a monk by believers, that they took refuge in Buddha, in the Doctrine, and in the Order ; but a monk might recognise a beneficent person as a lay behever before such profession. Instruction in the doctrines of Buddha would be readily given to any person, who offered hospitality to the monks, and as readily withdrawn from any one who maligned or insulted them. A serious offence was visited by withdrawal of the alms-bowl, and refusal of hospitality; but such mHd excommunication would probably be quite in accordance with the desire 2y2 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. of any one who could speak ill of the Order. The monks showed consider- able readiness to re-admit any one who apologised for his fault and became reconciled to them. Beyond this they did not greatly concern themselves with the private life of the laity. Their true church, consisted of the Order ; the rest of mankind was scarcely within measurable distance of bliss. And their moral state was but faintly cared for. It is true that an eight- fold abstinence was enjoined on them, including abstinence from killing animals, stealiag,' lying, drinking intoxicating liquors, unchastity, eating after, mid-day, and from perfumes and garlands ; and they must sleep on hard beds on the ground. General meetings of believers do not seem to have been held, nor were they admitted to meetings of the monks. But praises and promises of bliss were freely bestowed after this fashion : " To give houses to the Order, wherein in safety and in peace to meditate and think at ease, the Buddha calls the best of gifts. Therefore let a wise man, who understands what is best for himself, build beautiful houses, and receive into them knowers of the doctrine. Let him with cheerful mind give food to them, and drink, raiment and dwelling-places, to the upright in heart. Then shall they preach to him the doctrine which drives away all sufferiag ; if he apprehends that doctrine here below, he goes sinless into Nirvana." Naturally there was sometimes a tendency for monks to exact too much, and the sacred books exhibit a stern repression of such practices, together with considerable sensitiveness as to the opinion of the lay-believers. We may here briefly refer to the modern doctriae termed " Esoteric Buddhism," which finds favour with some persons in our own land. In the Esoteric Book of the Great Decease, Buddha expressly disclaims any secret BuddMsm. (Joctriue of this kind. Modern Esoteric Buddhism should rather be called a form of Theosophy, which takes hold of some points in Budd- hism, especially that of transmigration or reincarnation, and expresses the belief that souls become reincarnated hi successive bodies, without remem- bering what took place in a previous state of existence ; the successive lives being separated from one another by " intervals of spiritual consciousness on a plane of nature wholly imperceptible to ordinary senses." During this stage, the lower passions of earth are forgotten and the higher alone enjoyed ; and the vividness of this joy will depend on the impulse and intensity of previous upward aspirations. Beincarnation, when th.is impulse is ex- hausted, provides an appropriate punishment for ordinary evil doing. The word " karma," or " doing," is very important in Esoteric Budd- hism : it is explained as the law of cause and effect in the moral world. It determines, according to fixed consequences, the state and con- dition in which reincarnations take place ; on earth good karma may be laid up, and bad karma worked out by suffering. Finally, the individual returns no more to earth-life ; and the spiritual state becomes permanent and exalted. A further doctrine, is, that, concurrent with the physical existence, the human ego is capable of existence and of conscious- ness, in a non-physical state. But all these ideas are quite unprovable by ordinary methods of proof (See A. P. Sinnett, " Esoteric Buddhism.") BtJEMESE BUDDHIST PKIEST AND PUPILS. CHAPTBB, VII. Missionary religions — Buddhism many-sided — The first Buddhist councils — King Asoka— The third council — Asoka's edicts — Divergence of branches— The fourth (Kanishka's) council — Fa-hieu — Siladitya's councU — His good deeds — Huen-Siang — Decline of Indian Buddhism — Its causes — The Greater and the Lesser Vehicles — Wide range of Buddhism — Numher of Buddhists— Singhalese Buddhism— Gradual modification — Images of Buddha — Viharas in Ceylon— Cave temples — Wor- sliip of the laity — Worship of the Bo-tree — Dagobas — Relicsof Buddha— Impressions of Buddha's foot — Vassa and public readings— The Plrit ceremony — Buddhist monks in Ceylon — Schools — Services of monks in Ulness — Burmese Buddhism — Burmese monastery schools — Novices — A Burmese monastery — The Phon-gyees — Life of a monk — Monastery buildings— Burmese pagodas — The great Kangoon temple — Pagahn — Burmese worship — Images of Buddha— Pagoda feasts- Nat worship — Animism — Funerals of laity— Funerals of monks — Siamese Buddhism — Siamese temples— Newborn children— Reformed sects In Siam. AS a missionary religion, Buddhism^ is only comparable with. Mahomet- anism and Christianity. No other religions have set themselves to conquer many races outside their original home ; no others have Missionary achieved so much peacefully. Hinduism professedly restricts religions, itself to the Hindus, though it has displayed great powers of absorbing aboriginal races into itself. Buddhism, Mahometanism, and Christianity are for all people who will receive them ; and their followers have proved their faith by their missionary efforts. Sir Monier-Williams, in his recent work on Buddhism, well expresses the great variety of aspects under which it is necessary to study Buddhism. In various countries and periods, " its teaching has become both Buddhism negative and positive, agnostic and gnostic. It passes from many-sided, apparent atheism and materialism to theism, polytheism, and spiritualism. • See Spence Hardy's "Eastern Monachism " and "Manual of Buddhism"; Sir Monier- WiUiams's "Buddhism "; "The Burman," by Shway Yoe (Mr. Scott), (B.) ; Alabaster s " Wheel of the Law." 294 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. It is, under one aspect, mere pessimism ; under another, pure pliilanthropy ; under another, monastic communism ; under another, high morality ; under another, a variety of materialistic philosophy ; under another, simple ' de- naonology ; under another, a mere farrago of superstitions, including necromancy, witchcraft, idolatry, and fetishism. In some form or other it may be held with almost any religion, and embraces something from almost every creed." At the first Buddhist Council, held at Eajagriha, after the death of Gautama, the teachings of the Enhghtened One were sung in three di- visions, namely, the Sutras, or Suttas, or words of Buddha to his disciples ; The first the Vinaya, or discipline of the Order, and the Dharma, or doctrine; BuddMst forming together the Tripitakas, or three baskets or collections. A hundred years later, a second council, held at Vesali, con- demned the system of indulgences which had arisen, and led to the splitting of Buddhism into two parties, who afterwards gave rise to as many as eighteen sects. But these controversies did not hinder the spread of , . Buddhism in Northern India. About the middle of the third Kmg Asoka. century B.C., Asoka, the king of Magadha, or Behar, grandson of. Chandragupta (Greek Sandrokottos), founder of the kingdom, and noted for his connexion with Alexander the Great and Seleucus, became a sort of second founder of Buddhism. He founded so many monasteries that his kingdom received the name of Land of the Monasteries (Vihara or Behar). The third He made it the religion of the State, and held at Patna the third councu. Buddhist council in 244 b.c, which rectified the doctrines and canon of Buddhism. Asoka subsequently did much to spread the Order by sending out missionaries ; and he inculcated its principles by having them cut upon rocks and pillars, and in caves, through a wide extent of India. A number of these still exist. The form which the Buddhist scriptures took under his influence, in the dialect of his time and country, has been the basis of the manuscripts preserved in Ceylon, in what .is now known as the Pali language. In every way Asoka showed himself to be one of the most enlightened of rehgious monarchs ; and he in no way sought to make his views triumph by force. His missionaries were directed to mingle Asoka's equally with all ranks of unbelievers, and to "teach better things." edicts. jjj[g edicts include the prohibition of the slaughter of animals for food or sacrifice, the statement of the happiness to be found in virtue and the contrast of the transitory glory of this world with the reward beyond it, the inculcation of the doctrine that the teaching of Buddhist doctrine and virtue to others constitutes the greatest of charitable gifts, an order for the provision of medical aid for men and animals, the appointment of guardians of morality, etc. From the time of Asoka we may date the divergence of Buddhism into its varied national forms ; henceforth it is only possible to treat the subject Divergence either by the comparative method or by referring in turn to the of branches, development of each main branch. Space will only permit us to treat each very briefly. The fourth great Buddhist council, held tinder MODERN BUDDHISM. 295 Kanishka, who reigned from Kastmir widely over north-western India, in the first century a.d., drew up three commentaries on Buddhism, ^j^^ ^^.^^^ which were the basis for the Tibetan scriptures. This council in-'(Kanishka'B) dicates that Buddhism was firmly and widely established in India, and up to at least a.d. 800 it continued widely prevalent there, though Brah- manism was never suppressed, and in fact it was [gradually absorbing many Buddhist ideas, and preparing, when that operation was completed, to take its place entirely. In the beginning, of the fifth century a.d., Fa-hien, a Chinese Buddhist, visiting: India, found Buddhist monks and Brah- man priests equally honoured, and Buddhist rehgious houses side by side with Hindu temples. In the seventh century the Buddhists were being outnumbered by the Hindus, although there were still powerful Buddhist monarchs and states in India. At this period Siladitya appears as a great patron-king, who in 634 held another great council at Kanauj on suaditya's the Granges; but the progress of Brahmanism was manifest in councu the discussions which took place at this council between Buddhists and Brahmans, and by the worship of the sun god and of Siva on days succeed- ing the inauguration of a statue of Buddha. The divergences among followers of Buddha were seen in the disputes which took place between the advocates of the Northern and the Southern Canons, or the greater and lesser " Vehicles " of the law. Siladitya was farther notable for His good his public distribution of his treasures and jewels every five years, deeds, after which he put on a beggar's rags ; thus he celebrated Buddha's G-reat Henunciation. Near Graya he supported the vast monastery of Nalunda, where it is said that ten thousand Buddhist monks and novices pursued their studies and devotions ; but Graya was already a great centre of Hinduism. Huen-Siang, who travelled from China through India ^ ^^ g. in the seventh century, found Brahmanism gaining ground, though Buddhism still flourished in Southern India. Some of the Hindu reformers persecuted it, as already related. It was still comparatively strong jjegy^g ^j in Orissa and Kashmir in the 11th century, and Magadha con- „i?dian ,, , -, , , ,T T J? Buddhism, tmued Buddhist until the Mohammedan conquest at the end ot the twelfth century. After that, Buddhism was practically extinct in India. Why was this? Partly because, as we have already pointed out, Hinduism seized upon the more valuable doctrines of Buddhism, and com- bined them with the stronger and more popular elements of its ^^^ go^^ses. own faith and ritual. Buddhism, too, did not set itself to ex- tinguish Brahmanism ; that would have been contrary to its principles ; and its composure and extinction of desires was not calculated to put down any active opposition. Moreover, the Buddhists' celibacy contradicted one of the great instincts of humanity ; and we must allow for the fuU effect of their ignoring the existence of Grod, of their denial of revelation, and of the efftcacy of prayer and priesthood. Again, and perhaps chiefly, Buddhism left too little for the lay adherent to do. Those only were true Buddhists who became monks ; the Church outside was not defined ; almost 296 THE WORLDS RELIGIONS. its only privilege was to wait on and feed the monks ; consequently, Vislinuism and Sivaism, in which the people had a most important part to play; most special ends to gain, and a most vital interest, conquered the aflfections and devotion of the masses of India. It is in Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam that the nearest resemblance to primitive Buddhism is to be found at the present day. These countries The Greater ^.dhere to the canon of scriptures, as given in preceding chapters, andtheLessercalled bv the Northern Buddhists the "Lesser Vehicle," in de- Vehlcles i r preciation. Mahinda, the son of king Asoka, was the great apostle of Buddhism in Ceylon ; and now it has a history of over two thousand years. The canon was first translated into Singhalese and then translated back into Pali by Buddaghosa in the fifth century, since which the texts have remained practically unchanged in Pali, not very different from the ]angua,ge of Asoka's day and kingdom. They have been translated into modem Singhalese, and' commented upon at great length. The council held by Kanishka was the starting-point of the Northern Canon, often called the "Greater Vehicle" (Mahayana), written in Sanskrit. There are nine principal books of these scriptures, of which the best known are the "Lotus of the true Law," and the "Legendary Life of Buddha." All of them were translated iuto Tibetan ; and a large number of com- mentaries upon them were written. It is upon this "Greater Vehicle" that the Buddhism of Nepaul, Tibet, China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Japan is founded ; but these all differ considerably from one another. Extending over so wide and so populous an area of the earth's surface, Buddhism has Wide range been described as being the reUgion professed by more persons of Buddhism. ^^-^ ^^^ other, and has sometimes been credited with five hundred millions of adherents. The mistake that is made in such a calculation is evident when we remember that iu China, where the greatest number of nominal Buddhists exists, a vast proportion of the population profess Con- fucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism equally or indifferently ; and the study ot our chapters on the former will have shown how deep a hold Confucianism, ancestor worship, and the varied forms of Taoism, have upon the Chitiese. Number of If they were call«d upon to exclude one of their religions, it is Buddhists, almost Certain that Buddhism would be excluded. It is very doubtful if it is proper to reckon so many as a hundred millions of Chinese as Buddhists. Again, we have seen that Shintoism prevails in Japan, where, nevertheless, many people generally show some adhesion to Buddhism. Buddhism, essentially, has no lay standard of adherence, since the true Buddhists are the monks only. Sir Monier-WiUiams reckons the number of Buddhists at one hundred millions ; Dr. Happer, an experienced American missionary in China, estimates that there are only twenty millions of real Buddhist believers in China, and a total of seventy-two and a half millions in Asia. But it is a very doubtful thing to attempt to reckon the numbers of adherents of a religion, and especially such a religion as Buddhism. It is certainly one of the four most prevalent religions in the world, MODERN BUDDHISM. 297 SINGHALESE BUDDHISM. Great indeed is the contrast between modern Buddhism, with its elabo- rate organisation, its wealthy monasteries, its considerable ritual, its image- worship and deifications, and the simplicity of its early state Gradual as we have sketched it. No doubt this has come to pass by a"i°^^<=^**°"- gradual process of adaptation to those instincts and desires of the masses of the people which have compelled recognition in all quarters of the globe and in almost all religions, together with the regard which grew around Grautama as a perfect man ; and from the first, great importance seems to have been attached to his relics. Yet it was long before images of him came images of into general use. In Ceylon these are called "PUamas," meaning ^uddiia. counterpart or likeness. They had become numerous in the third, fourth,, and fifth centuries a.d., some being over twenty feet high and resplendent A BUKMBSE FUNEBAL PEOCESSION. with jewels. " The viharas in which the images are deposited," says Spence Hardy, " are generally, in Ceylon, permanent erections, the walls vmaras ul being plastered and the roof covered with tiles, even when the ceyion. dwellings of the priests are mean and temporary. Near the entrance are frequently seen four figures in rilievo, representing the guardians and champions of the temple. Surrounding the sanctum there is usually a narrow room, in which are images and paintings ; but in many instances it is dark. Opposite the door of entrance there is another door, protected by a screen, and when this is withdrawn an image of Buddha is seen, occupy- ing nearly the whole of the apartment, with a table or altar before it, upon which flowers are placed. Like the temples of the Greeks, the walls are covered with paintings ; the style at present adopted in Ceylon greatly re- sembling, in its general appearance, that which is presented in the tombs and temples of Egypt. The story most commonly illustrates some passages 298 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. in the life of Buddlia, or in the births he received as Bodhi-sat. The viharas are not unfrequently built upon rocks or in other romantic situations. The court around is planted with the trees that bear the flowers most usually ' offered. Some of the most celebrated viharas are caves, in part natural, with excavations carried further into the rock. The images of Buddha are sometimes recumbent, at other times upright, or in a sitting posture, either in the act of contemplation, or with the hand uphfted in the act of giving instruction. At Gotta, near Colombo, there is a recumbent image forty-two feet in length. Upon the altar, in addition to the flowers, there are fre- quently smaller images either of marble or metal. In the shape of the images, each nation appears to have adopted its own style of beauty, those ■of Ceylon resembling a well-proportioned native of the island, whilst those ■of China present an appearance of obesity that would be regarded as any- thing but divine by a Hindu. The images made in Siam are of a more attenuated figure, and comport better with our idea of the ascetic." The cave temple at Damballa is one of the most perfect. One of its halls contains a gigantic recumbent figure of Buddha in the solid rock forty-seven feet long ; at its feet stands an attendant, and opposite emp es.^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ statue of Vishnu, who is supposed to have assisted at the building ; another has more than fifty figures of Buddha,. and statues of several Brahmanic devas, Vishnu, Natha, etc. There is a handsome dagoba in this vihara, the spire nearly touching the roof. The whole interior — rock, wall, and statues — is painted in brilliant colours, yellow predominating. These, and other cave temples in Ceylon show that they were constructed through the same impulse and in the same art epoch with those at Ajunta and EUora. No recent vihara of importance has been ■erected in Ceylon. The laity, on entering a vihara, bend the body or prostrate themselves before the image of Buddha with palms touching each other and thumbs worsMp of touching the forehead. They next repeat the threefold formula the laity. Q-f taking refuge, or they take upon themselves a certain number of the ten obligations. Some flowers and a little rice are then placed upon the altar, and a few coppers are cast into a vessel. No form of prayer is used, and to all appearance there is no feeling concerned in the worship, which is a matter of course and convention, with a desire of gaining some boon. Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order, appear in Ceylon to be :almost co-equally invoked for protection. The protection of Buddha is to be obtained by listening to the scriptures or keeping the precepts, and thus the evil consequences of demerit are overcome. The protection of the •Order is gained by a small gift. The protection of the three takes away the fear of successive existences, mental fear, bodily pain, and the misery of the four hells. Buddha will not protect one who refrains from worship when near a dagoba or other sacred place, or covers himself with his garment, an umbrella, etc., when in sight of an image of Buddha. The Doctrine will not protect one who refuses to listen to the reading of the scriptures when •called upon, or who listens irreverently or does not keep the precepts. The MODERN BUDDHISM. 299 Order ■will not protect one who sits near a priest without permission, who reads the precepts without being appointed, or argues against a priest, or has his shoulders covered or holds an umbrella up when near a priest, or who remains seated when riding in any vehicle near a priest. Many- notable legends attest the importance of these statements. The worship of the Bo-tree (Pipul, or sacred fig) under which Gautama was accustomed to sit is no doubt very ancient; and in the court-yard ■of most viharas in Ceylon there is one, said to be derived from worship of, the original one brought to the island in the fourth century b.c. '^'^^ Bo-tree. Usually one was planted on the mound under which the ashes of Kandyan chiefs and priests were placed. The dagoba next claims attention, but this word appears in another guise, as " pagoda " ; it is derived from " da," an osseous relic, and "geba," the womb, meaning the shrine of an osseous relic. The word *' tope," otherwise " stupa," a relic, is used for the same buildings. It is a circular building of stone, built on a natural or artificial elevation, and its summit is crowned with a hemispherical cupola, formerly terminated by spires. One of the great dagobas in Ceylon, at Anuradhapura, was originally 405 feet high, but is now not more than 230 feet; another, formerly 315 feet, is now not more than 269 feet. All are built of brick and covered with a preparation of lime, of a pure white, and capable of high polish, so that when perfect the building resembled a crystal dome. At various periods in modern times these dagobas have been opened. One, opened in 1820 in Ceylon, contained in the interior a small square compartment of brickwork, set exactly towards the cardinal points. In the centre, directly under the apex, was a hollow stone vase with a cover, containing a small piece of bone, with some thin pieces of plate-gold, a few rings, pearls, and Relics of beads, a few clay images of the sacred naga, or snake-god, and Buddha, two lamps. Such relics are either supposed to have been those of Buddha himself or of some Buddhist saint, and many miracles are ascribed to their virtues. The most celebrated relic of Buddha now existing is in Ceylon, namely, the dalada, or left canine tooth, a piece of discoloured ivory two inches' long (much too long for a human tooth). This is preserved in a small chamber in the vihara attached to the old palace of the Kandyan kings, enclosed in nine successive bell-shaped golden and jewelled cases, each locked, and the key kept by a separate of&cial. On the walls of the corridor of entrance are coloured frescoes of the eight principal hells of Buddhism, in which evildoers are represented being torn asunder by red-hot tongs, or sawn in two, or crushed between rocks, or fixed on red-hot spikes. Thus does the spirit of gentle Buddhism find place for practical threats of horrible torture. Next" to the relics in regard are impressions of Buddha's foot. The most celebrated is on Adam's Peak in Ceylon, annually visited uj^pressions by 100,000 pilgrims. It is a depression or excavation over five ofBuddHa-s feet long, and three-quarters of a yard wide. Representations of it are divided into 108 compartments, each containing a design or figure, with a wheel in the centre. 300 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The Vassa, or residence in a fixed abode during the rainy season, cele- brated by reading the Buddhist scriptures to the people, is well kept up in Vassa and ^leylon. The reading takes place in a temporary building of putouc pyramidal form, with successive platforms, built near a vihara. In the centre is an elevated platform for the monks, and the people sit around on mats. Lamps and lanterns of great variety and gay colour are held by the people in their hands or on their heads during the reading. Sometimes the scene is a very attractive one. " The females are arrayed in their gayest attire, their hair being combed back from the forehead and neatly done up in a knot, fastened with silver pins and small ornamental combs. The usual dress of the men is of white cotton. Flags and streamers, figured handkerchiefs and shawls, float from every convenient receptacle. At intervals, tom-toms are beaten; the rude trumpet^ sends forth its screams ; and the din of the music, the murmur of the people's voices, the firing of musketry and jinjalls, and the glare of the lamps, pro- duce an effect not much in consonance with an act of worship " (Hardy). Usually only the Pah text is read, so that the people do not understand a word, and many fall asleep or chew betel. Whenever the name of Buddha is repeated by the reader, the people call out simultaneously "Sadhu," an exclamation of joy. In many ways these readings are observed as festival occasions ; they take place at each change of the moon, or four times in the lunar month. Grreat merit is said to accrue to all hearers who keep the eight precepts upon these service days. It is not proper to trade or to make trade calculations on them, still less to injure any one. Another of the ceremonies in which the laity have a share is the " Pirit," or reading certain portions of the scriptures as an exorcism against ThePirit demons, i.e., really malignant spirits who were formerly men. ceremony, Qgr^ain portions of the scriptures are supposed to avail specially in this work, and these are collectively termed the Pirit. One of these contains the following : " All spirits here assembled, those of earth and those of air, let all such be joyful ; let them listen attentively to my words. Therefore hear me, ye spirits ; be friendly to the race of men ; for day and night they bring you their offerings ; therefore keep diligent watch over them. Ye spirits here assembled, those of earth and those of air, let us bow before Buddha, let us bow before the Law, let us bow before the Order." The recitation of the Pirit on a great occasion continues without interruption through seven days and nights, relays of priests being engaged, with many attendant circumstances of festivity. We now pass to the Buddhist order of monks in Ceylon, " priests " as they call themselves now-a-days. " In nearly all the villages and towns of BuddMst Ceylon," says Hardy, " that are inhabited by the Singhalese or moi^s in Kandyans, the priests of Buddha are frequently seen, as they have to receive their food by taking the alms-bowl from house to house. They usually walk along the road at a measured pace, without taking much notice of what passes around. They have no covering for the head, and are generally barefooted. In the right hand they carry a fan, in MODERN BUDDHISM. 301 ■shape not much unlike a hand-screen, which they hold up before the face when in the presence of women, that the entrance of evil thoughts into the mind niay be preyented. The bowl is slung from the neck, and is covered by the robe, except at the time when alms are received." There are several \ ^u <• I ■>• ,^. Af 1 nVi"'. 4^ ON THE SACKED ELAIFOBM OF THE RANGOON PAGODA. thousands of these living as ceUbates in simple leaf-huts or in viharas ; they follow substantially the rules given in the last chapter. Their countenances are usually less intelhgent-looking than those of the common people, with an appearance of great vacancy approaching imbecility ; a few rise above this 302 THE WORLUS RELIGIONS. state, but it is only the natural physical result of the kind of meditation and rote-worship in which they engage. Yet the populace regard them as a kind of inferior Buddhas, and pay them great deference. In their dress they repeat that attributed to Buddha ; it is assimilated to a yellow garment of rags, by the pieces being torn and sewn together again. The left shoulder is usually covered, the right bare. There is generally a school attached to- the vihara, in which boys are taught to read, recite, and write, this last being first effected on sand with the finger. A large proportion of the books read relate to Buddhism. Latterly the Ceylon Buddhists have established a college at Colombo for the study of Sanskrit, Pali, and Singhalese. Each vihara has a head, and frequently possesses considerable landed property, but there is no organised hierarchy. 'One o'f the most important services rendered by the Buddhists has been in their maintenance of schools; the pupils in general become qualified to enter upon the Buddhistic novitiate at once, and the ceremony of initiation is a very simple one. Notwithstanding the limited sacerdotal functions assigned to the monks, they are to a certain extent recognised in birth and marriage cere- sendoes of ™o^^®s, especially in fixing auspicious days for weddings. In monks case of illness, a monk is sent for, an offering of flowers, oil, and food being at the same time forwarded. A temporary audience- place is fitted up close to the house, and here the monk reads from the scripture for six hours to the relatives and friends, and, if possible, the sick man also. Offerings are again given to the priest, who finally says, " By reverence do the wise secure health, by almsgiving do they lay up treasures for themselves." If he appears about to die, the monk recites the formula of profession of Buddhism, the five prohibitions (p. 278), and the four earnest reflections. As a rule, in Ceylon, the dead are buried; but the bodies of monks are burnt under decorated canopies, which are left to moulder away. BURMESE BUDDHISM. A very vivid picture of Buddhism in Burmah has been given by Mr. Scott in his fascinating book, " The Burman," published under the Burmese P^sT^^^onym of " Shway Yoe." Every boy goes to the monastery monastery school from the age of eight, and is taught to read and write, the chief part of the teaching consisting of Buddhistic formulas and precepts ; and, until the English took possession of the country, every boy took the yellow robe at the close of his schoohng, although he might retaia it but for a short time ; and as yet comparatively few have thrown off the conventional mode of education in favour of the Grovernment schools. On Novices e^^sring the Order as a novice, at the age of twelve or more, there is an elaborate ceremony, corresponding to baptism, at- which the youth receives a new name, showing that it is now possible for him to escape from suffering ; but this is again lost when or if he returns to the world, though having borne it enables him to add to his merits by - MODERN BUDDHISM. 303 good "works. The ceremony includes the putting off ol fine clothes, the shaving of the head, reciting a Pali prayer to be admitted to the Order as a novice, that he may walk steadily in the- path to perfection, and finally attain to the blessed state of " Neh'ban," as Nirvana comes to be rendered in Burmese, and the reception of the yellow robes and the begging-pot from the chief or abbot of the monastery. Finally, there is a feast at the parent's house. The stay of the novice in the monastery is not usually long, some- times even only one day, but usually at least through one rainy season, or Wah (Vassa, sometimes called Lent by Europeans). Those who resolve to adopt the religious life enter upon advanced studies of Buddhist writings ; but many things hinder the novice, especially the duty of attending on the monks, begging, carrying umbrellas or books for his seniors. In Lower Burmah the parents sometimes send food regularly for their son, but this would not be allowed in Upper Burmah. In a Burmese monastery the whole ■" ~ community is roused a little before day- light, awakened by a big bell, a Burmese *'_ # and after washing, each brother monastery. •» >,^— recites a few formulas, one of which is *~" " How great a favour has the Lord Bu- ddha bestowed upon me in manifesting to me his law, through the observance of which I may escape hell and secure my i salvation." The entire brotherhood as- ' semble round the image of Buddha, recite the morning service, and then perform various domestic duties, the elder only meditating. A slight meal and an hour's study are followed by the procession of all the monks through the town, to eukmese image of gautama. receive food in the alms-bowl. On their return a portion is offered to Buddha's image, and then breakfast is taken. Strictly it ought to consist of the morning's gift, not, specially dressed; but usually this is now given to the scholars or any chance wanderers, whUe a tasty meal is prepared for the monks. Visits of courtesy or honour fill up part of the day, at which great ceremony is observed, the bonversation, according to Shway Yoe, coming round to the merit of alms- giving. After a light meal at noon, all return to work, some teaching, others studying the Buddhist books, overseeing the writers who copy manuscripts ; but the work of many is merely meditation, repeating the formulas of the Order, " while, throughout all, sounds the din of the schoolroom, where the pupils are shouting out their tasks at the top of their voices. The novices and monks may take a stroll in the evening, but at sunset all are summoned back, and the scholars recite the whole or part of their day's work to the abbot. So the evening passes till 8.30 or 9, when all assemble for devotion, before the image of Buddha. Then a novice loudly proclaims the hour, day, A' -^ t 304 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. and year ; all bow before Buddha thrice, and similarly before the abbot, and then retire. The testimony of Bhway Yoe is, that " the effect of such a school, presided over by an abbot of intelligence and earnestness, must in- fallibly work for the good of all connected with it, and especially so in the case of an impulsive impressionable people hke the Burmese. As long as all the men of the country pass through the monasteries, the teachings of western missionaries can have but little power to shake the hold of Buddhism on the people." Among those who are fully recognised as monks, the Phon-gyee of ■"great glory" is distinguished, having been at least ten years a monk, and ThePhon- having proved himself steadfast and self-denying. From this ey^fis- class the Sayah (head or abbot) is chosen. Beyond these is re- cognised the Provincial, overseeing a number of monasteries in a district and the Sadaw, or royal teacher, of whom there are eight, forming a sort of supreme Burmese rehgious board. It is always possible to leave the monastery, in which point Buddhist monasteries differ from most others. The life of a monk is an ideal one in many respects ; food is supplied to him ; he has no sermons to prepare ; he has few outside religious rites to Life of a attend ; and if he observes the cardinal precepts of Buddhism, monk, j^g jg continually accumulating merit. There is nothing in the admission or routine of the full monkhood which is not in essence con- tained in our chapters. Discipline is strictly maintained, the breaking of the prime commands being severely punished ; unfrocking, expulsion, pos- sibly stoning, are penalties sufficiently heavy. The condition of an ex- pelled monk is pitiable : "no one ,may speak to him; no monk will' take alms from him ; he can neither buy nor sell ; he is not allowed even to draw water from a well." If there is evil living or neglect of religious duty in a neighbourhood, the brethren invert their alms-bowls and cease to go out begging. This is felt to be so grave a censure that it does not fail "to influence the most hardened in a very short time, yet laxities are not ixnknown. Some monks will receive money or gold, or will adopt cir- cuitous methods of getting what they desire. So far has this proceeded that an active sect has arisen in lower Burmah to restore and maintain the true austerities and ordinances of Buddhism, and it has gained many ad- herents among laity as well as monks. On the whole, the monks are greatly reverenced by the people, who make obeisance when they pass, the women kneeling down by the roadside in Upper Burmah. The oldest layman terms himself the disciple of the youngest monk, whose commonest actions are spoken of in magniloquent language. * The monastery is an essential accompaniment of the Burmese village, away from bustle, surrounded by fine trees. Usually it is buUt of teak, Monastery sometimes of brick. All are oblong, and one storey high, the hving buUdings. j-ooms being raised eight or ten feet on piUars. The woodwork is ornamented with varied carving of figures and scroll-work ; the roofs appear as if constituting successive storeys — three five, or, seven. The main hall is divided into two portions — one for the scholars and a higher one for FONEKAL PTRE OF A BCBMESE PHON-OYBE. f05 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. the reception of visitors. At the back of this, against the wall, are images of Buddha on a sort of altar, with candles, flowers, praying flags, etc. Near this, are various treasures, books, manuscripts, chests, models of monasteries and pagodas, etc. This hall is also used as the sleeping place of the monks. Sometimes a number of these buildings are contained within one enclosure. The most gorgeous group of monastic buildings in the world probably is the Eoyal Monastery outside Mandalay. " Every building in it is magni- ficent ; every ineh carved with the ingenuity of a Chinese toy, the whole ablaze with gold leaf and a mosaic of fragments of looking-glass. . . . The interior is no less elaborate. The wood-carving is particularly fine." But this is only one among many. The whole space between Mandalay Hill and the city is full of monasteries, some with excellent libraries of palm-leaf books ; while in Lower Burmah many do not possess even a complete copy of the three chief books of the " Lesser Vehicle." It being the special privilege of the lay believers to build and support monasteries, plenty of scope for such philanthropy is always allowed ; but many monasteries have a good deal of cash laid away. The Burmese are taxed most seriously by Buddhism, for abundant almsgiving must be supplemented by regular worship at the pagodas. The pagodas of Burmah are still more numerous than the monasteries, old crumbling ones beside new glittering buildings, as in India, with very many Burmese imaginary rehcs of Buddha or other saints. All these buildings pagodas. ^^ Burmese call Zaydee, the offering place, or place of prayer ; while the more notable pagodas are termed Payahs. A relic or sacred object is buried or enclosed in each; without it no "htee," or umbrella, could crown its spire. Often these include golden images of Buddha with the hooded snake. They are based on the primitive mound plan, combined with the lotus, extended in many cases into an inverted bell with a spire. They are all made of sun-dried brick, very liable to decay, and only a few are renewed or made substantial enough for permanence. Some of the pagodas are surrounded at the base by a circle of smaller pagodas, each enshrining -an image of Buddha. The most magnificent Buddhist temple is that at Rangoon, the Shway Dagohn Payah, containing, it is said, eight hairs of Gautama Buddha, beside The great "^^"^^^ ^^ '^^ three Buddhas who preceded him. It stands upon a Kangoon huge mound of two terraces, the upper 166 feet above the ground temp e. ^^^g^^jg^ ^.^^ -^ extent 900 feet by 685. The long flights of steps by which the ascent is made are covered by long ranges of handsome teak roofs, with frescoes showing scenes in Buddha's disciples' lives, and horrible scenes of the torments of the wicked in hell. From the centre of the upper terrace rises the solid octagonal brick payah, 370 feet high, abundantly gilt. At the top is the htee, or gilt umbrella of iron work of many rings, each with many jewelled bells of gold and silver, tinkling with every movement of the air. Four chapels at the foot of the pagoda have colossal sitting figures of Buddha, with hundreds of smaller ones in every style and posture, surroimding or even fixed upon them. The decorations and carvings upon MODERN BUDDHISM. 307 and around these are elaborate beyond description; the multitudes of bells of all sizes, from the great one of 42 tons downwards, deserve special mention. The great bell was carried off by the English after the second Burmese war, but by accident it capsized and lay at the bottom of the Rangoon river, and the English failed to raise it. The Burmese begged to be allowed to try, and with primitive appliances and great perseverance succeeded in raising it, and so got it back again, to the great triumph of Buddhists ; and indeed the carrying off of religious emblems or property of any kind from a conquered people is a feat no Englishman has reason to be proud of. The original temple, 27 feet high, has been again and again encased with bricks rendering it larger and taller, and has thus attained its present height, and it is periodically regilt ; also the faithful are never tired of climbing as high as they can, and fixing squares of gold leaf upon it. "Lepers and cripples and nuns in their white robes line the steps and cry out in piteous tones for alms. Round the platform itself are sellers of candles and coloured tapers, Chinese incense sticks, and prayer flags, along with abundance of gold leaf. Numbers of young girls sit about with flowers, especially of the lotus, and meats of differe^it kinds for offerings. The platform is never deserted. Even long after midnight the voice of the worshipper may be heard in the night air, chanting in solemn monotone his pious aspirations, while on a duty day^ and especially on a feast day, the laughing, joyous crowd of men and maidens, in their gay national dress, makes the platform of the Shway Dagohn one of the finest sights in the world." (B.) The Shway Maw-Daw, the lotus-shrine of Pegu ; the depository of the sacred hair at Prome, and the great temple at Mandalay, are among the more remarkable teinples in Burmah. But we must not omit to „ ^ ■^ . , , Pagahn. mention the great collection of pagodas at Pagahn, the deserted capital on the Irrawaddy, extending for eight miles along the bank and for two miles inland. Colonel Yule, in his " Mission to Ava," has described them in detail. Some are cruciform vaulted temples, with great galleries and transepts, and remind visitors of old-world cathedrals ; others have minarets, pyramids of fretwork ; some are like huge bulbous mushrooms. It is said that there are nearly ten thousand more or less complete, but ruin is on many, and jungle-bushes have overgrown them. Very many contain colossal figures of Buddha and sculptured groups. • Again, Shway Groo, an island between Mandalay and Bhamo, is a great centre of temples, having nine hundred and ninety-nine. Thus we may gather some faint idea how deeply the belief in securing merit by building a pagoda has entered into the nature of the Burmese ; but, says Shway Yoe, they are not idolaters ; they worship neither Burmese rehcs nor images. The pagoda and the figure only furnish a ^""Uip. fitting place to praise the great Buddha and to resolve to imitate his charity and sinless life. No actual prayers are offered to them ; simple praises learnt at the monastery school, or special forms made by the worshipper are repeated, and their character is similar to those we have aheady given samples of. Thev are not merely addressed to the image, but also to the 3o8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. entire biiilding, and may be repeated anywhere, at a distance from. it. PUgrims to the Eangoon temple prostrate themselves now and again, from the time they catch sight of the spire, repeating simple formulse or Pali sentences of which they may or may not know the meaning. Many of them have little paper prayer flags in various fanciful shapes, having written in the centre some pious sentence in Pali or Burmese. These are laid on the shrine, and add to the merit of the worsliipper, as do the candles, lamps, flowers, incense-sticks, etc., which are offered. " The worshippers, if they are men, squat down, resting the body on their heels. The body is bent a little forward, and the hands are joined together and raised to the forehead. The women kneel down altogether, and take especial care to cover up their feet. All are of course barefooted. Before commencing the repetition of the formulas, three prostrations are made with the forehead to the ground. It is usual to hold some offering between the hands during worship, and this is afterwards reverently deposited on the altar. Strange to say, the Burmese have but little idea of perpetuating their images of Buddha; few are of marble or brass; most are of short-lived brick, Images of mortar, and wood. The utmost period for which they could Buddia. endure would be as nothing in comparison with the countless future ages. Their variety too is not great ; they are either standing in the preaching attitude, sitting cross-legged, or recumbent and representing the approach of death. The erect figures are usually very large ; these are common in Upper Burmah, some forty feet high ; many have been and are frequently gilt. In Lower Burmah the whole of the receptacles near the shrines are crammed full of little images of all kinds. Only a few great images are carved or placed in the open. The ignorant in some cases ascribe miracles to particular images or relics, but all enlightened Buddhists strongly repudiate those beliefs, and only unprincipled monks can now and then be got to propagate them. There is one noteworthy marble Buddha at the foot of Mandalay Hill,, twenty-five feet high, carved oiit of one block, scores of tons in weight. Another on the top of the hill has gold leaf only on the eyeballs, and its constant renewal by the faithful causes the pupils to protrude frightfully. Other notable images are formed of bricks laid against rock surfaces. Many are deserted, marks of past populations, still reverenced by the chance visitor, but regarded more with curiosity than adoration. The pagoda feasts are the great hoHdays of the Burmese, each shrine having its own day, and they considerably resemble the great fairs of Pagoda medieval Europe, a few minutes spent at the shrine, reciting; feasts, sentences in praise of Buddha, sufficing for the devotions of most of the visitors, while a few listen to the reading and expounding of the sacred books by the head of the monastery. The four feast days every month are also well observed, and have in general been made to coincide with Sunday in Lower Burmah since the British occupation ; but there is much variation in the strictness with which the day is kept. The three months, of Wah (corresponding to Vassa) are kept as a sort of Lent, without fasting^ MODERN BUDDHISM. 309 but with special observance of religious duties, and absence of feasts and marriages. Often tbe ricber people get monks to expound the law in their houses, and invite their friends to hear them. The end of this season is celebrated by a carnival, including in Rangoon much feasting and even plays in the monasteries and grand illuminations. Notwithstanding the firm hold which Buddhism has upon the Burmese, they still propitiate the nature-spirits or nats, as if Buddhism were unknown. The word " nat " in Burmese has two distinct meanings, one kind of nats being the inhabitants of the six inferior heavens, the devas, ^"'^ ^<"^^^'p- ENTKANCE TO THE SnWAY DAGOHN, EANGOON. transferred from the Vedic mythology, and the other the spirits of the air, water, and forest. The last are most diligently propitiated, for fear of the harm they may do, atja little shrine at the end of each viUage. Sometimes, it is a mere bamboo cage with a gaudy image or images of a fetish-Hke ugliness, to which offerings are made by the villagers. In fact, the whole category of local spirits, disease spirits, demons, omens, and magic-workers is to be found in considerable force in Burmah, though greatly frowned upon by the Buddhist priests. Lucky and unlucky days, days proper for special things or improper for others, have also very great influence in Burmese life, and in them the "astrologers find great profit. So that concurrently with 3IO THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. the more advanced notions of Buddhism, there may be found m Burmah practically the whole round of primitive notions about the spirit ^°^'"- world. The butterfly spirit is the Burmese idea of the essential spirit of human life, which may wander in dreams, be charmed or afflicted by demons and wizards, be preserved by witch-doctors, and which finally departs at death. Marriage in Burmah is not a religious ceremony, being contrary to the celibate ideas of the monks ; but in burials the latter are largely concerned. Funerals They are summoned to stay in the house of death as a protection of laity, from evil spirits ; they deliver addresses on the vanity of human desires and the uncertainty and wretchedness of life ; they receive large alms, determining the extent of their services, and at the grave they recite the five commandments and the ten good works, and various sentences in Pali. When they are leaving with their alms, the chief mourner pours water on to the ground and says, "May the deceased and all present share the merit of the offerings made and the ceremonies now proceeding," that the earth may remember it when men forget. For a week after, feasting and mourn- ing go on in most cases, the monks receiving offerings, reciting Pali sentences, driving off" evil spirits, and purifying the house. Many people in Burmah are still cremated. The funeral of a monk is very different. When he dies, he simply returns to one of the various heavens, and his funeral is called " Phongyee Funerals byan," the return of the great glory. A notable monk has a of monks, foneral that is attended by people from all around. After elaborate preparations, the body is enclosed in a gorgeous sarcophagus, painted with religious subjects and variously decked. It lies in state for months under an open teak building called a " monastery for the dead," hung with gift- paintings of all kinds of subjects and various other gifts, and is visited by streams of pilgrims, who say their religious sentences, make offerings of flowers and fruit, and give contributions towards the final ceremony. This is the erection and burning of the funeral pyre : an elaborately decorated seven-roofed building, with a spire rising to seventy feet, is erected in a space cleared of jungle ; the funeral car, previous to the coffin being placed upon it, is the subject of a prolonged "tug of war," the victory of those who are privileged to drag the car bringing abundant merit to them and being highly prized. The coffin is at last dragged to the pyre and hfted to its platform, beneath which an abundant supply of combustibles is heaped. Finally the whole is lighted by rockets fired from a distance. The bones of the deceased are gathered up and buried near the pagoda. Unlike other Buddhist countries, a shrine or pagoda is not erected over the dead in Burmah. SIAMESE BUDDHISM. After this account of Burmese Buddhism it will not be necessary to say much of its Siamese form, which is very similar. The Siamese monks, though their monasteries are sometimes elaborate buildings, only remain in MODERN BUDDHISM. 31* them during the rainy season. The sacred footprint of Buddha, five feet long by two broad, known as the Phra Bat, is greatly venerated, and has a ' shrine erected over it, at which valuable gifts are offered. There is no real likeness to a foot, and the cavity has scarcely any markings on it ; but it is venerated as a genuine rehc. There are plenty of markings on the supposed genuine copies of it, divided into 108 compartments, with figures having an elaborate symbolic relationship to Buddhism. On the whole, it may be said that Buddhism is more strictly observed in Siam than in Burmah. The great teinple, " "Wat Poh," in Bangkok, contains an enormous gilt figure of the dying Buddha, about 160 feet long, constructed of bricks, lacquered and heavily gilt. The huge foot-soles are inlaid with Siamese mother-of-pearl figures illustrating stories of Buddha's life. The tempiea. floor is of tesselated marble. Another great temple, — the ""Wat Chang," or Elephant Temple, — has a lofty spire with external decoration in remark- able patterns which at a distance look like mosaics of precious stones, but are in truth nothing but a mixture of broken glass, crockery, and shells. A representation of the three-headed elephant is prominently placed on each of the four facades of this temple. Cremation is the usual mode of disposing of the dead. Priests pray day and night in the house until the body is removed to the temple-grounds. The interval between death and burial varies according to the rank and wealth of the family ; it may even be protr^ted for months, during which the prayers go on continuously, the coffin being covered with flowers. But the devouring of bodies by vultures and dogs is not at all uncommon. The Laos beheve that children are the offspring of the spirits ; and when newly born, they are placed on the top of the ladder leading to the • house, and the spirits are called to take away the child at once or Newborn, not to molest it afterwards. Various offerings to the spirits are children, made ; and on the second day the child is considered out of their power, and is nominally sold to some relative for a trifle, it being supposed that the spirits would not take what has been thus sold. The Siamese as a rule -have but one wife. The Buddhist priests are called in to the marriage ceremony, read an extract from their scriptures, and pray for a blessing on the pair, who are then sprinkled with holy water. After further prayers and feasting the marriage is complete. It is significant of possibilities of Buddhist revival, that in Siam in recent years firee Buddhist churches have arisen, rejecting the miraculous and mythical elements, and recurring to the pure moral teachings Reformed of the founder. The late king gave a powerful support to these s«<=t^ ^ s^^™- churches and their efforts. His foreign minister, Chao Phya Phraklang, wrote " a book explaining many things," showing that much of the popular mythology was not essential to Buddhism, although he retained the belief in Buddha having visited the heavens and taught the angels. He may be called a Buddhist rationalist, teaching a universal morality. Having studied 312 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Christianity very carefully, lie rejected it, terming it " a foolisli religion." His book, as translated by Mr. Alabaster, is worth reading as a specimen ■of the keen criticism Christian missionaries encounter from educated Buddhists. A brief quotation from a passage relating to the future state will be found of interest. " We observe that some die young, others live to old age ; some are born great, others not ; some rich, others poor ; some ibeautiful, others ugly ; some never suffer illness, others are continually ill, or blind, or deaf, or deformed, or mad. If "we say that God made these, we must regard Him as unjust, partial, and ever changing ; making those suffer who have never done anything to deserve suffering, and not giving to men in general that average of good and bad fortune which attends even the speculations of the gambler. But if we believe in the interchange and succession of life throughout all beings (i.e., the transmigration of souls),, and that good and evil arise from ourselves, and are the effects of merit and demerit, we have some grounds for belief. "Those who believe that after death the soul passes to hell or heaven for ■ever, have no proof that there is no return thence. Certainly it would be a most excellent thing to go direct to heaven after death, without further change, but I am afraid that it is not the case. For the believers in it, who Jhave not perfectly purified their hearts, and prepared themselves for that most excellent place, where there is no being born, growing old, and dying, will still have their souls contaminated with uneradicated evil. How is it possible that those who have not cleared away the evil disposition from their soul should attain the most excellent heaven, and live eternally ■with Grod the Creator ? And of those who are to remain in hell for ever, many have made merit and done much good. Shall that be altogether lost?" PAGODA AT TAGaiN, THE THKEE PRECIOUS ONES (CHINESE BUDDHISM). CHAPTER VIII. iMolrern 3Buliliftism. M* Tibetan Buddhism — Tibetan Scriptures — Worship of the Triad— The Bodhi-satvas — Maitreya — The Dhyani-Buddhas — Buddhist heavens — The Lamas — The Grand Lama— History of Tibetan Buddhism — The Mong'ol emperors — The Dalai and Panchen Lamas — Succession of Grand Lamas — Great monasteries — The Vatican of Buddhism — Interview with Grand Lama— Tashi Lunpo— Praying' by machinery — Prayer cylinders — Prayer walls and flags — Daily worship of monks — Festivals — Fasts — The Papal domain of Buddhism — Chinese Buddhism — Introduction of Buddhism to China — Chinese life of Buddha — Mythical details — Buddhist patriarchs — The Buddhist books translated — Opposition of Confucianists — Bodhidharma — The Mongol emperors - Modern dls- icouragement — Present state — Temples — Images in the halls — Realism of images — Kwan-yin— - Anntabha — Halls of 500 saints — Tien-tai — Schools of Chinese Buddhism — The Lin-tsi — Monasteries and monks — Ascetics — Nunneries — Popular aspect — Buddhist calendar — Influence of Buddhism on China — The Do-Nothing Sect — Japanese Buddhism — The Shin-Shin. TIBETAN BUDDHISM. THE Buddhism of Tibet may be said to pervade and dominate the national life. The Buddhist leaders practically rule and possess the entire land, paying little more than nominal allegiance to China.^ Their hierarchy, monasteries, ceremonies, and images are repeatedly instanced as the most elaborate parallel -which can be found to the Eoman Catholic system ; and it is certain that Buddhism in Tibet presents an almost com- plete contrast to the simplicity of Gautama's Order. It did not reach Tibet till the seventh century a.d., when it had already a history of more than a thousand years behind it, and had gained predominance in Kashmir and Nepal. The Tibetans, like other Mongoloid peoples, had a Shamanistic nature worship, with much magic and sorcery and dread of spirits ; and it is little doubtful that their previous beliefs largely influenced the modifica- tion which Buddhism underwent. 1 See Sir Monier-WiUiams's " Buddhism "— Edkins's " Chinese Buddhism " and " Religion in China "— Seal's " Chinese Buddhism." 314 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. We will first give some notion of the developments which the central doctrines of Buddhism underwent in the Tibetan Scriptures. The Triad, TiDetan Buddha, the Law or Doctrine, and the Order had already become Scriptures, yenerated, and we find that Fa-hien on his travels committed him- self to the Order as a sort of personality, invoking it by its " dread and worsMp of supernatural power." Images of Buddha became common, and the Triad, ^t a later period the Law and the Order began to be symbolised . among the northern peoples. The Law is now often represented as a man (a woman in Sikkim) with four arms, two hands folded in worship, or raised, a third holding a book or a lotus, the fourth a rosary or a garland ; but the Law is in some cases only represented by a book. The Order is de- picted as a man with one hand holding a lotus, and the other lying on his knees. Strangely enough, the order of arrangement of these three represen- tative figures is not uniform. The next further development of Buddhism was connected with Gautama's Bodhi-satva state. Before he was born on earth, he was beheved The Bodhi- to have last existed in a state of self-enlightened knowledge as a satvas. Bodhi-satva, and to have voluntarily chosen to become a saviour of the world before attaining the Nirvana to which he was entitled. He led his followers to look for the advent of another Buddha, now a Bodhi- satva, known as Maitreya, " the compassionate one," after 5,000 yearSj when Gautama should have been forgotten and the Law no longer obeyed. At present he is believed to preside in the heaven of contented beings, ^ ^^' and to watch over all Buddhists and their interests. Inasmuch as he lives and is the future Buddha, not merely one who has passed away, he has become an object of worship and prayer. Huen-Siang reported that it was said, " No words can describe the personal beauty of Maitreya. He declares a law not different from ours. His exquisite voice is soft and pure." And his worshippers look forward to attaining his heaven and listening to his voice. Beyond this, the memory of the leading disciples of Buddha and those who became prominent later for their holy life, ability, or zeal in propa- gating the faith, was in process of time exalted into what could only be soutary properly compared with canonisation or almost deification. Also Buddhas. ^^^ \^q2, grew up that there were self-dependent solitary Buddhas and many Bodhi-satvas. The Great Vehicle or Maha-yana teaches that there will be numberless supreme Buddhas, Bodhi-satvas and solitary Buddhas, who will attain their position by their virtues and wisdom ; and these Bodhi- satvas are represented as enjoying heaven indefinitely without aiming at Nirvana. In fact, the Tibetan idea is, that these Buddhas and saints only descend in their corporeal emanations upon earth, much like the avatars of the Hindu gods, being incorporate in a succession of saints. Naturally they are much reverenced, as they are believed to raise their worshippers to the blissful heaven where they abide. Thus did Buddhism give promise of heavens which were attainable, and throw into the background the far-distant Nirvana. MODERN BUDDHISM. 315 ^ In the third century three Bodhi-satvas were worshipped in Northern India besides Maitreya. At first protectors of Buddha, they were gradually credited with the function of watching over all Buddhists. The first, Avalokitesvara, the lord that looks down (with pity), is in Tibet regarded as a sort of supreme spirit, who, while remaining ever in heaven, becomes incarnated in successive Grand Lamas. He presides over the temporal well-being of all human beings, ghosts, and animal spirits. He is termed " God of mercy," " Lord of the world," etc., and is prayed to very frequently in bodily danger or disease, as well as for relief from future re-birth. He is generally depicted with several faces and arms, the former pyramidally placed in three tiers, two hands folded in adoration of Buddha, and two others holding the lotus and the wheel. Often he greatly resembles Vishnu. Yajra-pani (the thunderbolt-handed) is a sort of Buddhist Siva, controlling and destroying evil spirits ; while Manju-sri (he of glorious beauty), is possibly a deification of the Brahman who introduced Buddhism into Nepal. Later still a new mystical worship arose, worshipping the Dhyani-Buadhas, or Buddhas existing in the higher worlds of abstract meditation, corresponding to The Dhyani- the earthly Buddhas and representing them. Budouas. Each of these was supposed to give off a Dhyani Bodhi- satva, to preside over and protect Buddhism between the death of one Buddha and the coming of the next ; and before long, the Dhyani-Buddha corresponding to Gautama, namely Amitabha (diffuser of infinite light), was worshipped as a personal god. Some of the Nepalese Buddhists de- veloped a still more advanced theory of a primordial or Adi-Buddha, the source of all things, out of whom the Dhyani-Buddhas proceeded, and corresponding to the Hindu supreme Brahma. But neither Adi-Buddha nor Amitabha were regarded as creators of the world out of nothing. The elaborate descriptions of the twenty-six successive Buddhist heavens, in which many of the Hindu gods were fabled to dwell and reign, we cannot reproduce. Six are inhabited by beings still liable to Buddhist sensuous desires ; sixteen by those in successive stages of abstract leavens, meditation, called the worlds of the Brahma gods, and Brahma rules there, but yet is greatly inferior to Buddha. All these gods have to pass into a new form of existence after vast periods of time. Finally, there are four heavens of formless beings. All their mythology, though departing enor- mously from primitive Buddhism, does not violate the view that Buddhist Arhats (saints) and Buddhas are ranked above all the popular divinities- "We need not enlarge upon other additions to Buddhism from Hinduism, and also from popular beliefs in demons, spirits of animals, nature spirits, sorcery, and magic. These additions are abundant, and rise but little, if at all, above the corresponding ideas and practices among savage TIBETAN PBAYEK WHEEL. races. 3i6 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. We shall not detail the inferior gradations of the Tibetan monkhood, but pass on at once to the superior monks, who are rightfully termed .j^g ^ Lamas, or superior teachers, and are, like European abbots, heads amas. ^^ monasteries. Some of these are believed to be incarnations of deceased saints andBodhi-satvas ; they are consequently termed Avatara Lamas. The lowest grade of these represents a saint or the founder of a The Grand great monastery; the second grade is a living emanation of a Lamas. Bodhi-satva ; while the highest or Grand Lama is an incarnation of a supreme Buddha or his Bodhi-satva ; to them a wide range of authority is assigned. There is also a female hierachy in the convents, with its female avatars. To understand the Tibetan system, we must sketch in brief its history. The first monasteries were founded at Lhassa in honour of two princesses, Hist f ^i"^®^ of the Tibetan king who introduced Buddhism. In the Titetan eighth century the translation of the enlarged (Maha-yana) canon. Buaanism. ^^ Buddhist scriptures into Tibetan was begun. It extended to 108 volumes (forming the Kanjur), and was followed by 225 volumes of commentaries and general literature, known as the Tanjur. After several fluctuations, in the latter part of the eleventh century Buddhism again revived, under the influence of Atisha from Kashmir and Brom Ton, a Tibetan. Many monasteries were founded in that and the next centuries, those at Sakya and Easeng being the most important. Easeng, founded by Brom Ton in 1058, was devoted to the strict rules of Buddhism (the yellow The Mongol sect) ; Sakya was more lax, and became the headquarters of the emperors. j{,g(j ggg^^ many of whom were married before becoming monks. In the thirteenth century the power of the Mongols spread over Tibet. Kublai Khan adopted Buddhism and greatly favoured the Tibet monks. Already great authority had gathered round the chiefs of the Sakya and the liaseng monasteries, and Kublai exerted his authority to appoint the nephew of the ruler of the Sakya monastery to succeed his uncle, and made him a tributary ruler over Tibet. In return for his authority, he and his suc- cessors were required to crown the Mongol emperors. This first Grand Avatara Lama, known as Phuspa Lama, devised the Mongol alphabet, started a revision of the Tibetan Buddhist texts, which prepared the way for their translation into Mongolian, and founded many monasteries. When the Ming dynasty supplanted the Mongols in China, they continued to favour the Tibetan Lamas, but raised three other chief Lamas to similar rank. At the end of the fourteenth century there arose a reformer, Tsong Khapa, who, after studying the originals of the Buddhist scriptures in Tibet, raised again the standard of orthodoxy, and gathered round him many thou- sand monks of the strict yellow sect; he built and_ became the first head of a great monastery at Galdan, and his followers built others. He wrote many books, restored celibacy, abolished many superstitious forms of worship, and renewed the practice of retirement for meditation at a fixed season, which had not been kept up in' Tibet owing to its lack of a rainy season. After his death in 1419 (since celebrated at the Feast of Lamps, as his MODERN BUDDHISM. 3i7j ascension to heaven), he was reverenced as an incarnation of Amitabha, Manju-sri, or Vajra-pani, and his image is still seen in temples of^j^^ ^^^^^ ^.^^ the yellow sect, with those of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas on the Panchen T.g.ma.H right and left. Since his time (though it cannot be precisely traced) there has arisen the practice of discovering each new incarnation in an infant,. probably to avoid discussions and competition. At any rate, at present there are two G-rand Lamas : one the Dalai or Ocean Lama, at Lhassa, the other the Tashi or Panchen Lama at Tashi Lunpo, not far from the British Indian frontier. The former is believed to be an incarnation of the Dhyani-Bodhi- BUDDHISX MONASTEBT VS, TIBET. satva Avalokitesvara, the latter of his father or Dhyani-Buddha, Amitabha ; but the Dalai Lama is by far the most powerful, or rather his representa- tive, an elected chief Lama who attends to business, while the Dalaihim- self is supposed to be lost in divine meditation, and receives the succession of reverence and worship due to his character and origin. There ^^^'^^ Lamas, appear to have been various modes of keeping up the succession,^ viz., by the dying Lama stating in what family he would again become incarnate, or by consulting sacred books and soothsayers, or by the Panchen Lama interpreting the traditions and discovering the new Dalai Lama, and vic& versa. Nowadays the Chinese court has a predominant influence in choosing; 3i8 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. new Grand Lamas. Yet all the forms of divination, signs, clioice by lot, etc., are gone tkrongli ; and similar proceedings take place in the election of all Lamas in whom saints are supposed to be incarnated. The same is the case in various Mongolian monasteries. When the choice has been made, the child is brought before a great assembly of the monks, and is expected to recognise clothes, books, etc., belonging to the deceased Lama, and to answer questions as to his former life as Lama. Among the chief Lamas may be mentioned those of Galdan (where the body of Tsong Khapa is said to be stUl visible poised in the adr, and uncorrupt), Kurun in Mongolia, Kuku in Tartary, the Dharma-rajah of Bhutan, and the G-rand Lama of Peking. The Dharma-rajah of Bhutan, belonging to the Red sect, has for his titles : " Chief of the realm. Defender of the Faith, Equal to Sarasvati in learning, Chief of all the Buddhas, Head- expounder of the Shastras, Caster out of devils, Most learned in the holy laws, an Avatar of God, Absolver of , sins, and Head of the best of aU religions." While in many parts of northern Buddhistic countries the monasteries are small buildings near or combined with a .chapel or temple, in Tibet, Great Mongolia, and Ladak there are many immense monasteries or monasteries. Lamasseries, often in retired and lofty situations, but also aggregated about great centres such as Lhassa and Tashi Lunpo. About 500,000 monks owe allegiance to -these two capitals, and there are at least thirty large monasteries in and near Lhassa. Potala, on the north-west of Lhassa, has been the abode of all the Dalai Lamas since the fifth, Navang The Vatican Lobsang (1617-1682), who rebuilt it. This great building, four of Buddhism, gtories high, on a commanding height, has in or connected with it ten thousand rooms for monks. Everywhere are statues of Buddha and other saints, and varied offerings of the pious, who throng to Lhassa to pay their worship to the Grand Lama, with gifts of gold, silver, and copper. The great building is surmounted by a cupola overlaid with gold. Thomas Manning is the only Englishman who has ever seen a Dalai Lama ; this was on the 17th December, 1811. He described him as a cheerful, intelligent child of seven. Mr. Sarat Chandra Das, C.I.E., Interview ' ^_^ . m- with Grand saw the present Dalai Lama m 1882. The interview was con- ducted with impressive silence and dignity by the high officials. Consecrated water coloured yellow with saffron was sprinkled on the company ; incense, great lamps, and a yellow hat with five points (denoting the five Dhyani-Buddhas) are important elements in the ceremonial, which is not complete without all sharing tea with the Lama from a golden teapot, preceded by a grace in proper Buddhist form, and concluding thus, "Never even for a moment losing sight of the three Holies (Buddha, the Law, and the Order) ; always offer reverence to the Tri-ratnas (or three jewels) ; let the blessings of the three be upon us." Consecrated rice, touched by the Grand Lama, was distributed to the faithful. The sacred youth sat all through the ceremony cross-legged on a throne- like altar with wooden lions on either side. It is said that Lhassa almost vies with Benares and Mecca as a place of MODERN BUDDHISM. 319 pilgrimage, Potala, the Vatican of Buddliism, being the great resort ; and the rice, the pills of blessing, the scraps of silk, and the prayer-papers or ilags which the Grrand Lama has consecrated, are treasured for life. Tashi Lunpo, with its great monastery of the Panchen Lama, has been much more frequently visited by Europeans. This monastery is much naore varied, consisting of several hundred distinct houses, „ ^_ ' " . -, Tasm Lunpo. surrounded by pinnacled gilded temples and topes. It is, however, in connection with the oldest monastery — La-brang in Lhassa — that the greatest temple of Buddhism in Tibet is to be found. It is three storeys high, with a portico and colonnade of huge wooden pillars. Opposite the •entrance are the usual great statues of the four great kings ; beyond is a long oblong hall, like a basilica, with rows of columns dividing it into three longitudinal divisions, with two transepts. The walls contain no windows, but across the central division or nave is stretched transparent oil-cloth, which is the only mode of admission of daylight to the building. A row of small chapels flanks each side of the long buildiug. In the transepts are seats for the monks, and beyond the second is a sanctuary with an altar for offerings ; at the extreme west end, in a special recess, is a grand altar with many steps, and on the summit is the revered gilt image of Gautama Buddha, respecting the origin of which various stories are told. On the upper steps of the altar are many images of deified saints ; and the temple contains very many images and pictures of Buddha, saints and deities, as well as relics. In front of this altar are lofty thrones for the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, flanked by smaller ones for the other Avatar Lamas ; seats of less dignity are provided for the heads of monasteries and higher orders of monks in the western transept. Five thousand oil lamps give light, and the muttering of the chief Buddhist formula goes on continually. Tibetan temples are usually much smaller than this ; the chief features are altars with images of Buddha and the Bodhi-satvas, bowls for offerings, bells, etc. The Tibeta,n Buddhists have outdone every other race in one respect ; that is, in praying by machinery. Impressed with the importance of accumulating religious merit as a means of shortening their stay Praying by in lower forms of life, and accelerating their entrance to heaven, machinery. they not only orally repeat multitudes of times the " jewel " formula, which has acquired such vogue among them, but they get it repeated by turning machines or extending flags to the wind, in or on which the sacred formula is written. This formula consists merely of the sentence, " Om mani padme Hum." The first syllable is the Hindu sacred syllable (p.l92) ; the next two words mean, " the Jewel in the Lotus," an allusion, it is said, to Avalo- kitesvara as the patron of Tibet appearing from or seated on a Lotus. The last syllable is regarded by some as an Amen. The whole formula is thought by Sir Monier-WiUiams to have some relation to Hindu Siva-worship, and, he says, "no other prayer used by human beings in any quarter of the globe is repeated so often. Every Tibetan believes it to be a panacea for all evil a Qompendium of all knowledge, a treasury of all wisdom, a summary of ail religion " Each of its syllables is believed to influence one of the six 320 MODERN BUDDHISM. 321 courses or stages of transmigration through which all must pass, diminishing his stay in them, or in time abolishing it altogether. The favourite prayer cylinders are of metal, having the mystic invoca- tion engraved on the outside, while the cavity is filled with paper in rolls, on which it is written as many times as possible. This cylinder can Prayer be made to revolve on a handle, and is whirled in the hand, or cylinders, rotated by a chain or string. " All day long," says Capt. G-ill in " The Eiver of Golden Sand," " not only the Lamas, but the people may be seen muttering the universal prayer, and twisting their cylinders, invariably in the same direction with the hands of. a clock. One or more great cyUnders", inscribed with this sentence, stand at the entrance to every house in Tibet ; and a member of the household or a guest who passes is always expected to give the cylinder a twist for the welfare of the establishment. At almost every rivulet the eye is arrested by a little building that is at first mistaken for a water mill, but which on close inspection is found to contain a cylinder, turning by the force of the stream, and ceaselessly sending up pious ejaculations to heaven ; for every turn of a cylinder on which the prayer is written is supposed to convey an invocation to the deity. Sometimes enormous barns are filled with these cylinders, gorgeously painted, and with the prayer repeated on them many times ; and at every turn and every step in Tibet this sentence is forced upon the traveller's notice in some form or another." •Another variety of praying ingenuity is the erection of long walls inscribed with any number of this and other invocations, by which travellers who walk in the proper direction gain the credit of so many Prayer waus repetitions. Praying-flags, with prayers and symbols, extended ^^^ "^^s. by every wind, praying drums which frighten away evil spirits, bells which have the same function, or which call the attention of the deities or saints, armlets with sacred sentences or relics inside, and various other objects, are among the " properties " greatly used in Tibetan Buddhism, while the rosary for counting the number of repetitions of prayer is a more familiar object in Tibet than even in Eoman Catholic countries. The monks of the Tibetan monasteries meet in their temple or chapel three times a day for worship: at sunrise, midday, and sunset. They are summoned by a loud conch-shell trumpet, and enter in procession. A bell gives the signal to commence repeating or chanting prayer worship of formulas, passages of the Law, litanies, etc., often with noisy musical accompaniments. The ritual is varied by each monk repeating a sentence in turn, the recital of the praises and titles of honour of Buddha or *#* The illustration on page 320 depicts a group of Buddliist priests or Lamas at Darjeeling, British Sikkim, at the entrance to their Temple. The head Lama is seated below at the left, wearing the sacred hat, a garment of cloth of gold, and a set of holy beads. In front of him are a small tom-tom, a brass sanctifying instrument, and a bell. IText to him is the second Lama, with cymbals and a short horn. In the centre is a student under instruction for the office of Lama, having before him sheets of the sacred writings. Over the doorway is a small image of Buddha, flanked by small brass cups containing rice and oil. Standing in the verandah are two travelling Lamas from Lha.ssa. 32 2 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. one of the Bodlii-satvas. When one of the Grand Lamas is present, the service is very elaborate. Incense and perfumes are burnt, and at times holy water and grain are distributed. In some ceremonies tea-drinking is a conspicuous element. Laymen play but a very subordinate part in these services. They are allowed to be present, repeating prayers and invocations and making offerings ; they may also acquire merit by walking round monasteries, temples, etc., without stopping. Sometimes they carry loads of books , containing prayers, and frequently prostrate themselves at full length on the ground; at the end of their journey they are held to have ■gained the same merit as if they had recited all the prayers in the books they carried. The Tibetans have a number of special festivals which we can only briefly mention. The new year's celebration, lasting a fortnight, is a sort F ti ai °^ carnival ; at the water-festival in August or September, rivers and lakes are blessed, and the people bathe to wash away their sins. Buddha's birthday and the anniversary of his death are very impor- tant days ; on the latter, every monastery and temple, and every house in Lhassa is darkened with the burning of incense. The festival of lamps, the ascent of Tsong Khapa to heaven ; and days of spirit-hunting and per-^ formanbes of religious dramas, are among the diversified hohdays of Tibet. Periods of fasting, especially before the great festivals, are observed by the devout. Of course these are more observed by the monks of the yellow sect. One of these periods of fasting lasts'four days, during which the monks confess their faults and meditate on the evils of demerit. .On the third day no food whatever is taken, and not even the saliva must be swallowed ; not a word is spoken, and each monk is engaged without intermission in silent prayer and confession. Many monks keep the four holy days of each month as fast days. Tibet, then, is the Papal domain of Buddhism. Some lamasseries are enormously rich. They own half the country, constantly receive legacies, ■me Papal ^^^ ^^®^ grow rich by usury. No taxes are paid by them, and domain of their own lands are attended to by large numbers of slaves. Many of the monks do not keep their vows of celibacy, and the common people are said in their hearts to detest the Lamas for their oppression. Whether this is generally true or not, every rational mind will agree that Tibetan Buddhism is by no means an unmixed good. CHINESE BUDDHISM. The influence of Buddhism in China is stni great, though not as exten- sive as formerly, owing to the loss of the patronage of the emperors ; but it exists in a considerably modified form. " The worship of Pu-sah," says Dr.. Beal, " in the houses of the'rich and poor, is hardly recognised as Buddhist in its origin ; and, indeed, the very term Pu-sah, which is the Chinese form of Bodhi-satva, is explained as of native origin, and signifying " universal benevolence," whUst the objects of Buddhist worship, such as the Groddess of Merdy and the Queen of Heaven, have been placed among the number of MODERN BUDDHISM. 323 their genii." Also the images of Pu-sah are to be found in the houses of many officials and others who would deny that they were Buddhists. Chinese Buddhism dates from a.d. 61, when the Emperor Ming-ti is THE CALIi TO WOESHIP IN A BUDDHIST MONASTEBY. said to have had a dream in which he saw a golden figure of a god hovering over his palace. He inquired of one of his ministers 'what this jj^^j.jj^^j.yj,j^ could mean, and was told that a divine person named Buddha of Buddhism had been born in the West, and that his dream was probably 324 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. connected witli him. Tlie emperor in consequence sent a mission to India to obtain books and news concerning this person. They returned in a.d. 67, with two Buddhist monks, together with various books, pictures, and relics. The emperor listened to them readily, and had a temple built for them in his capital Loyang (now Honan-fa). The narrative of these events includes various miracles worked by the Buddhists in proof of their religion. The short hfe of Buddha which these priests introduced and translated into Chiaese is of special interest, for, as we have seen, no separate life of Chinese life Buddha exists in the southern canon. In the Chinese life he is of Buddha, generally termed Sakyamuni, the Sakya sage, and his proper name, Gautama, is scarcely mentioned. This title, Sakyamuni, seems to have been more acceptable to the northern Buddhists, because of the behef that the name Sakya was like that of a prominent Central Asian people, the Sacffi or Scythians; and this name has been adopted as the. title of the Chinese Buddhists (Shih-kian or Shih-tsen). It would be most interesting, if we had space, to give an account of the life of Buddha as depicted in Chinese books. Previous Buddhas, Mythical appearing through enormously long ages, are named ; and the details. Buddha of the present age (Sakyamuni) is said to have gone through a number of stages of elevation in previous ages. At last, ui- the age immediately before the present one, Sakya became a Bodhi-satva, was born in the Tushita heaven, and finally descended to earth on a white elephant with six tusks. ■ The narratives which follow, while ex- plicable as consistent with the life we have already given, are overlaid with much exaggeration and myth. The life is arranged so as to explain the origin and scenes of the very numerous books of the northern canon. Thus at one time Sakya is instructing the Bodhi-satvas ; at another he is in the heavens of the Hindu gods^ teaching Indra, Yama, etc. All this serves as a scene for the development of the Bodhi-satva mythology. After long abstinence and meditation, and severe temptation by the king of the Maras, Sakyamuni became a perfect Buddha (i.e., in Chinese phrase, from being Pu-sa became Fo). In order to convey the truth to men simply, and as they could receive it, he assumed the guise of an ascetic, preached the four primary truths, established the order of monks, and sent them out to propagate his doctrine. He is afterwards said to have subdued a fierce snake and to have made him take the vows of the order ; to have resisted the fiercest temptations of the king of the Maras, and to have gone to the Tushita heaven to instruct his mother Maya. Then fol- lowed the reception of his son Eahula and other boys as novices, the* admission of women, the establishment of discipline, etc. Sakya is said to have gone to Ceylon himself, to have visited the middle heavens, to have secured the gods (devas) as protectors of his doctrine, to have sent Visva- karma and fifteen daughters of devas to be the patrons of China. He instituted the daily service and ordained honour for his books. In his last days he gave forth his most perfect works, " The Lotus of the Grood Law " and " Nirvana," intended to make his disciples long for higher attainments. MODERN BUDDHISM. 325 This was his meaning, say the Chinese Buddhist authors, when he said, "I am not to be destroyed, but shall be constantly on the mountain of instruction." Buddha, entering Nirvana, is not dead, but lives in his teaching. Before his death he is said to have had presented to him images of himself of gold and sandal-wood, which he consecrated, giving' his disciples in charge to them. At this time also he forbade the eating of animal food. His death and cremation were attended by marvels too numerous to mention. In the Chinese records we are introduced to a long series of Buddhist patriarchs, the successive chiefs and defenders of Buddhist law and disci- pline, each selected by the last patriarch, the first being Maha Buddhist Kashiapa, appointed by Buddha. A patriarch, says Dr. Edkins, patriarchs, is represented as " one who does not look at evil and dislike it ; nor does he, when he sees that which is good, make a strong effort to attain it. He does not put wisdom aside and approach folly ; nor does he fling away delusion and aim at comprehending truth. Yet he has an acquaintance with great truths which is beyond being measured, and he penetrates into Buddha's mind to a depth that cannot be fathomed." Such an one had magical powers, could fiy through the air, go into trances, and penetrate men's thoughts. Nevertheless he lived poorly, and was meanly clad. Thirty-three of these are named, including five Chinese patriarchs, and their biography is given. From the foundation of Chinese Buddhism a succession of western Buddhist monks and learned men came to China and undertook great labours of translation and preaching to propagate their doctrines. The In the fourth century the Chinese were entering the Order by ^^oSs^* permission of a Chow prince, many pagodas were erected in translated. Loyang, and considerable monasteries were built in North China. Many of the Buddhist teachers professed to work miracles, and certainly dealt in magic. Chinese Buddhist pilgrims visited India and other Buddhist coun- tries, and brought back accounts of marvels they had seen (as, for instance, Fa-hien and Huen-siang). Early in the fifth century' Kumarajiva, an Indian Buddhist, assisted by eight hundred priests, produced a new translation of the Buddhist books into Chinese, extending to three hundred volumes. After this time the rulers of .China became for a time hostile to Bud- dhism ; but this was soon reversed, and there was much intercourse between Buddhist princes in India and China. Monasteries and temples oppogiyg^ multiplied, and magic and wonders, as fostered by the books of °'!- , ^ » ^ ,.-,, ..Tr>-,i a7 • i- Confuoiamsts. the G-reater Vehicle, overlaid the original faith. At various times Chinese emperors, followed by their people, combined, more or less of Con- fucianism and Taoism with Buddhism, and seldom prohibited any of them. At various periods the Confucianists sought to put down the Buddhists, to make the monks and nuns marry, etc., and decrees were promulgated against them ; and sometimes their property was confiscated and they were compelled to return to secular fife. Side by side with religious changes, Hindu Buddhists introduced many improvements in Chinese orthography, science, and literature. ■26 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The twenty-eightli Indian Buddhist patriarch, Bodhidharma, visited China in the sixth century, and died there. He exalted meditation at the expense of reading and book knowledge, - allowing no merit ^""*' either to these or to the building of temples. In his view true merilT consisted in " purity and enlightenment, depth and completeness, and in being wrapped in thought while surrounded by vacancy and stillness." His influence in China, where he died, was powerful enough to make his followers, a distinct sect of contemplatists, as contrasted with the ascetics and the ordinary temple-monks. His sect gradually became the most influ- ential ; and it appears to have distinctly weakened the looking for a future life and retribution, by exalting self-reform as to be brought about solely by inward contemplation. Not long after his death a monk of Tien-tai, named Chi-kai, invented a system which combined contemplation with image-worship, and it gradually gained great popularity, his books being after some centuries reckoned among the classics of Chinese Buddhism. ^ The history of Chinese Buddhism in the middle ages presents a continual series of assaults by Confucianists, alternate persecutions and support by emperors, and frequent interference. Certain temples were destroyed and others exalted; certain monasteries and temples were transferred from one kind of worship to another, from one sect of Buddhists to another; and all the time the emperors did not ostensibly become Buddhists. The Mongol The Mongol emperors, however, especially Kublai Khan, became emperors. (Jecided Buddhists, and used the Chinese imperial temples for Buddhist worship. Towards the end of the thirteenth century a census stated that there were over 42,000 Buddhist temples and 213,000 monks in China, which implies a very great number of lay adherents. After the fall of the Mongols some restrictions were gradually imposed on the Bud- dhists ; and the Sacred Edict, issued in 1662>, and still read periodically in public, blames them for fixing their attention on their individual minds Modem ^^o^®; ^"^^ foj" inventing baseless tales about future happiness and discourage- misery. Thus Buddhism is officially discountenanced, although in Mongolia and Tibet the Chinese encourage and pay deference to it; and in China itself the worship and festivals continue to be very largely attended, although the building of new temples has to a large extent fallen off. Chinese Buddhism at the present day is so extensive and varied that it is only possible to glance at its leading features. In many ways it Present occupies much the same standpoint as in Tibet ; and the Chinese * * state. xciOT^ takes refuge in Buddha, the Law, and the Order, hke his Singhalese brother. The worship of Buddha still remains, in a considerably materiahsed form ; but image-worship is by no means held to be essential by instructed Buddhists, though it is allowed by them for the ignorant and weak. But added to this worship is that of a great number of associated and inferior beings, making Chinese Buddhism at present practically a complex polytheism. Its public attitude may be gathered from an account of the temples and services. MODERN BUDDHISM. 327 Looking south, like so many Chinese buildings, the temples of the Chinese Buddhists consist of a series of halls, the vestibule being guarded by the same four great kings mentioned at p. 319, carved in wood, and dressed and equipped with various symbols, such as a ''*™** *^' sword, an umbrella, a snake, or some other object with a well-defined sig- nificance to Orientals. They give all kinds of blessings to true Buddhists, and withdraw theil- favour from kings and nations which neglect the truth. Maitreya (Mi-li Fo) also appears in the same entrance-hall ; sometimes even Confucius has an image here, as protector of the Buddhist religion. The great hall opening from the entrance-hall contains the images of* TWO OF THE QCAEDIAHS Or BDDBHA. KCSHAN MONASTEllY, NEAR FOO.-CHOW. Buddha, the Six Bodhi-satvas, Ananda, and many saints, in various sym- bolical attitudes, "Wen-shu and Pu-hien often being placed right images and left of Buddha, while Kwan-yin is behind them looking *" ^'^^ ^^^• northward. Sometimes Buddha is alone in front and the other three are in a row behind him. Kwan-yin appears in numerous forms in pictures and sculptures ; in one he is represented by a female figure presenting an infant to mothers praying for children. Other halls may be added to the principal ones, containing statues, sculptured scenes, and pictures. The large central hall, accorditig to Dr. Edkins, is intended to symbolise Buddha giving 328 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. - instruction to an assembly of disciples, -wliile the leading idea of tlie entrance-liall is to show the powerful protection by celestial beiugs which Buddhists enjoy. All this is in agreement with the narratives in the " Greater Vehicle." There may be many subordinate chapels, dedicated to- Bodhi-satvas and other beings of Buddhist, Hindu, and Chinese mythology. The images of the Pu-sa or Bodhi-satvas stand when in the presence of Buddha, but sit when in thjeir own shrines. Even the Taoist images are admitted into the all-comprehending Buddhist temples, as weU as those of celebrated Chinese Buddhists. In North China, especially at Pekin, it is customary, whether the images are of brass, iron, wood, or clay, to make them with intettial organs Realism of ^s complete as possible, according to Chinese notions, which are images, j^ot very correct ; but the heads are always empty. Surrounding the abdominal organs is a large piece of silk covered with prayers or charms, while within it are bags containing small pieces of gold, silver, and pearls, and the five chief kinds of grain ; but many of these valuables have been stolen from the images. While the more intellectual Buddhists explain their temples and images as purely symbolical, and their offerings, bowings, etc., as expressing rever- . ential reception of Buddha's teaching, the common people regard the images as deities, and pray to them for deliverance from sickness, sufferings, childlessness, poverty, etc. Kwan-yin is very exclu- sively worshipped, being commonly known as the goddess of mercy, who hears the cries of men. This worship is always associated with that of Amitabha (0-me-to), the father of Kwan-yin, and they are believed to dwell in the happy (western) land of Sukhavati. Those born in this paradise have only unmixed joys, of which gorgeous descriptions are given. This heaven has taken a strong hold of the imagination of Chinese Buddhists, and they wUl repeat the name " Amita Buddh " incessantly, while counting their beads. It is possible, and is strongly held by some, that some of the ideas of this worship, especially of the Litany of Kwan-yin, were derived from Persian, Arab, and Jewish sources. It is a wide-spread belief that Kwan- yin, moved by infinite compassion, has promised to become manifest in aU the innumerable worlds, to save their inhabitants. He also visited all the hells for this purpose ; and detailed accounts of his visits and their beneficial results are given. There are special elaborate services in which Kwan-yin is worshipped and invoked, while at the same time Buddha and the other Bodhi-satvas are duly honoured. One prayer runs thus: "May the aU-seeing and all-powerful Kwan-yin, in virtue of her vow, come hither to us as we recite the sentences and remove from us the three obstacles (of impure thought, word, and deed). Professor Beal gives the following transition from the Chinese of the confession or " act of faith " in Kwan-yin : — " All hail, good, compassionate Kwan-yin ! Though I were thrown on the Mountain of Knives, They should not hurt me ; Though cast into the lake of fire, MODERN BUDDHISM. 329 It should not burn me ; Though surrounded by famished ghosts, They should not touch me ; Though exposed to the power of devils, They should,not reach me ; Though changed into a beast, Yet should I rise to heaven. All hail, compassionate Kwan-yin." Incense is burnt, flowers and food are offered, and invocations are repeated again and again to Kwan-yin and Amitabha, with appropriate readings from the sacred books, some of them in Sanskrit and unintelligible alike to priests and people, but supposed to have a magic effect. The distinctive worship of Amitabha is practised by many, both in China and Japan ; they are called the "pure land" sect, who rely on Amitabha to effect their entrance tO the bright paradise. The mere repetition of the name with concentrated and undivided attention is believed to ensure paradise ; he is also invoked by the form " Praise to Amita Buddha," and the most extravagant promises are made to those who rightly invoke him. This is the prevailing form of Buddhist worship in .many parts of China, and it is very popular owing to its putting out of sight Nirvana and presenting a heaven of conscious happiness and joy to the behever. At the temple Pi-yun-si, west of Pekin, there is a hall of 500 departed saints, arrayed in six parallel galleries ; the figures are of clay, full-sized, and seated. In another court are scenes from the imagined g^yg ^j gg^ future state, all modelled in clay, showing the fate both of the saints, good and the evil. These halls are in addition to the usual elaborate series of halls. Pagodas also form part of this great establishment. Similar halls are numerous in the Tien-tai district. Music is much used in Chinese Buddhist worship, the instruments in- cluding drums, small and large bells, cymbals, and various metal forms struck. by clappers which have no analogy in western music. Dr. Edkins admits that while the populace believe in the extravagant details of mythology or magic, the priests in the services still read the old passages from the Buddhist books which teach the nothingness of every- thing ; so that, if fuUy exposed, the most utter contrasts would be found in any of their services. One of the most famous Buddhist regions of China is Tien-tai, a cluster of hills 180 miles south-east of Hang-chau. It came into note through Chi-kai, who in the sixth century founded his school of con- ,^-^^^_^=^ templative Buddhism there, imagining its grand .natural scenery to be the residence of the great saints of Buddhism, the Arhats or Lohans ; indeed, he heard them sing near the remarkable rock bridge over a cataract, and now they are represented by five hundred small stone figures at the side of the bridge. Here Chi-kai developed an elaborate comment on and development of Buddhism, which he called " perfected observation." He explained everything as an embodiment of Buddha, subtly getting rid of 33° THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. all the objects of popular belief. He taught his followers various forms of meditation, which his followers have maintained, while not entirely con- demning popular belief, nor going to the extreme of Buddhist agnosticism. At the present day monasteries are to be found five miles apart throughout the Tien-tai hill country. Besid-es this there are numerous important " schools " of Chinese Bud- dhism, named from prominent teachers, from whom the present heads of MODERN BUDDHISM. 331 monasteries claim continuoils succession. Their doctrines for the most part do not differ widely. from one another, but great importance is attached to minutiae. The Lin-tsi school was founded by a ^cSaf teacher who died in 868, and had a great reputation for magical Buddhism, powers,; it is now very widely spread in China and in Japan, jhe Lin-tsi. It teaches that -Buddha is within the believer if he only be recog- nised. " What is Buddha ? A mind pure and at rest. "What is the; law ? A mind clear and enlightened. What is Tao ? In every place ai)sence of impediments and pure enlightenment. These three are one." Discipline is strictly maintained by means of three blows with the hand or with the cane, three successive reproofs, and the alternation of speech with silence. We cannot particularise the other varied schools of Chinese Buddhism, but they are as numerous as the principal dissenting bodies in England. The monasteries need not be particularly described, after what we have said of Buddhist monasteries in other countries. They all have a temple or worship-hall attached. Most of the larger establishments own land Monasteries or other property, but not often sufficient for all expenses, which ^<* monks, are met by mendicant expeditions, the offerings of worshippers, and volun- tary presents sent to them. The procession of monks walks through the streets to receive alms beating a gong or cymbal at intervals, and often recit- ing Buddhist. formulse. The monks dress very differently from the Chinese people. In officiating they usually wear yellow garments of silk or cotton, with a wide turn-down collar and huge sleeves ; at other times their clothes are mostly of an ashy grey. Their heads are closely shaven two or three times a month, and many have one or more places on the scalp burnt with red-hot coals. Their cehbacy appears to be strict, and they do not own any relationships in the outside world, and show very little sociabihty in their intercourse with the people. They spend much of their time in chanting their sacred books, mostly in a form which represents the sound without the sense of the Hindu or Tibetan origiaals. Some monasteries keep their large bells constantly tolled day and night, so that the sound never ceases. A large monastery has numerous rooms devoted to specific uses, includ- ing a library, study, reception-rooms for distinguished guests, and a place for keeping living animals, not for food, but as a work of merit. Sometimes there is a fish-pond full of fine fish which must not be caught or eaten. Special provision is made for cattle, swine, goats, fowls, etc., many being deposited by lay people in fulfilment of a vow, together with money or grain to support them untU their death. The monks prof essedly refuse all animal food, but it is believed that some transgress. On the whole, the mass of the Chinese do not highly reverence the Buddhist monks, because they trans- gress the principles of fihal obedience so deeply rooted among them ; but they are nevertheless much employed to conduct private religious cere- monies, whether on behalf of recently deceased persons, those suffering in hells, or the sick and infirm. Frequently the succession of novices in the monasteries is kept up by the purchase of boys from their parents. Within the monastery ranks there are frequently ascetics who for 332 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Ascetics. years together have no intercourse with the outside world, but sit in con- stant silent meditation in their cells, receiving their food through a hole in the door. Usually, the bodies of deceased monks are burned in a special cremation-building, the ashes and unconsumed bones being afterwards collected and deposited, in an earthen vessel, in a special room or building of the monastery. There are numerous Buddhist nunneries in China, under the especial patronage of Kwan-yin, and while many join them of their own accord, others are bought when young girls. , The nuns shave the whole head like the men, do not compress their feet, and wear a very similar costume to the monks. Some learn to read the Buddhist books, and attend upon those who worship at the temples. They also visit the sick and aiHicted, and pay special attention to those who place themselves under their spiritual care. Although they have taken a vow of celibacy, the nuns are generally accused of breaking it, as , in Tibet ; and in some districts the Chinese officials have closed all nunneries for this reason. While Buddhism is not ardently believed in by a large proportion of the Chinese, it is Popular undoubtedly regarded with consider- aspect. able respect; and its formulae and practices, especially those which are magical, are largely resorted to as a matter of precaution. Words not understood by the people are con- tinually repeated by- them with some sort of belief in their efficacy in overcoming evil influ- ences. The -workman will burn his paper with the charm written on it before beginning his morning's work ; while the man of learning, who professes to despise Buddhism, knows by heart the magical sentences of the Ling-yen- king, or Heart Sutra. The Buddhist calendar includes a very complete set of festivals and processions, though they are not made the occasion for such display as in Buddhist Burmah. The femperors' and empress's birthday, the.anniversaries calendar, of emperor's deaths, and the four monthly feasts are, of course, kept. Then there are days for worshipping the devas of the older Hindu mythology, for eclipses of the sun and moon (addressed as Pu-sahs or Bodhi- s?,tvas, the power of Buddha being invoked to deliver them), for sacrifice to the moon, and praying for fine' weather or rain. The Deva Wei-to (reaUy the Veda) is invoked as protector, and his birthday is kept, as also the birthdays of three other divine protectors, including the god of war, ot Buddha, and each Bodhi-satva, the anniversaries of the death of the chief Chinese Buddhist saints, and of the founder of a monastery, etc. But this BtJDDBIST NUN, WITH CAP AND KOSAET. list might easily be lengthened. MODERlSi BUDDHISM. 333 Indepeiident of its professors, Buddhism has exerted a great iniiuence in tempering the character of Chinese rehgion. The discountenancing of sacrifices, the tenderness to animal hfe, the conception of a spiritual aim in rehgion, and of self-discipline as of supreme importance, have not been without far-reaching effect on the Chinese. The example of ^^^^^^ „f Buddha as beneficently desirous of being born in the world Bud^sm in to save it, his patience and self-sacrifice in ihis successive lives, 334 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. his teaching of the noble path and the desirability of freedom from the fetters of this life have all tended to elevate the popular faiths. A more doubtful influence of Buddhism has been the popularisation of beliefs in material hells. A great variety of tortures and circumstances of punish- ment are described, and the demons are represented as delighting in human sufferings. On the one hand it is alleged that the beliefs on the whole have tended to discourage the crimes that are said to be visited with such punishments, on the other, that the popular mind is thereby familiarised with pictures and descriptions of horrible cruelties. The tolerance inculcated by Buddhism, too, has had its effect in spread- ing a considerable indifference to religion in China, while on the other hand it has favoured its own existence. But the extent of mutual concession and accommodation to be found among the Chinese in religious as well as other matters is a very pleasing feature, when it does not signify lifelessness or mere indifference. The Buddhists too deserve credit, for their representations of Buddhas and Bodhi-satvas are pre-eminently merciful, although their objection to suffering as an evil loses sight of its medical and beneficial influ- ence. Buddhism, too, has in China acquired more regard for filial duty than elsewhere. We may also note how greatly Buddhism has contributed to the artistic and literary development of the Chinese. The pagoda form is theirs especially. It is derived from the Indian tope or dagoba ; the base or platform signifies the earth, the semicircular building covering it the air, and the railing above, the heaven ; the spire and umbrellas above have been expanded into successive storeys or platforms, representing the succes- sive worlds above the heavens. In many cases, however, the Chinese pagodas have no religious significance, and only relate to the popular geomancy by which luck is determined. Those which contain Buddhist relics are always connected with monasteries. Some are of brick, others of porcelain, others of cast iron. Many are now falling to ruin, and few are now built. Flower cultivation is another artistic feature in China and Japan which has a connection with the Buddhist flower offerings; many beautiful flowers are grown in the temple and monastery gardens for use as offerings and in decorations. "We must not conclude this account of Chinese Buddhism without calling attention to an interesting sect of reformed Buddhists who have spread Tue do- considerably since the beginning of the sixteenth century in the notMng sect, lower ranks of the Chinese, known as the Wu-wei-kian, or " Do; nothing sect." They oppose all image-worship, but believe in Buddha without worshipping him. They meet in plain buildings with no images, and containing only an ordinary Chinese tablet dedicated to heaven, earth, king, parents and teachers, as signifying the fit objects for reverence. Thfey enjoin the cultivation of virtue by meditation alone, and inward reverence for the all-pervading Buddha, who is within man and in aU nature. Their founder, Lo Hwei-neng took the title Lo-tsu (the patriarch Lo) ; on the anniversaries of his birth and death, the new year, and in the middle of the MODERN BUDDHISM. 335 eighth month, they meet to drink tea and eat bread together. They are strict vegetarians, believing strongly in metempsychosis and the conse- quent sin of taking animal life. They have no order of monks or of priests. BUDDHIST CEEEMONT, JAPAN. Matter they regard as perishable, and believe that at the end of the world they will be taken to heaven by Kin-mu, the golden mother, whom they re- gard as the mother of the sonl. She is indeed more an object of worship by 33^ THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. this sect than Buddha, being regarded as a protectress from calamities and sickness, and from the miseries of the unseen world. So far have the Taoist notions invaded even this pure form of Buddhism. JAPANESE BUDDHISM. Buddhism found its -way to Japan in the sixth century a.d. both from China and from Corea, but gained no great influence until the ninth, when the priest Kukai, or Kobo Daishi, showed how to adapt Shintoism to Buddhism by asserting that the Shinto deities were transmigrations of the Buddhistic ones. Thus explained, Buddhism gained great ascendency. In the seven- teenth century a philosophical awakening took place, under which every man was taught to long for perfection, to believe in successive transini- grations of souls, and to look forward to the perfect reward of absorption into Buddha. A very great number of Buddhist shrines and temples exist, vastly more ornate and wealthy than those of the Shinto, containing images of extraordinary variety for adoration, supporting till lately a numerous priesthood, who took care to attract the people in every possible way, by spectacles, games, lotteries, and even shooting galleries. The recent revolution, however, has been attended with a great spoliation of Buddhism, suppression of temples and monasteries, melting of beUs for coinage, etc. ; and the religion now only exists on sufferance, and has already put forth renewed efforts to gain spiritual influence over the people. There are numerous sects, corresponding in the main to those of China, some being contemplative, others mystic, others taking charge of THeShin- ^^® popular ceremonies. The Shin-shin especially reverence shin. Amitabha as being willing and able to save those who be- lieve in him. No prayers for happiness in the present life are made by them, and they teach that morality is of equal importance with faith. They have many of the finest temples in Japan, and are remarkable for their active missionary work in China and Corea, and for the high standard of education they maintain. The priests are allowed to marry and to eaf meat. The creed of the sect, as stated by one of its principal teachers, is as follows : " Rejecting all religious austerities and other action, giving up all idea of self-power, we rely upon Amita Buddha with the whole heart for our salvation in the future life, which is the most important thing, believing that at the moment of putting our faith in Amita Buddha our salvation is settled. From that moment invocation of his name is observed as an expres- sion of gratitude and thankfulness for Buddha's mercy. Moreover, being thankful for the reception of this doctrine from the founder and succeeding chief priests whose teachings were so benevolent, and as welcome as light in a dark night, we must also keep the laws which are fixed for our duty during our whole life." JAIN TEMPLE OF ADINAIH, GWALIOK. CHAPTER IX. Jainlsm and Buddhism— Mahavira — Jain beliefs— Temples at Palltana— Mount Abu— Parasnath TheYatis. THE Jaips are at the present day an important body of religion- ists in India, more for their wealth and iniiuence than their numbers. ' I]b is said that half the mercantile transactions of India pass ihrough their hands as merchants and bankers, largely in the north and west of India, and in smaller numbers throughout the southern peninsula, jainism and Till comparatively recently they were believed to be quite a Buddiiism. modem sect of Hindus, at any rate not much more than a thousand years old. But the careful researches of several eminent scholars have led them to the belief that Jainism is coeval with, if nob slightly older than, Bud- dhism, and took its rise in the same development of Brahman asceticism and reaction from Brahmanical tyranny. We cannot enter into the details of the discussion, but shall simply take this view as supported by the best authority, Prof..Jacobi. 337 „ 338 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. There are some resemblances between Buddhism and Jainism which do not necessarily show that the one is derived from the other, but rather that they took their rise in the same age or during the same intellectual, period. Buddhism proved the more adaptable and appealed to more widespread sympathies, and surpassed and ovfershadowed Jainism ; but the latter, less corrupted, and more characterised by charitable actions, has survived in India, while the former is extinct. We find similar titles given to the saints or prophets in both, such as Tathagata, Buddha, Mahavira, Arhat, etc. ; but one set of titles is more frequently used by the one, another by the other : and it is noteworthy that the word Tirthankara, describing a prophet of the Jains, is used in the Buddhist scriptures for the founder of an heretical sect. Both lay great stress on not killing living creatures ; both worship their prophets and other saints, and have statues of them in their temples ; both believe in enormous periods of time previous to the present age. The rejection of the divine authority of the Vedas and of the" sway of the Brahmans is also common to the two. There' is further almost an "identity between the five vows of the Jain ascetics and those of the Buddhist monks : namely not to destroy life, not to lie, not to take that which is not given, to live a life of purity, and to renounce all worldly things (the last being much more comprehensive than the corresponding Buddhist vow) ; but it appears that the first four were equally the vows of the Brahman ascetics. There are other points in the life of the Jain monks which agree substantially with rules laid down for the Brahman ascetics. Vardhamana, or Mahavira (his name as a Jain prophet), the great founder of Jainism, figures in their Kalpa Sutra as the twenty-fourth ' Mahavira. P^*^P^®^j ^'^^ appears to have been a younger son of Siddhartha, a Khsatriya noble or chief of Kundagramma, not far from Vesali, already mentioned in our account of Buddhism, and the wife of Siddhartha, was sister of the king of Vesali, and related to the king of Magadha. At the age of twenty-eight Mahavira became an ascetic, and spent twelve years in self-mortification. After that period he became recognised as a prophet and saint, or Tirthankara (meaning conqueror or leader of a school of thought), and spent the remaining thirty years of his life in teaching and in or- ganising his order of ascetics, mostly within the kingdom of Magadha, but •also travelling to Sravasti and the foot of the Himalayas. Mahavira is re- ferred to in the Buddhist books under his well-known name Nataputta, as the head of the rival sect of Niganthas, or Jains, and several contempo- raries are referred to in the books of both religions. "We may put down Mahavira's date as about the fifth and sixth centuries B.C., but the earliest extant works of the Jains do not go beyond the third century, and were not reduced to writing till the fifth or sixth century a.d. It is very doubtful how far Mahavira is indebted to Parsva, his predecessor, according to the Kalpa Sutra, by about two centuries. The lives of the earlier Jains, like those of the predecessors of Gautama, are altogether mythical. Adinath is the earliest of them. The life of Mahavira, as related in the Kalpa Sutra, contains but few JAINISM. 339 details, and is very far from having the interest of that of his great con- temporary. He is declared to have torn out his hair on entering the ascetic life, to have gone naked for eleven years, and to have abandoned all care of his body. All perfections of circumspect conduct and self-restraint are attributed to him. He at last reached the highest knowledge, unobstructed and full, so as to become omniscient. At his death he became a Buddha, a Mukta (a liberated soul), putting an end to aU misery, finally liberated, freed from all pains. . "Mahavira," says Professor Jacobi, "wasof the ordinary class of religious men in India. He may be allowed a talent for religious matters, but he possessed not the genius which Buddha undoubtedly had. The Buddha's philosophy forms a system based on a few fundamental ideas, whilst that of Mahavira scarcely forms a system, but is merely a sum of opinions on various subjects." The matter of the Jain works yet translated is so inferior to that of the Buddhist scriptures that we shall not make any extracts from them. The Jains believe in a Nirvana, consisting in the delivery of the soul from the necessity for transmigration ; and they do not look for an absorp- tion of the soul into the universal Soul. In fact they do not , j^ ^^ ,, - teach anything about a supreme deity. Eight perception, clear knowledge, followed by supernatural knowledge, leading to omiiiscience, were the stages of progress to Nirvana. The space - occupied by each of the perfected ones who have attained Nirvana is stated to be boundless, increasing according to their desire. Their parts are said to be innumer- able, and there is no returning again to a worldly state, and no interruption to that bliss. Their term of existence is infinite, and they exercise them- selves in the highest philosophy. Believers must also practise liberality, gentleness, piety, and sorrow for faults, and kindiiess to animals and even to plants. This last the Jains exhibit in the present day by an extreme unwillingness to injure living creatures. They believe all animals and plants (and even the smallest particles of the elements) have souls, and they spend much money in maintaining hospitals for sick animals. They will not eat in the open air during rain or after dark, for fear of swallowing a fly or insect ; they strain water three times before drinking it, and will not walk against the wind for fear that it should blow insects into the mouth. The strict devotees carry a brush to sweep insects out of the way when they sit down, and a mouth-cloth to cover the mouth when they are engaged in prayer. In strictness the Jains disregard Vedas, gods, and caste ; but practically they yield considerably to caste regulations, they pay some devotion to many of the Hindu deities and have a numerous list of good and bad spirits of their own, and they appeal to the Vedas as of considerable authority when they support their views. Now-a-days the peculiarity of nakedness is only retained by the ascetics among the Digam- baras (sky-clad ones), and then only at meal-times. The Svetambaras, the other sect of the Jains, are white-robed and completely clad. They have no sacrifices, and practise a strict morality. Many of their beliefs 540 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. are common to Brahman and Buddhist philosophies, such as that re-births are determined by conduct in previous states of existence. The Jains possess some of the most remarkable places of pilgrimage in India, situated in the niidst of most lovely mountain scenery. At Palitana, Temples at ill Kathiawar, is the temple-covered hill of Satrunjaya, the most Pautana. sacred of the pilgrim-resorts of the Jains ; and Jains from all parts of India desire to erect temples upon it. Many of them are very small buildings only about three feet square, covering impressions of the soles of two feet marked with Jain emblems, and sacred to Mahavira. The larger temples have considerable marble halls with columns and towers, and plenty of openings, unlike Hindu temples ; the nlarble floors _have beautiful tesselated patterns. In the shrine, on a pedestal, are large figures of Maha- vira, sitting with feet crossed in front, like those of Buddha. Often on the brow and breast are five brilliants, and gold plates adorn many parts of the body. The eyes are of silver overlaid with pieces of grass, and projecting very far, so as to stare very prominently. The larger temples, says Fer- gusson (" History of Indian Architecture"), " are situated in iwfe, or separate enclosures, surrounded by high fortified walls ; the smaller ones line the silent streets. A few yatis^ or priests, sleep in the temples, and perform the daily services, and a few attendants are constantly there to keep the place clean or to feed the sacred pigeons, who are the sole denizens of the spot ; but there are no human habitations, properly so called, within the walls. The pilgrim or the stranger ascends in the morning, and returns when he has performed his devotions or satisfied his curiosity. He must not eat, or at least must not cook his food on the sacred hill, and he must not sleep " there. It is a city of the gods, and meant for them only, and not intended for the use of mortals." Some of the temples date from the eleventh century, but the majority have been built in the present century. Mount Abu, in Rajputana, is another remarkable place of pilgrimage, and has been termed the Olympus of India. There are five temples, two of which, according to Fergusson (" History of Indian Archi- tecture"), are unrivalled for certain qualities by any temples in India. They are built wholly of white marble, and the more modern of the two was built (between 1197-1247) by the same brothers who erected a triple temple at Grirnar ; for minute delicacy of carving and beauty of detail it stands almost unrivalled. A simpler yet very elaborate one, erected in the eleventh century, is a typical example of larger Jain temples ; it has a central hall terminating in a pyramidal spire-like roof, containing a cross-legged seated figure of the deified saint worshipped, who in this case is Parsva, the predecessor of Mahavira. There is also a large portico surmounted by a dome, and the whole is enclosed in a large courtyard, sur- rounded by a double colonnade of pillars forming porticos to a range of fifty-five cells, as in Buddhist viharas, but each occupied by a facsimile of the central image, and over the door of each arre sculptured scenes from the saint's life. In some Jain temples the image of Mahavira or other saints is repeated in an identical form hundreds of times, each with cells or niches. JAINISM. 341 Remarkable skill and ingenuity have been displayed in tte decoration of tlie columns and other parts of the Jain temples. JAIN EMBLEMS. Parasnath, in Bengal, is the eastern metropolis of the Jains, having been the supposed scene of the entrance into Nirvana of ten of their - . . . Faxasnath. twenty-four deified saints. In one view of Parasnath there are to be seen three tiers of temples rising one above another, in dazzling white emblem of dhabma (the liw), at sanchi (euddhist). EMBLEM or DHABMA, TEMPLE OF JAQANNATH, PDKI. stone, with fifteen shining domes, each with bright brass pinnacles. In style these temples differ from those in the "West or South, and are partly 342 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. 'derived from Hindu temples and partly from Mahometan mosques. There are nq priests to perform ceremonies for the pilgrims ; each performs his devotion according to his own views. They have to pay toll to the priestly order before entering, and to leave some contribution to the repairs of the buildings. Extreme cleanliness being one of the Jain principles, it is carried out perfectly in the temples, producing an effect of surpassing beauty. " On entering the centre and holy chamber," says one of the few European visitors who have gained admission, "it is impossible to avoid being im- pressed with the simple beauty of the place. The pavement is composed of fine slabs of blue-veined marble ; and on a white marble pediment, opposite to the entrance, five very beautiful images of the Jain saints sit in dignity waiting for the prayers of their disciples, which are rendered more deep- toned by the echoing influence of the dome." Pilgrims visit every shrine in the holy place, a work of extreme labour, owing to the number of peaks ; and the pilgrimage is completed by a circuit round the base of the group of hills, a distance of something like thirty miles. The yatis, or ascetics, among the Jains have no absolute rule as to wor- ship, being only devoted to meditation and abstraction from worldly affairs ; but they often read the Jain scriptures in the temples, while the ministrants, attendants, etc., in the temples are Brahmans. The Jains fast and specially devote themselves to religious duties during a part of the rainy season (the Buddhist Vassa). At its commencement they are accustomed to confess their sins to an ascetic and obtain absolution for them. The Svetambaras are the broader of the two sects, taking their meals clothed and decorating their images, and allowing that women may attain Nirvana, which the Digambaras deny. [On Jainism see "Sacred Books of the East," vol. xxii. ; "Imperial Gazetteer of India;'' " Statistical Account of Bengal ; " " Encyolop£edia Britannica," Art. Jain.J CHAPTER X. Zoroagiter anti t\)t Zentr^abesita. The Ayesta— Zend and Pahlavi— The Magi of the Bible— The Greeks and the Magi— Modem study hy Europeans — Zoroaster — A real personage — His life in Eastern Iran— His date— Mythical develop- ments — Marvels and miracles— Contrary opinions — The doctrines of Zoroaster— Ormuzd and Ahriman— Dualism — Importance attached to thoughts —Relation to early Aryan religion— Com- parison with Vedio religion— Ahura— Zoroaster and the settled agriculturists— Attributes of Ormuzd — ^The name of Ormuzd— Lofty conception of the Deity — The Amesha-Spentas— The Yazatas or spiritual genii— Mlthra—Vayu — Sraosha — The soul of the bull— The powers of evil — Ahriman — The daevas and druj — The Yatus, Drvants, etc. — Zoroaster magnified— The universal conflict— The Fravashis— Immortality — Future rewards and punishments— The final dissolution and renovation. THE Zend-Avesta' is the popular name of the great religious book or collection of books of the Paxsees, a wealthy and influential body of Indian residents (numbering over 70,000) whose ancestral home ™^ . * was Persia, but who after the seventh century, when the Persians were overthrown by the Mohametans, took refuge in Western India and the peninsula of Gruzerat. Only a few thousand descendants of the old people still keep up the ancestral worship in Persia itself, in Yezd and its neighbour- hood. Properly speaking, the old collection of books is the Avesta, Zend (or " interpretation ") being the name of the translation and commentary on it in the Pahlavi or early Persian language. Nor is " Zend " strictly a correct term for the language of the Avesta ; both the book and the Ian- zend and guage in which it is written are properly called Avesta, and there Pahlavi. is no other book remaining in the language. But the language of the Avesta is very generally termed Zend, since that name has long gained currency. This language was that of north-eastern Iran in its wide sense, and was akin to Sanskrit. From it or a closely allied form the Iranian or Persian family of languages is derived. Considering how much was known by the ancient Hebrews and Greeks about the Zoroastrian religion, it is a surprising fact that little more than a century ago Sir William Jones rejected the Avesta as a modern The Magi of rhapsody. The priests of this religion were the Magi or " wise ^''^^ ^'''^*- men" of the Old and New Testaments, located in "the East" among the Chaldseans and Persians, and viewed by the Israelites chiefly as astrologers, diviners, and interpreters of dreams. In Daniel xx. we read that the prophet » See "Sacred Books of the East," vols, iv., v., xviii., xxiii., xxiv., xxxi. " Enoyclopsedia Britannica," ninth ed., articles "Persia," "Pahlavi," "Parsees,"" Zend-Avesta," " Zoroaster. " Avesta," translated with commentary by Prof, de Harlez, second ed. Pans, 1881. " Civilisation of the Eastern Iranians," by Prof. Geiger, translated into English by D. P. Dastur ; London: Henry Frowde, 1886. (G.) 343 344 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. and his associates were reckoned " ten times wiser than all the magicians and astrologers." How deeply this view of them impressed itself, we see in the fact that from their Greek name " magoi " is derived our generic term for all professors of enchantment and preternatural powers. Daniel is represented as interceding for the Magi when condemned to death by •Nebuchadnezzar, and was himself appointed Master of the Magi ; again and again after this we find that one common ground was recognised between the religions, both hating idolatry and acknowledging the "God of Heaven." The " wise men (Magi) from the east " of Matthew ii. may not have been from Persia, but the mention of them implies thfe high position they held and the respect paid to their persons and doings. Later references to Magi in the New Testament imply what was the fact, that large numbers of impostors had become distributed through the Eoman empire, among whom may be mentioned Simon Magus and Elymas. The Greeks early knew about the Magi through Herodotus and other travellers and historians ; and Aristotle and other philosophers wrote about The Greeks ^^® Persian religion in lost books. The Magi appear to have and the recommended the destruction of the Greek temples in Xerxes' "^^ invasion. After the Greek conquest of Persia the name of the Magi represented a hated system of divination, and the religion of a con- quered foe. Both Plato and Xenophon, however, speak of the Magi with respect. Philo, the great Alexandrian philosopher, describes them as men who gave themselves to the worship' of nature, and the contemplation of the Divine perfections, and as being worthy to be the counsellors of kings. Much literature was put forth in Greece as being the oracles of Zoroaster, but having very faint traces of his system. Throughout the middle ages, how- ever, no real knowledge of the ancient Persian religion existed in Europe. Gradually after the Eenaissance the old knowledge was re-collected ; and travellers in Persia and India gathered the beliefs of the Parsees and described Modem study t^ieir practices. Thomas Hyde, an Oxford professor, in 1700 pub- by Europeans, lisj^ed the first accurate description of modern Parseeism; and in 1723 Eichard Cobbe brought to England a copy of the Yendidad, which was hung up by an iron chain in the Bodleian library, a treasure which no- body could read. More than thirty years later, Duperron, a young French- man, after years of persuasion and investigation, obtained from the Parsees of Surat both their books and the means of translating them, and in 1764 brought to Paris the whole of the Zend-Avesta ; in 1771 he published the first European translation. But it was loudly asserted that the Avesta was a forgery and a late concoction ; and it was not till the Pahlavi inscriptions of the first Sassanian emperors had been deciphered by De Sacy, and they in turn led to the reading of the Persian cuneiform inscriptions by Burnouf, Lassen, and Eawhnson, that it was proved beyond doubt that the Avesta was written in a still more ancient language. Zend, as it is usually called, is apparently derived from a common source with Sanskrit ; and its grammatical forms remind one of Greek and Latin as well as of the language of the Vedas. ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 345 ZOROASTER. So much scepticism has been displayed as to the Avesta that it is scarcely surprising to find that many have doubted the existence of any person correspondina: to Zoroaster or Zarathustra (in modern „ T)'r7ii IT 11 . • . Zoroaster ir'ersian, Zardusht), although they might in some cases admit that a real he was a mythological personage developed out of some man. ^^'^^° But it requires very cogent proof to upset the unanimous voice of classical antiquity, -which speaks of Zoroaster as a real person and the founder of the Persian religion. The period when he lived 'and the details of his life must be admitted to be doubtful ; and his name is not mentioned in any cuneiform inscription yet deciphered. No doubt the Zoroaster of the later parts of the Avesta and of the Zend is largely niythical, and of these myths we must later give some account. But the Zoroaster of the gathas or hymns contained in the Yasna appears as a man, trusting in the Divine Being whom he worships, facing fierce opposition from without, crippled at times by the faintheartedness of his supporters, sometimes suffering from inward doubts and struggles, and again exulting in secure confidence. And it is less marvellous to believe in these sentiments as having proceeded from a man who was the founder of a religion than to beUeve they were invented long afterwards in the successful days of the religion, when it was beginning to decay. But, as in the case of Buddha and also of the early history of Buddha, these old Aryans had no notion of writing biographies. All we have from them is incidental information, which may be even more rehable, when sifted, than details professing to be biographical would have been in that age. Although his birthplace is uncertain, Zoroaster's active life and teach- ing may safely be placed in Eastern Iran, possibly in Bactria. The later parts of the Avesta describe him as teaching during the reigii of his life in Vishtaspa, the same word as is rendered Hystaspes by the Greeks ; Eastern Iran, but there is reason to believe this king belonged to a much earlier period than Hystaspes, the .father of Darius. This king was evidently the patron and friend of the great religious teacher ; and his influence greatly con- tributed to Zoroaster's success. Two brothers, Frashaoshtra and Jamaspa, the latter a minister of the king, were among Zoroaster's prominent sup- porters ; indeed he married their sister Hvovi. Like some other religious leaders, Zoroaster derived much aid from his relatives and their followers ; and he appears to have had a family of sons and daughters. The Avesta does not speak of his death ; but in the late Shah-Nama, or book of Turanian kings (13th century), it is related that he was murdered at the altar in the storming of Balk by the Turanian conquerors. Almost the only means that we have of indicating Zoroaster's date is the fact that when ^^ ^^^^ Cyrus reigned, in the 6th century B.C., the Magian religion was firmly established in Western Iran, Various conjectures assign him dates between 1000 and 1400 e.g. Turning now to the view of Zoroaster given by the later parts of the 346 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Avesta, it is easy to see that lie became invested with marvellous powers, Mythical ^o^^^^ii^g less than supernatural, and was in fact made part of the develop- Magian mythology. He is described as smiting fiends chiefly with his prayers, driving away Ahriman the evil spirit with huge stones which he had received from Ormuzd, the supreme and good god. At his birth the floods and trees rejoiced. Ormuzd is even represented as sacri- ficing to a spring, and praying that Zoroaster may be brought to think and speak and do according to his law. Zoroaster in fact becomes the sup- porter of Ormuzd, and drives away Ahriman and the fiends that try to kill him. He is a godlike cliampion, who kills the powers of evil with the word of truth or the sacred spell. At some far-off period a posthumous son will be born to him who will come from the region of the dawn to free the world from death and decay, and under his rule the dead will rise and immortality commence. Still later, in the Bundahish we have more details and marvels about Zoroaster, and from it a legendary history of the great teacher may be com- Marveisanji piled. During his early life a whole series of marvels occurred, miracles, jnostly protecting his life from danger. His early life was blame- less, but it was only after he attained the age of thirty that his mission commenced. He appears to have emigrated from his native country to Iran proper, with a few followers, and miracles were worked in his progress. The spirit Yohu-mano (" the good mind") introduces him to Ormuzd, the su- preme Being ; he asks permission to put questions to Him, inquiring which of God's creatures is best, and receiving the answer, " He is the best who is pure of heart ; " and then receives instruction as to the names and duties of angels and the nature of the evil spirit Ahriman. Various miraculous signs are shown to him. He sees a fiery mountain and is commanded to pass through the fire, but is not hurt thereby. Molten metal is poured into his breast without his feeling pain ; and these wonders are explained to him as having a mystic meaning. He then received the Avesta from Ormuzd and was commanded to proclaim it at the court of King Vishtaspa. This behef in the communication between Zoroaster and Ormu^ runs through the whole Avesta. In every important matter he questions Ormuzd and receives a precise answer from him. Various statements are made that these revela- tions took place upon a mountain, which afterwards burst out into flames. When he at last presented himself at court, the king's wise men endeavoured to refute him, but were compelled to own that he had beaten them in argu- ment ; finally the king accepted the Avesta, after the prophet had been acciised as a sorcerer and had proved his mission by miracles. The king at last did nothing without consulting Zoroaster, and erected the first fire- temple. Having treated Zoroaster as having been a real historical personage, round whom many mythical or exaggerated narratives have collected, we Contrary will quote a few sentences showing the contrary opinion held opinions. ]^y j^Q^ ^ £g^ scholars : " All the features in Zarathustra point to a god : that the god may have grown up from a man, that pre-existent ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 347 mj'-tliic elements may have gathered around the name of a man, born on earth, and by-and-by surrounded the human face with the aureole of a god, may of course be maintained, but only on condition that one may distinctly express what was the real work of Zoroaster. That he raised a new religion against the Vedic religion, and cast down into hell the gods of older days can no longer be maintained, since the gods, the ideas, and the worship of Mazdeism (e.e., Zoroastrianism) are shown to emanate directly from the old religion, and have nothing more of a reaction against it than Zend has against Sanskrit." (Darmesteter, S.E., vol. iv.) THE DOCTRINES OF ZOROASTER. The most special feature of Zoroaster's teaching is the dualistic principle, according to which Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd), the good spirit, is constantly antagonised by Angra Maiuyu (Ahriman), the evil spirit, who is ormuzd and the originator of everything evil. The latter is to be ultimately ^i^™"^'^- expelled from the world, and man must take an active part in the struggle, his conduct being regulated by the code revealed to Zoroaster by Ormuzd. Ormuzd and Ahriman are believed to have been co-existent, and jjuaiism. opposed in the earliest period known to the Grathas ; but the ultimate triumph of Ormuzd indicates essential if latent inferiority in Ahriman. It must not be taken that other spirits were not believed in by Zoroaster ; but as far as one can judge, his special teaching relates to the supremacy and greatness of Ormuzd and his final victory. As regards conduct in this world, Zoroaster enforces the doctrine that no one can occupy a position of indifference ; he must be either on the side of good or of evil. The only proper course was to choose the importance good, and to follow it in thought, word, and deed. This was ^^^**^=^^^g announced clearly in the first gatha; and we must concede to Zoroaster the great merit of seeing the importance of the thoughts, and tracing evil to that source. When we remember how few of the hymns of the Eig-Veda refer to sin or its expiation, and bow shght are the traces of feelings of guilt, and the necessity for obtaining forgiveness for it from the Deity, it will be seen that the Avesta contains distinctly an advanced teaching. Whatevei; may have been Zoroaster's contribution to the religious progress of his race, such a religion as his could only become accepted where there was already a large basis of positive belief, even if delation to that belief were erroneous; and as there can be no doubt that the ^^f^^^"^ Iranians were derived from the same stock as the Aryan Hindus, we must compare their early rehgion with the features found existing in the Avesta, in default of any document recording what was the state of belief upon which Zoroaster began to work. And this study leads to most interesting results. The general name for a god in the earlier portions of the Eig-Veda is deva (bright) ; in the Avesta the evil spirits are called daeva, essentially the same word : while in the later Rig-Veda the name means exclusively 348 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. a good spirit, a beneficent god. In contrast to this, we find the use of an Comparison a-ltsJ^native name to deva in the earher parts of the Rig- Veda, with vedio namely asura. This is the same word as aJiura in the Avesta, forming part of the name Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda) and limited to a good sense. Yet in the later Eig-Veda and in Brahmanism the same name is exclusively applied to evil spirits. We have not space to trace fully how this divergence was concomitant in India with the deposition of Varuna from the supreme place among the gods and the rise of Indra ; but it may be inferred from the Avesta that in Zoroaster's time the people of Iran were divided between two distinct and contrasted forms of belief — the wilder unsettled nomads who believed in the devas, the original spirits of the Avran race, and who ill-treated and sacrificed cattle; while the more settled people believed in the ah\iras, the patrons of cattle, and elevated the care of cattle into a sacred function. Zoroaster therefore appeared as a champion of the belief of the settled peoples, and added the epithet Mazda, the wise, to the name of the chief god whom they already believed in. He identified the old devas, still the settled believed in by the nomads, with powers of evil, false gods, devils-, agriculturists. rpj^ggg^ he taught, were all different manifestations or helpers of a predominant evil principle, often called Druj, or deception, and less frequently Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman. This is but a concentration and development of the early Aryan belief in a conflict between the powers of nature, some benefiting and others injuring mankind. The frequent brief address to Ormuzd in the Vendidad is " the most blissful spirit, creator of the material world, thou Holy One," or more fully, Attributes of" -I- Venerate the Creator, Ahura Mazda, the brilliant, radiant, Ormuzd. greatest, best, most beautiful, mightiest, wisest, best-formed, most exalted through holiness, giving profusely, granting much bliss, who created us, who prepares us, who maintains us, the most blissful spirit." Dr. Geiger lays stress on the spiritual view which is given of Ormuzd, and says that he is not represented as having any visible form, except where the sun (Mithra) is spoken of as " the body and the eye of Mazda." Anthro- pomorphism is rare as apphed to the Supreme Being in the Avesta : and ^Geiger looks upon all the passages as symbolical, which speak of wives and relatives of Ormuzd. But we cannot be blind to the extreme probability that such relationships would be looked upon as real by the general mass of the people, however definitely the leaders may have regarded them as symbolical. Great importance is evidently attached to the " name " of Ormuzd, and it is interesting to compare it with the "name" of Jehovah as treated in The name of t^e O^ti Testament Scriptures, and the ,1,001 names of Allah. Ormuzd. These names, as given in the Ormuzd Yast are " the One of whom questions are asked, the Herd-giver, the Strong One, Perfect Holiness, Creator of all good things, Understanding, Knowledge, Well-being, and the Producer of well-being, Ahura (the Lord), the most Beneficent, He in whom there is no harm, the Unconquerable, He who makes the true account (that ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 349 is of good -works and sins), the All-Seeing, the Healer, Mazda (the All- wise). He is represented in the gathas as not to be deceived, and as looking upon everything as a warder with eyes radiant with holiness. How high is the conception of the deity reached in the gathas may be seen from the following extract from one of them (Yasna 44). " That I ask of Thee, tell me the right, Ahura ! "Who was the father of the pure creatures at the beginning ? "Who has created the way of the sun, of the stars ? "Who but Thou made it that the moon waxes and wanes ? This, Mazda, and other things I long to know. Who upholds the earth and the clouds above. That they fall not ? "Who made the water and the plants ? "Who gave their swiftness to the winds and the clouds ? "Who is, Mazda, the creator of the pious mind ? "Who, working good, has made light as well as darkness ? "Who, working good, has made sleep and wakefulness ? "Who made the dawn, the mid-days, and the evenings ? " There is no doubt that Ormuzd is believed to have existed before any material thing, and to have called the world into existence by his will. He is specially mentioned as the creator of the holy mind, of religious truth, and of the prayers and offerings. Fire is also a special creation of Ormuzd, the importance of which we shall see later. Being omniscient and infallible, he rewards the good and punishes the evil both in this world and the next. Thus we read in the gathas : " "Whosoever in righteousness shows to me The genuine good actions, to me who am Zarathushtra : Him they (the divine beings) grant as a reward the next world. Which is more desirable than all others. That hast thou said to me, Mazda, thou who knowest best." The impious are thus threatened : " Whoso brings about that the pious man is defrauded, his dwelling is finally for a long time in darkness, and vile food and irony shall fall to his lot. Towards this region, ye vicious, your souls will conduct you on account of your actions." There have not been wanting those who see in the resemblances between this conception of the supreme Deity and that of the Jews a proof that the one was derived from the other ; but the view that they are distinct and unrelated finds warm advocacy. Thus Dr. Geiger says : " In this sublime conception of the Avesta, Ahura Mazda undoubtedly stands far above the deities of the Vedic pantheon. Only the Jehovah of the ancient Jews may be compared to him. But however obvious the similarity be- .^^^^ tween the God of Israel and the god of the Mazdeans may be, still conception of I reject entirely the assumption that the Avesta people have borrowed from the Jews. Upon the Iranian soil a narrowly-confined nation has, independently and of itself, attained that high conception of God, which, with the exception of the Jews, was never attained by any Aryan, 35° THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Semitic, or Turanian tribe." (G.) To another student, Professor Geldner, Ormuzd appears as the idealised figure of an oriental king. To Professor Darmesteter he is the developed idea of the old Aryan " Heaven-God," and many features betray his former sky nature. Thus " he is white, bright, seen afar, and his body is the greatest and fairest of all bodies ; he has the sun for his eye, the rivers above for his spouses, the fire of Ughtning for his son ; he wears the heaven as a star-spangled garment ; he dwells in the infinite luminous space." The sevenfold arrangement of the Vedic gods which was sometimes made, and from which were developed the twelve adityas, was seen also The Amesha- ill ^'^ Iranian religion, and it is a question whether .it did not Spentas. exist very early, Ormuzd becoming the most prominent and finally the supreme. In some parts of the Avesta mejition is made of seven Amesha-Spentas (the bhssful immortals), of whom Ahura Mazda is chief. The names of the others are (1) Vohu-mano, the good mind, (2) Asha-vahishta, the best holiness, (3) Khshathra-varya, the desirable sovereignty, (4) Spenta-Armati, moderate thinking and humble sense, (5) Harvatat, well- being, happiness, health ; (6) Amertal, long life, immortality. The abstract meanings of these names renders it difficult to understand them, but there is no doubt that they are invoked in the Avesta as real beings who can answer prayer. "We find them very definitely associated with particular functions : Yohu-mano protects herds, Asha is the genius of fire, Khshathra has the care of metals, Spenta-Armati is the guardian of the earth, while the last two protect the waters and plants. We may here indicate with some reserve Geiger's explanation of the abstract meaning of some of the Amesha-Spentas, as connected with these practical functions. Vohu-mano, the good mind, is the protector of herds because the peopte who accepted the Zoroastrian doctrine, and consequently were of good mind, were the cattle-rearers, as opposed to the nomads. Vohu-mano came also to be regarded as the guardian of all living beings. The connection of Asha, purity, with fire, is evident, fire being the symbol of purity. Armati (the Vedic goddess Aramati) is the protector of the earth, regarded as " the humble suffering one which bears all, nourishes all, and sustains all. In the Rig- Veda Aramati is devotion, or the genius of devotion. By the Indian commentator Sayana, Armati is regarded as wisdom, but he also defines the same word twice as the ' earth.' " Harvatat, health, is the master of water, for the waters dispense health. Amertal, long life and immortality, is the genius of plants, which dispel sickness and death, especially the Haoma (Indian Soma) plant, which gives health and long keeps up the vital powers. The white Haoma gives immortality. Fire is spoken of as the son of Ormuzd, and Armati as his daughter. In one place :(Yast xix.) we find all invoked as sons of Ormuzd : " I invoke the glory of the Amesha- Spentas, who all seven have one and the same thinking, one and the same doing, one and the same father and lord, Ahura Mazda." Another subject of great interest is the part played by the yazatas, sometimes characterised as angels or spiritual genii presiding over elements ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 351 or over abstract ideas. Mr. Dastur says : " In the abstract, anything that is .excellent and worthy of praise in the moral and material uni- verse and that glorifies the wisdom of the Deity is a yazata. (G. or spMtuai' p. xxiv.) Mithra is one of the most significant of these, because senU. he can be identified with Mitra, the Vedic god of the heavenly -^^^^^ lightf closely associated with Varuna. Mithra was believed to see and therefore know everything, and became the witness of truth and the preserver of oaths- and good faith; consquently he punishes those who break their promises. He is also the lord of wide pastures and the prince of the countries. The tenth yast contains many hymns to Mithra, from which the following extracts are made. (S. E. xxiii.) " Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathushtra, saying : ' Verily, when I created Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, Spitama, I created him as worthy of sacrifice, as worthy of prayer as myself, Ahura Mazda. The ruf&an who lies unto Mithra (or Vho breaks the contract) brings death unto the whole country, injuring as much the faithful world as a hundred evil-doers could do. Break not the contract, Spitama, neither the one that thou hadst entered into with one of the unfaithful, nor the one that thou hadst entered into with one of the faithful, who is one of thy own faith. For Mithra stands for both the faithful and the unfaithful.' " " We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who is truth- speaking, a chief in assembhes, with a thousand ears, well-shapen, with ten thousand eyes, high, with full knowledge, strong, sleepless, and ever awake. " Who upholds the columns of the lofty house and makes its pillars solid ; who gives herds of oxen and male children to that house in which he has been satisfied ; he breaks to pieces those in which he has been offended." On behalf of Mithra, loud claims are put forth for a sacrifice, invoking him in his own name. He is prayed to for riches, strength, and victory, ■good conscience and bliss, wisdom and the knowledge that gives happiness. In one place he is a warlike courageous youth, who drives in a chariot with four white horses through the heavens, and also into battle ; who becomes a yazata of war. See the account of Mithraism, later, p. 363. Vayu, another Vedic deity, is the storm yazata in the Avesta, and is appealed to by Ormuzd to grant him power to smite Ahriman. He is in- voked as a strong warlike helper in every danger. Among other ^^^ important yazatas are that of Fire, the messenger of the gods, -sent down as lightning and sun-fire to the earth ; that of the waters, Ardvi- sura Anahita, Tistrya the rain-bestower, Verethragna the fiend smiter, and the Sun and Moon, etc. Many of these are identical in name and epithets with Vedic gods or spirits, and in reading the yasts we seem to hear again the strains of the Rig- Veda. " He who offers up a sacrifice unto the undymg, shmmg, switt-horsed sun to withstand darkness, to withstand the daevas born of darkness, to withstand the robbers and bandits, to withstand death that creeps m unseen, offers it up to Ahura Mazda, offers it up to the Amesha-Spentas, offers it up to his own soul. 352 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. " We sacrifice unto Tistrya, tlie briglit and glorious star, for whom long the standing waters, and the running spring- waters, the stream-waters and the rain-waters : " When will the bright and glorious Tistrya rise up for us ? When will the springs with a flow and overflow of waters, thick as a horse's shoulder, run to the beautiful places and fields, and to the pastures, even to the roots of the plants, that they may grow with a powerful growth? " The spirit or god Sraosha must also be mentioned ; his name signifies obedience, especially to the Holy Word. He it was who first tied together the haresma, the consecrated sacrificial branches ; he first sang; the sacred hymns ; three times a day he descends on the world to smite Ahriman. Hence he has been termed the priest-god ; the holy prayers are the weapons with which he smites. He requires a man to rise early that he may perform the due rites ; he pities the poor and needy and guards the sanctity of the covenants. Again Ashi or piety, moral order, the daughter of Ormuzd and sister of Sraosha, Mithra and others, bestows the human intellect, defends matrimony, and cares actively for the house. She confers power and riches, and gives beauty to maidens. Another spirit is named G-eush-urvan, " Soul of the Bull " ; in the gathas we find this spirit complaining before Ormuzd of the oppressions The soul of ^'^^ dangers inflicted on him by enemies. Besides those named thebuu. many other spirits are invoked, such as the holy doctrine, the Holy Word, the genius of justice, etc. Here we see how prone Zoroastrian- ism was to personify abstract ideas, just as the Vedic religion personified material objects or forces. We now come to the obverse side of the picture — the powers of evil, and their relations to Ormuzd and the forces of goodness. It has already The powers been stated how prominently the Avesta asserts dualism in the of eviL government of the world ; but there are not wanting those who consider that Zoroastrianism is not more dualistic than Christianity, and point to the fact that no attempt is made to account for the origin of either spirit, while the temporary character of the power of the evil one is dis- tinctly asserted. (West, S. E., vol. xviii.) Haug says that Zoroaster held the grand idea of the unity and indivisibility of the supreme Being, and sought to reconcile the existence of imperfections and evils with the goodness and justice of God by supposing two primeval causes which, though different,' were united. But it is surely simpler to take the plain statements of the gathas, that two powerful beings opposed and counteracted each other, but that the good Being is the stronger and will ultimately conquer, as ex- pressing the essence of the creed of Zoroaster. If one reads the gathas naturally, without prepossessions, it will appear that Ahriman is imagined to have existed from the beginning. Ahriman, the prince of the demons, is the opposite and counterpart of Ormuzd in all characters. He dwells in infinite darkness, and is all dark- ness, falsehood and wickedness, and around him all evil spirits collect. Any good man is his enemy, and he is represented as ZOROASTER AND THE ZEND-AVESTA. 35-3 being enraged at tlie birth of Zoroaster. The evil spirits are the daevas, (deyas) male, and the druj (female). There are six principal The daevas' evil spirits corresponding to the Amesha-Spenta : thus (1) and druj. Akomano, evil mind; (2) Andra (Indra), destructive fire; (3) Saru, the tyrant, opposed the first three of the Amesha-Spentas. The first section of the Vendidad exhibits in detail the way in which Ahriman counterworked the beneficent creation of Ormuzd. His first creation was the serpent in the river, and winter, followed by the cattle-fly, corn-carrying ants, the mosquito, demon-nymphs and wizards, etc. ; and also the sinful lusts, unbelief, pride, unnatural sins, the burying and burning of corpses, the oppression of foreign rulers, and excessive heat, each following a beneficial creation of Ormuzd. Ahriman was also represented as the killer of the first bull, the poisoner of plants, the causer of smoke, of sin, and of death. Some of the associate spirits of evil can be identified with Vedic spirits ; such are the Yatus, wizard demons. The Pairikas are demon-nymphs who keep off the rain-floods. The Drvants or Dregvants are head- The Yatus, long-running flends. The Varenya daevas are the fiends in the drvants, etc. heavens. Bushyasta sends people to sleep at dawn, and makes them forget to say their prayers. We cannot go into the details relating to all these. "We must note how in the Yasts Zoroaster appears as the typical and best human being, who first antagonised Ahriman. Thus, We read in Yast 13, " We worship the piety and the Fravashi (see p. 354) spirit zoroaster of the holy Zarathustra, who first thought, spoke, and did what is magnified, good, who was the first priest, the first warrior, the first plougher of the ground, who first knew and taught ; who first possessed the bull, and holiness, the word and obedience to the word, and dominion, and all the good things made by Mazda ; who first in the material world proclaimed the word that destroys the daevas, the law of Ahura ; who was strong, giving all the good things of life, the first bearer of the law among the nations ; for whom the Amesha-Spentas longed, in one accord with the sun, in the fulness of faith of a devoted heart ; they longed for him, as the lord and master of the world, as the praiser of the most great, most good, and most fair Asha ; in whose birth and growth the waters and the plants rejoiced; and whose birth and growth all the creatures of the good creations cried out, " Hail ! " (S.E. vol. xxiii.) Here we see, as if in process, the deification of a human being. The conflict between good and evil was represented as universal in its extent. Every power or being or material thing was engaged on one side or the other. All animals and plants belong to one or the other, The universal or are forced into their service. Sometimes the gods and fiends conflict, are seen under the guise of dogs, snakes, otters, frogs, etc. ; and it was held. a crime to kill the creatures of Ormuzd, while a man might atone for evil by killing the creatures of Ahriman. Darniesteter, speculating on this aspect of the Avesta, says, " Persia was on the brink of zoolatry." A A 354 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Of course mankind were shared between Ormuzd and Ahriman. The servant of Ahriman and of Asha (fire) offers sacrifice to them with . libations The good of lipoma juice. (the Vedic Soma), the great healing and invigo- andthe rating plant, which when drunk by the faithful benefits the gods ; sacrifices of consecrated meat and libations of holy water. He aids Ormuzd and the holy spirits by every good thought, word, and deed, and by increasing the number of and protecting the creatures of Ormuzd. The priest, or Atharvan, who drives away fiends and diseases by his spells : the warrior who destroys the impious, the husbandman who produces good harvests, are all workers for Ormuzd, and those who do the contrary, for Ahriman. The former will have a seat liear Ormuzd in heaven, and at the end of time the dead will rise and live happily on the earth, which will then be free from all evil. In this connection we may note the belief in the existence of a spirit {Fravashi) distinct from the body originally, separated from it by death, and The believed to be simply the spirit of ancestors ; but this developed Fravasms. i^to a belief in Fravashis as the immortal principle or counter- part of any being, whether gods, animals, plants, or physical objects. They are spoken of in Yast xiii. as "the awful and overpowering Fravashis," bring- ing help and joy to the faithful, helping in the maintenance of all creations. Because of the help they give in the perpetual conflict between good and evil, the Fravashis are worshipped and invoked on all occasions. They are praised as " the mightiest of drivers, the lightest of those driving for- wards, the slowest of the retiring, the safest of all bridges, the least erring of all weapons and arms, and never turning their backs"; they are correspond- ingly dreadful to the foe. They are, however, said to ask for help thus : " "Wlio wiU praise us ? Who will offer us a sacrifice ? "Who will meditate upon us ? "Who will bless us? "Who will receive us with meat and clothes in his hand, and with a prayer worthy of bHss ? " High above all other Fravashis is the Fravashi of Ahura Mazda. There is no doubt that the Avesta teaches the doctrine of immortaUty, and a coming world which is "better than the good." The idea of a bridge Immortality conducting men thither has been common to many religions. The ' early Avesta represents it as a chinvat bridge, or bridge of retribu- tion, at which justice is administered. The good go to the abode of light and glory where Ormuzd reigns and is praised in hymns. The evil, the false priests, and idol-worshippers go for all eternity to the habitation of the devils, in eternal night, scorned by the demons. Yast xxii. gives a Future ^ k 11 UT" 1 Alkmene, Semele, lo, and Danae are among these ; and the children of Leda (Castor and PoUux), Europa (Minos, Ehadamanthus), Alkmene (Herakles or THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 377 Hercules), are world-famed types of heroes. No doubt the fables of Zeus becoming the father of earthly kings and heroes represent part of the process of their deification, so that much of the Greek mythology is resolvable into ancestor-worship. Hera was generally regarded as the one truly married wife of Zeus (also his sister), and so became the protectress of married women. She was also figured as specially faithfal to her husband, and thence was the representative of wifely virtue and the sanctity of the marriage bond. Jealous of any immorality, she was a strict censor of the misdoings of gods and men ; and she is represented as vain of her beauty and jealous of any indignity. She became Hera. the mother of Ares (Mars), He- phaistos, and Hebe, and was the special guardian of the Greek people. She is figured seated on a throne, with a sceptre in one hand and a pomegranate in the other, as a calm, beauti- ful, dignified matron, wearing a tunic and mantle. Her princi- pal temples were at Argos and Samos; and on the first day of each month a ewe lamb and a sow were sacrificed to her. PaUas-Athene, whom we have already described as issu- ing from Zeus's head, Pauas- was bom fully armed, Athene, and she is the goddess of wis- dom, protecting the State, law and order, the patroness of learning, science, art, and all arts and inventions. She is the type of chastity and purity. An aegis or shield was given to her by Zeus, which she whirled swiftly around her; in its centre was the awful Medusa's head, which changed all who looked at it into stone. Athene, among other arts, presided especially over spinning and weaving, in which she excelled. In statues, etc., she appears as a fully clad woman, serious, thoughtfal, and earnest, with beautiful oval face and abundant hair, somewhat masculine on the whole. As a war goddess in defence of the Greeks, of cities, and of innocent victims, she wears a helmet with a large plume, a golden staff, and her famous 'shield. While very generally worshipped throughout Greece she was specially the goddess of the Athenians, who built the great temple of 378 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. the Parthenon to the virgin goddess, whose great statue by Phidias was enshrined there. The olive-tree was specially sacred to Athene, and rams, bulls, and cows were offered to her. The great Panathenaio festival was held in her honour. Themis, the goddess of law and justice, presided over popular assembhes and guarded the rights of hospitality 5 even Zeus is represented as taking counsel with her. Her statues represent her with the scales of *°"^" justice in her right hand, indicating her impartiality, which is further secured by her eyes being bandaged, so that no individual influence or prejudice should influence her. The sword in her right hand indicates the majesty and sovereignty of the law. Together with Zeus and Athene, Apollo may be named as constituting the greatest triad of the Greek gods ; and in many ways Apollo, though described as a son of Zeus and deriving his power from him, is the god whose character and worship had the greatest influence upon the Greeks. There is no doubt that among the later Greek poets and philosophers Apollo was identified with Helios, the sun-god, although in Homer and for some centuries afterwards the two are quite distinct ; but the epithet Phoebus, the shining one, is even in Homer applied to Apollo. It has been strongly held by some that Apollo was originally the sun-god, and that it was a process of development which made Helios a subordinate deity. "We must not attempt to decide whence his worship was brought to Greece, whether from Egypt, the East, or the Hyperboreans ; in fact, if sun-worship is a natural product, there is no necessity to regard it any- where as imported. The settled tradition was, that he was born of Leto in the island of Delos, though several other places claimed his birth. Not long after his birth he suddenly appeared as a full-grown youth of divine strength and beauty, demanded a lyre and a bow, and announced that he would thenceforth make known to mortals the will of Zeus ; whereupon he at once ascended to Olympus. Apollo is described as the punisher and destroyer of the wicked and insolent, as the god of medicine and warder-off of plagues and epidemics (father of Asclepios, the god of the healing art), as the god of prophecy, song, and music, as the protector of flocks and herds, and the founder of cities and leader of colonists, no colony being founded without consulting his oracle. Many of these characteristics are explicable in reference either to the sun as the great light of the earth, or to the heavenly illumination given to the spirit of man. "We can see how, like the fierce sun of summer, he could be a bringer of pestilence and death, or like the genial orb, he could give pasture to preserve the flocks. The rising sun awaking nature to life and rousing the birds to sing, gave foundation to Apollo's being the god of music, and hence of poetry. Prophecy was his, for nothing escaped his all-seeing eye. Not long after his ascent to Olympus, he again came back to earth and travelled through many countries, seeking a place in which to establish his oracle. It was fixed at Delphi, after he had destroyed the dragon Python (whence the epithet Pythian Apollo) ; but this THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 379 was not his only oracle, though by far the most famous one. It actually bepame the national Greek oracle, which was even consulted by foreigners, Romans, Lydians, and others ; and no Greek would undertake an important enterprise without consulting the oracle, whose priestess, as interpreted by the priests, gave utterances of world-famed dubiousness. No doubt the highest aspect of Apollo was that in which he appears as the pardoner of sin after repentance and the protector of those who expiated their crimes by long years of suffering. No evil deed escaped him, and hence expiatory offerings were often made to him. The extraordinary abundance and often beautifully idyllic character of myths and stories about Apollo show how his nature had become part of the Greek mind and spirit. In sculpture and in the poets he is represented as gifted with eternal youth, joyous, and perfectly beautiful. His deep blue eyes, somewhat low but broad forehead, golden or bright chestnut hair falling in wavy locks, well suited this idea). Laurel-crowned, wearing a purple robe, and carrying a silver bow, he looks the perfection of manly beauty. The celebrated Apollo in the Belvedere of the Vatican is a naked statue seven feet high copied from one at Delphi. Among the appropriate surroundings or implements of Apollo are the bow and quiver, the lyre and plectrum, the raven, the shepherd's crook, the tripod, and the laurel. "Wolves and hawks were sacrificed to him. The Delphian temple was one of the most famous and magnificent of all Greek temples ; its foundation dated before historic record, and it was for centuries the recipient of vast offerings from kings. States, .^^-^^-^^ and private persons who sought its counsel. The Pythian games were held at Delphi every fourth year, in honour of his victory over the Python ; and two annual festivals celebrated the god's supposed departure at the beginning of winter to the Hyperborean region, and his return at the beginning of summer. Athens, Sparta, Delos, Thebes, etc., all had their distinctive festivals for Apollo. In many ways the idea of Apollo represents an elevated aspect of Greek religion, having so much distinct moral teaching ; for Apollo could only be rightly approached by those of pure heart who had duly examined themselves, and who practised self-control, though without any austerity. It is held that the Delphian oracle maintained a really high standard of moral and political conduct for several hundred years. Apollo is certainly one of the highest ideals of the Greek mind. Artemis is the twin and correlative of Apollo, the goddess of night and of the moon, of hunting and of chastity. In several of her functions she resembles Apollo, as in her relieving the sufferings of mortals, and ^^^^^ her power of sending plagues and destruction. She devotes her- self passionately to the chase, and always carries a bow and quiver and is attended by huntress-nymphs. Under this form she is especially termed the Arcadian Artemis, her temples being more numerous m Arcadia than m other parts of Greece. She especially protected the young, both children and animals All her priests and priestesses were required to live chaste lives. 38o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Artemis is represented as a head taller than her nymphs, slender and youthful, beautiful in feature but not gentle in expression, her figure grace- ful but somewhat mascuHne. Her hair is loosely knotted at the back of her head, and her short robe, not reaching to the knees, gives her abundant freedom for hunting. Of the many existing statues of Artemis, the most famous is in the Louvre, in which she is depicted rescuing a hunted deer from its pursuers. The bow, quiver, and spear belong to her equipment ; and the hind, dog, and wild boar are specially sacred to her. In Thrace dogs were sacrificed to Artemis. Another form of Artemis was named the Tauric or Brauronian, from the statue of her at Brauron in Attica, said to have been brought by Orestes from Taurica (the Crimea), where human sacrifices, especially of strangers, were offered to her. This is probably connected with bear-worship. The little Athenian girls imitated bears in her honour. These sacrifices, what- ever their origin, were kept up both ia Attica and Sparta till the days of Lycurgus. Afterwards at Sparta boys were cruelly scourged at her altar. Stags and goats were sacrificed to her. The Ephesian Artemis was very distinct, being in fact identical with the old Chaldsean divinity Mitra (or Anaitis), the goddess at once of love and of the light of heaven. It was owing to this latter character that the Asiatic Greeks adapted this deity to the name of Artemis ; but she retained her other character, also exercising sway in the land of Hades and permittiHg departed spirits to visit this world sometimes for counsel or for warning. Contrary to any Greek custom, her priests were eunuchs, and she was represented with many breasts. Her magnificent temple at Ephesus, often termed that of Diana (see Acts xix.), was one of the seven wonders of the world, being 425 feet long by 220 wide, having 127 columns, each 60 feet high, a great ebony statue of the goddess with a crown of turrets on the head, the body pillar-like and sculptured with rows of animals, and count- less other rich treasures, statues, and paintings. It was destroyed by fire in 356 B.C. by Herostratus ; but afterwards rebuilt, burnt by the Goths in 262 A.D., and utterly destroyed by the end of the fourth century. The moon-goddess Selene became identified with Artemis. Hecate was a moon-goddess of the Thracians, at one time identified with Selene, at another with Persephone (see later). There is abundant evidence that the worship of Aphrodite was origin- ally derived from that of the Phoenician Astarte. But she became thoroughly Aphrodite, ^ellenised, and in Homer takes a natural place as daughter of Zeus and Dione, a sea-nymph ; while we have already referred to Hesiod's account of her origin from Ouranos, her rising from the sea-foam, and her landing at Cyprus. In the popular creed of the Greeks, Aphrodite represented love, excited it in human beings, and by her special power ruled all creatures. In the Greek mind love and beauty were associated ; and thus Aphrodite is perfectly beautiful and the goddess of beauty, which she could grant to her votaries. She was married to Hephaistos (Vulcan), but was unfaithful with Ares (Mars) and others ; these traditions representing the THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 381 gradual decay of Greek morals, whicli at last made Aphrodite the patroness of courtesans. Her magic girdle was held capable of inspiring love for any one who wore it. Her principal festivals were held in spring, among flowers and sweet scents ; some of them were undoubtedly of a licentious character. Eros (Cupid) is generally represented as her son and chief companion. Aphrodite is variously represented in ancient art as clothed, half clothed, or nude, as bathing, or as armed (the latter at Cythera, Corinth, and Sparta). In every respect she is depicted as possessing the most perfect beauty of form and expres- sion. The finest existing statues of her are those of Melos (Milo) in the Louvre, of Capua at Naples, and of the Medici at Florence. The •principal sacrifices made to Aphrodite were incense and garlands of flowers ; but sometimes various animals were offered. The dove, swan, swallow, and spar- row were sacred to her. Demeter is another great goddess, intimately associated with the natural opera- tions of agriculture, sowing and reaping. In this way she was associated with subterranean working ; and many stories about her re- late to the periodic death and quietude of nature and the recurring spring-time and harvest. She was the daughter of Kronos and Rhea, and became one of the wives of Zeus, to whom she bore Persephone and Dionysos.. The great myth about Demeter and Persephone relates to the carrying off" of the latter to the subterranean regions by Pluto, to whom Zeus had promised her. Demeter travelled far to seek her, but on finding out the truth abandoned Olympus and came to dwell among men, blessing those who received her kindly, and punishing those who repelled her. At last, however, unable to recover her daughter, she produced a famine on earth. Zeus, failing otherwise to reclaim her to Olympus, or restore fertility to the earth, sent Hermes to fetch back Persephone, and arranged that she should Demeter. 382 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. spend only a part of tlie year (namely the winter) in tlie subterranean regions. Thns Demeter was conciliated. We may see in this story a represeAtation of the concealment or dormancy of the reproductive powers of the earth during the winter season. Some of the later Greek philo- sophers interpreted the disappearance and return of Persephone as referring to the burial and resurrection of man. She was looked upon not only as a goddess of agricultural fertility, but also of marriage, and as a law- givef and friend of peace. She was worshipped in Crete, Delos, Attica, and especially in Sicily. The worship was carried out by secret rites at the Eleusinian mysteries every five years, of which nothing certain is known, except that they were conducted by torchlight and with great solemnity. Demeter is depicted as of noble stature and bearing and matronly appearance ; her hair was golden-yellow falling in curling locks. Sometimes she is represented sitting in a chariot drawn by winged horses; sometimes- she is standing, with a sheaf or a bunch of poppies in one hand and a lighted torch in the other. She is always fully clad, and wears a garland of ears of corn or a simple riband round her hair. The appropriate oiferings to her were figs, pine, fruits, etc. Her temples, known as Megara, were often in groves near towns. Hephaistos (Vulcan), son of Zeus and Hera, was the god of fire, as a natural phenomenon and as useful in the arts. He was fabled to possess a workshop with an anvil and twenty pairs of bellows in Olympus ; there he made arms, utensils, etc., of marvellous workmanship; yet in the court of the gods he was the object of laughter, being lame, deformed, and slow. Various volcanic islands were also termed his work- shops. He gave skill, to human artists, and taught them to make their tools and other products. He was also reputed, like Athene, to have great healing powers. He was depicted as a man of powerful muscular frame, bearded, and wearing a small cap, his right arm raised to strike the anvil with a hammer, while with the left he is turning a thunderbolt which he is forging for Jove. In several temples he was jointly worshipped with Athene. He was specially worshipped at Lemnos. Hestia (Vesta) was a goddess of fire, being a daughter of Kronos and Ehea, and especially the patroness of the domestic hearth and home life. Her worship became distinct from that of Zeus rather late ; she IS not mentioned m Homer. As represented at the house and temple altar fire, she shares in the sacrifices of all the gods. To her the first and last libations of the sacrificial meal were poured out. Her fire was always kept burning, or if extinguished it was again kindled by friction or from the sun's rays. As the goddess of the hearth, she also became the goddess of house-building ; she was worshipped, not in special temples, but in the prytaneum or city hall, the city hearth, so to speak ; there the city entertained its benefactors, and thence colonists took a portion of the fire to their new abode. Ares, the god of war, son of Zeus and Hera, is represented as rejoicing THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 383 in the actual business of war, its tumult and carnage, wild and destructive and bloodthirsty. His worship flourished in Thrace, and is re- puted to have reached G-reece from the north. He does not fight always on the same side, nor is he uniformly victorious. He is represented as youthful, athletic, and muscular, carrying a great sword, with a shield. He had comparatively few temples ; but it is related that human sacrifices were offered to him at Sparta. Hermes (Mercury), the messenger and herald of the gods, was the son of Zeus and Maia, one of the Pleiades ; but there are traces of his being modified from an early Pelasgian nature divinity, the god of _ festivity and bestower of flocks and herds. As messenger of the gods, he is the ideal skilful and eloquent speaker ; and hence the tongues of sacrificed animals were offered to him. He was prudent and cunning, sagacious and shrewd, the promoter of social intercourse, and the reputed inventor of the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, weights and measures, etc. He was charioteer and cupbearer to Zeus, the imparter of dreams to men, the giver of sleep, the conductor of the spirits of the dead to the lower world, the maker of treaties, the helper of commerce, the god of words, and protector of travellers. He watched over the rearing of children, and encouraged gymnastic exercises ; as the giver of gain, he was regarded as the author of any stroke of good luck, and as presiding over the dice-box. He was said to have performed many acts of mischief and dexterity, and even to be the god of thieves. Hermes is represented in art as young and handsome, without beard, often in the attitude of running. He may wear a travelling hat with little wings, a herald's staff (caduceus) with entwined serpents, and wings at the top, and golden sandals. He was worshipped anciently in Arcadia, whence his worship spread to Athens and throughout Greece. Little images of him, known as Hermse (being busts upon pillars of stone), were set up at cross roads and in streets and apparently before the door of each house. Lapibs and kids were among his special offerings, with incense, honey, and cakes. The palm-tree and the tortoise were sacred to him. Dionysos, the god of wine, son of Zeus and Semele (called Bacchus in late G-reek and Eo'man times), was related to have accidentally discovered the making of wine from the juice of the grape. The exhilara- Dionysos, tion produced by drinking it caused both Dionysos and his com- "^ Bacchus, panions to burst into song, joyful exclamations, and dancing. The god extended the gift to all mankind, that they might have more enjoyment, and forget care and sorrow. Consequently he journeyed through the world, planting the vine and instructing people how to make wine. Lycurgus, king of Thrace, disapproved of his wild revels, and banished him from his kingdom. Midas, king of Phrygia, was one of his most noted worshippers. The stories about Dionysos are extremely numerous, and many give accounts of the riotous exploits of his followers. But other accounts of him elevate his character. From being associated with the vine, he becomes the pro- tector of trees in general ; the wine-giver is an inspired being and a source 384 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. of inspiration, and reveals the future by oracles ; at the same time he heals diseases by reveahng remedies in dreams. Thus he is accounted a pro- t^%1' 1',, ' V moter of peace and the well-being of States. His worship probably had a Phoenician origin. Later he was regarded as the patron of the drama. THE ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION: THE GODS. 385 Bacchus is represented in early times as a grave manly figure, bearded and robed like an oriental monarch ; but later he appears as a beautiful but effeminate youth, his long curling hair adorned with vine or ivy leaves, his expression pleased and gentle. He carries in one hand a drinkmg-cup with two handles, in the otheir a thyrsus, or pole terminated with vine-leaves, a fir-cone, or other ornament. Human sacrifices are said to have been offered to him in early times ; later, rams and goats were offered. Tigers, panthers, and dolphins were among his sacred animals. His attendant women are usually known as Bacchantes, and they are generally represented in violent enthusiasm or madness, with dishevelled hair. Poseidon (Neptune), son of Kronqs and Ehea, was the god of the sea, especially of the Mediterranean, and took the place of the older Oceanus. His most distinctive attribute was that of causing and quieting PosGidon. storms ; and hence mariners poured out a libation to him before beginning a voyage, and made offerings on their safe return. He is re- presented as riding in a chariot drawn by sea-horses, at whose approach the waves became smooth. Hence he is greatly famed as the creator and tamer of horses, and the originator of horse races. He was the patron of fisher- men, and had the power of sending great inundations and horrible sea- monsters on States which displeased him. Poseidon is depicted in varying forms, a good deal resembling Zeus, without benignity, the hair usually disorderly, the figure massive, the eyes bright. His special symbol was the trident, a three-pointed fork with which he could stir up or allay storms and shake the earth. As signifying the contest between sea and land, he is fabled to have disputed the posses- sion of several countries with other gods. He was accompanied by a crowd of minor divinities and attendants, including his wife Amphitrite, the Tritons, Nereids, dolphins, etc. He was specially worshipped in Pelo- ponnesus and the coast towns of Grreece. Black atnd white bulls were his appropriate sacrifices. We can only briefly refer to his wonderful palace beneath the waters, of which marvellous descriptions were given. Hades, or Pluto, son of Kronos and Rhea, and monarch of the land of shades, is connected with a very important part of our study, the question of the future life : we shall therefore postpone details about his Hades, or kingdom, merely noting that it was inhabited not only by the ^i'^*"- shades or spirits of deceased mortals, but also by dethroned deities. The name of this god,was habitually left unmentioned ; and those who invoked him struck the earth with their hands, and averted their faces when they sacrificed. According to Horner^ he was the most detested of all the gods. He is depicted as very much hke Zeus in feature, but stern and gloomy- looking, his hair and beard being black. His wife Persephone, is seated beside him, and he holds a staff with which he drives the shades into the lower world. He was worshipped, though with fear, throughout Greece ; and his sacrifices, consisting of black sheep, whose blood was allowed to run into a trench, were offered at night. Even his priests wore black robes. At a comparatively late period Pluto, as god of the lower world, was c c 386 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. regarded as giver of all things dug out of the earth, and hence of the precious metals ; so he became confounded with Plutus (wealth), originally quite a distinct divinity. "We have not space to describe a crowd of minor divinities, many of them important in the Greek way of looking at things, and connected with minor distinctive circumstances or events pertaining to human life. divinities, g^^j^ ^re the Fates, the Furies, the Grorgons, the Nereids, the Sirens, Nemesis, Thanatos (Death), Hebe, the Muses, the Graces, etc. In the Greek religion, the gods are very generally represented with human characteristics, though Characters usually heightened of gods. ^-^^ ennobled; they required food and sleep, and married and had children. In passions they were like men, and frequently committed the same evil deeds as men. They are represented as punishing evil-doers, although in most cases the heaviest punishment is for neglecting to worship them. Their visits to and friendships for human beings are frequent ; and the children of gods and mortals were heroes or demi- gods. If we invert this process, it will be seen that many gods have been imagined as a mode of accounting for the courage or prowess of real heroes. Of course, in addition to mortal powers, the Greek gods were gifted with all kinds of super- natural faculties, and many of these represent natural phe- nomena. In fact, while ac- knowledging that many attri- butes and achievements of deities are derived from those of heroes, and that some gods are deified heroes, we must. admit that a great number of individual gods and of their attributes represent departments of nature and nature's workings, as idealised by the most imaginative and highly cultured people that ever lived. [Sir G. W. Cox, "Mythology of the Aryan Nations "; Grote, Curtius, and Duneker'a Histories of Greece; Berens, "Myths and Legends of Greece and Eome"; A. Lang, "Myth, Eitual, and Eeligion."] HEAD OF THE BELYEDEEE APOLLO. TEMPLE OF POSEIDON AT P^SIUM. CHAPTER 11. (Sitrfe.^afrifittS, ipn'esit^, Cemples rnxU jTesftifaafe, antr ilorals. Sacrifice-Votive offerings-Kinds of sacrifioes-Descrlptlon-SUght consciousness of sin-The priests-State aspect of religion-Duties of priests— Tlieir position— Private temples— A Greek festival-Wealth of temples-Early temples-The Greek styles-Sculpture-Altars-Oraoles- Tne Delphian Oracle-Vanou3j?Uefs-The great festivals-EeUgious origin and purpose- Else of the drama==ira5iage— Death and the future life- Funeral rites— Moral state of the Greeks. IN presenting a picture of Greek religion, we are in the presence of difR- culties of a kind more liable to mislead than in the case of any other people. Worship and ideas about the gods not only changed considerably from one age to another, but they varied largely from place to place, from State to State at the same time, no doubt in dependence upon the original ideas about lo cal deities, but also in accordance with the great fertility of the G-reek mind. Thus it would be impossible, without more space than we can give, to present a clear idea of the religious observances of any one State or city. T herefore what we say must be understood to be generahsed to a considerable extent, and perhaps inapplicable to special localities. Inasmuch as sacrifice is the essential element of religious acts in such a religion as the Greek, we will begin the account of the practical side of it with this subject. The Greek, as far back as we know any- thing about him, offered gifts to his gods, in gratitude for their protection, to obtain their favour, either generally or in some particular instance, or to expiate some offence or appease the anger of the gods. The gratitude of individuals and of States led to the building of temples, the £87 388 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. donation of statues, tlie offering of garlands, locks of hair, costly garments, vases, cups, candelabras, pictures, arms, etc. After successful wars a tenth Votive P^rt of the spoil was often dedicated to the gods. On I'ecovery offerings, from illness votive tablets and presents were given to temples of Asclepios. Persons who had escaped from shipwreck dedicated to Poseidon the dress which they had worn when in danger ; and many other presents of gratitude for escape or for prosperity are recorded in Grreek authors, show- ing that the Greek religion was real, and founded not merely on fear, but also on a sense of humble dependence on Divine protection and on the acknowledgment of gratitude for benefits received. Fre- quently the finest of flocks and herds or the firstfruits. of agricultural produce were thus offered. No doubt the early Greek gods, like dead human be- Eluds of sacrifices. ings, were con- ceived as needing food, or capable of deriving pleasure from it ; and early sacrifices consisted largely of grains, either cooked or un- cooked, and fruits ; though with the increase of flocks these gained a predominant place among the offerings. The gods of the seas, rivers, etc., were . fed by offerings thrown into the water, and the offerings to gods of the subterranean regions were buried. Ordinarily, when the deity is looked upon as benign, the meal offered is one which the god and his worshippers can share at the same time ; and often ordinary meals were sanctified by invoking the gods to be present. Even in St. Paul's day most of the meat sold for ordinary food had been dedicated to the gods, small parts having been specially assigned to the god. It was an appropriate accompaniment of sacrifice to drink wine, part of which was poured on the altar or on the ground for the gods (compare the Soma and Haoma offerings of the Hindus and Parsis), to listen to music, or to dance. The entire sacrifice, by burning, of the animal offered was rare, though it is difficult to ascertain how extensively it once prevailed. We cannot here discuss the relation of HEAD OF ZEUS (fBOM OTEIOOLI). GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 389 special animal sacrifices to tlie totem system and totem worship by clans ; but there can be little doubt that many special features of the early Greek sacrifices are due to it. The Greek religion, as accepted nationally, repre- sents the combination of the beliefs of many diverse tribes, maritime, mountainous, pastoral, agricultural ; and the discordant or strange features sometimes seen in the characters and sacrifices appropriate to the several gods are attributable to this combination. In Homer we find that the legs were burnt, enclosed in fat, together with part of the ' intestines, and the worshippers Description consumed the rest. "^ ^^'^'^'^'^^s- The smoke from the burning victims was believed to be peculiarly pleasing to the gods, and the greater the number of animals sacrificed the more meritorious was it. Hence States and wealthy individuals would frequently sacrifice "hecatombs" (not necessarily meaning a hun- dred victims) ; and such sacri- fices were much in vogue at Athens. The head of a victim was usually sprinkled with roasted barley-meal mingled, with salt, and adorned with garlands ; a portion of hair from its head was thrown into the fire before it was killed. The head of the animal was drawn upwards when the ofiering was to one of the Olympian gods, . and down- wards if to the gods of the lower regions, or to deceased heroes. While the flesh was burning, wine and incense were cast upon it. At the time of sacrificing, opportunity was taken to judge whether the god was propitious, for, if not, he would certainly give signs recognisable by the priests ; these being de- rived from the movements of the still warm intestines, the phenomena of the altar fire, etc. The singing or chanting of hymns in praise of the gods or recounting their actions was a frequent accompaniment of the sacrifices ; but few of those have come down to us. In general, the longer hymiis are narratives of the principal stories current relating to the gods. Few of them can properly be compared with the " scriptures " we have THE I'AitNESK HEBA. 390 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. already noticed. "We may quote, however, the hymn to Athene, as trans- lated by Chapman. "Pallas Athene only I begin To give my song, that makes war's terrible din; Is Patroness of cities, and witb Mars Marshalled in all the care and cure of wars ; And in everted cities fights and cries, But never doth herself set down or rise Before a city, but at both times she All injured people sets on foot and free. Give, with thy war's force, fortune then to me ; And with thy wisdom's force, felicity." consciousness little "^^^ votionaP this The remainder of the hymns are just as much or as "de- as specimen ; and taken by themselves they would indicate a race comparatively little conscious of " sin " as understood in mo- dern times. To have displeased the gods was grievous, but the gods were not supposed to be governed by any inexorable standard of right and wrong ; they could be appeased and persuaded, and even grievous faults could be, as it were, paid for or expiated by a pro- portionate animal sac- rifice. The " The- ogony " and the " Works and Days " of Hesiod are two of the most important poems THE EBLTEDEBE APOLLO. wluch havo como dowu to us, giving accounts of the gods and their doings, portions of which probably were chanted in their services. That there were priests in ancient Greece, and that they exercised important functions and filled important positions in the Greek States, is The priests. ®y^*^^^* ^^om a very slight study of Greek literature ; but it is difficult to reahse their precise status without a knowledge of the ^1 f^^^Al^^ N;^^^^^^-- x^T^^HiSMl w <^^ ^P«^i|g^«^^i g^ 1 » iSSf V4e w^ wW li m /njlM / (^ / ^ ^r= — ''M^ .1 [w\\TO^^-c=^ /if III ^ '/( # ^^v- 1 W 1 wIh ^^1 M n\ w^''''^ w w if i^«^ wSl ■ J^^''M \ ^ vC^^I 1 1 I B^^ ^^^ - W -~->--L ■'-"" -"^~^' ^" j^ GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 391 entire social and political condition of the Greeks. The priests did not constitute a distinct and ordained order ; there was no fixed or regular principle about the priesthood. Religion was above all an affair of the community, whose first business it was to fulfil the duties of the State towards the gods. Such duties must be performed for all by certain ap- pointed persons, or by the head of the State, whether king or general. In early G-reece we find that the king frequently sacrificed on behalf of the people ; and when kings ceased to reign, the priestly func- tions were given to elected leaders or magistrates, such as the archon hasUeus at Athens. Where this course fell into abeyance, we find the priest as the elected or here- ditary minister of a temple, charged to fulfil aU the due rites of the worship there, celebrated, and paid from the temple revenues or by the gifts of worshippers. Subordinate bodies, such as the phratiicB, had common religious duties which were discharged by chosen mem- bers. The State kept watch over any infi:action of duty towards the gods by private persons, and each family discharged its private re- ligious duties through its head. The priesthood of certain gods be- came hereditary in particular fami- lies on account, sometimes, of the supposed hereditary transmission of prophetical power, or of the know- . ledge of certain traditional rites. Some priests were merely appointed for a term of years ; in some cases the succession was to brothers, and to the sons of the eldest brother ; sometimes the priesthood was pur- APHBODITE (mELOs). (Commonly Urmei the Fenus of Milo.) chased, or was granted for special services. In Greece we have the spectacle of a people, with strong religious feeUngs, in whom the public or State aspect of religion permanently pre- dominated over the ecclesiastical. The priesthood did not become state aspect the ruling power ; art, literature, and politics used religion as part <>* reugion. of their inheritance, without placing their consciences in commission to an 392 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. order of priests. Although the priests claimed and gained the benefit of protection from the gods they served, they were by no means exempt from criticism, and they were not in general allowed to control the funds of the temples. The tenure of the priesthood by unworthy persons was jealously guarded against, and persons of high birth were preferred. The priest of a temple had specially to superintend the ritual of his temple, to protect it from improper intruders, and to see that the sacrifices Duties of were properly priests, performed. He was also charged with all, or nearly all, the interpre- tation of the will of the gods, and, especially in re- gard to the sacrifices, he had to note all signs in- dicating the approval or disapproval of the gods. In this he had the aid of skilled soothsayers, who noted the manner in which the victim approached the altar, and whether he made sounds or not ; the colour and smoothness of the in- testines, the appearances of the flame and smoke of the altar, etc. It was specially important, too, that no ir- reverent or frivolous words should be uttered by the bystanders. The flight of birds and the phenomena of the heavens were also observed for the purposes of drawing omens. The diviners who interpreted dreams and told fortunes, though they enjoyed con- ABEs (MABs). siderable favour in Greece, had no regular connection with the temples or the priests. Within their temples the priests had great authority, being able to excommunicate those who broke their regulations, and invoking curses on them before which the stoutest-hearted Greek quailed. Such offences were stigmatised as impiety, and often heavily punished by fines or boycotting. Notwithstanding the limitations we have mentioned, a Greek priest had, no mean position, especially in virtue of his office as interpreter and GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 393 representative of the god. Tlie priests could solve the State's diffictdties when disaster or pestilence occurred, and in the case of the Position of greater oracles which were consulted by all Greece, they occupied priests. a position which no great man in a single State could attaia. At public festivals they occupied special seats of honour, and sometimes appeared decked with the costume and attributes of the god they served. Con- sequently the position was sought after by the wealthy, who in their turn could gratify the people by splendid ceremonies and costly festivals. Naturally such persons tended to gather about them assistants to perform the more laborious or irksome portions of their duty, such as revealers of the mysteries to the uninitiated, torch-bearers, proclaimers of rites, bearers of sacred water, etc. ; and not a few slaves were attached to the temples to perform menial offices. Each temple had its appropriate series of services, according to the character of the god and the State. But public, national, or State temples were not the only ones in which the services of priests were required. They Private were not infrequently founded by te^Ples. private persons or societies, and endowed with estates to keep up a succession of priests and services. They might be founded in honour of success in an enterprise, in honour of a deceased friend or relative, in obedience to dreams or oracles. Xenophon, for in- stance, devoted a tenth of certain spoil of war to buy an estate in Lakonia, on which he buUt a temple to the Ephesian Artemis, surrounded by a forest foil of wild animals, let to- a tenant who had to give one-tenth of the produce to a festival in honour of Artemis, and also to keep the temple in re- pair. In other cases rites for the dead were associated with a temple, and periodical gatherings of a family were enjoined, which ^^^"''■ remind us of Chinese ancestral worship. There were also numerous religious corporations or associations devoted to the worship of some particular divinity, holding assemblies, building temples, choosing priests, making regulations enforced by fines. EeaUy these assemblies formed limited churches, governed by the church assembly. Many of these were founded in large cities for the worship of gods not worshipped by that particular city. 394 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The most complete account of the ritual of a Greek festival is given in an inscription from Andania in Messenia. The twin gods known as Kabiri OITEEING SACBIFICE 10 THE GODS {AFTER PLAXMAN;. were there celebrated, together with Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, and a local A Greek nymph, by a body of priests and priestesses chosen by lot out of festival ^j^g tribes of the city, who had to swear to conduct the ritual in accordance with prescribed form. They had the custody of the sacred books and the chest in which they were kept. Strict regulations are laid down as to the dress of the priests and priestesses, limiting the cost, pre- scribing the absence of paint and of gold ornaments. The procession included a leader, the priest of the deities, the president of the games, the sacrificers and flute-players ; then sacred virgins, priestesses, and priests. The victims were also led in procession ; they included a large number of lambs, a sow for Demeter, a two-year-old pig to the Kabiri, a ram to Hermes, etc., and all victims were to be without blemish. After the sacrifices, the portions not given to the gods were eaten by the priests, priestesses, and virgins, the musicians and other assistants. Complete provision was made for a market to supply the crowds gathered to the festival, and for the judgment of offenders during its con- tinuance, as well as for public warm baths. All brawlers and sacrilegious persons were sternly denounced ; and there is every sign that in the best period of Greece public opinion was strongly against any unseemly conduct at the festivals. The wealth of temples became very great from the accumulated offerings of devout wor- weaithof shippers and States. As a temple ^^'"P^^^- grew in fame, it attracted wealthy foreigners and even foreign kings to its worship. The place being sacred, money was often deposited- there, and invested either in loans or in property. The State undertook the management of GREEK SACRIFICES, PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 395 all the property of the civic temples, issuing commissions from time to time, or regularly appointing officers to supervise the temple accounts. Apart from property whicli could be dealt ■with, the temples became very rich in votive offerings, and as these varied ex- tremely with the taste of the giver or of his time, the temple was in fact a museum of art ; and wherever it has been possible to explore the site of an ancient temple, it has yielded many treasures , and much valuable informa- tion, especially in the form of dedicatory inscriptions. We must now briefly refer to the Greek temples, which succeeded the early open-air altars on hills Early and ■ in sacred enclosures, temples. iheseus. We see a strange likeness to the fetish enclosures of the African negro in the placing of the images of gods and heroes in hollow trees as a habita- tion in early times. Then, as architecture developed, the sacred image was covered and protected in dark builduigs only lighted from the door, or by lamps. This period of the history of G-reek temples is almost entirely prehistoric, for the Greeks in early times had so far progressed as to build fine temples of the well-known oblong form, almost always adorned with a row or rows of columns in various styles or arrangements. Certain types, associated with or invented by a particular state or tribe, became peculiar to certain gods, probably from having been early used for their temples. Thus the Doric style was used in the temples of Zeus and Ares ; the The Greek Ionic, in those of Apollo, Artemis and Dionysos ; the Corinthian, ^*y^®^- of Hestia. Most of the chief temples, besides the porch with columns,, had a vestibule, a large cella or habitation of the god or gods, ia which the statues of the gods were placed, facing the entrance, and a chamber in the rear, often used as a treasury. When the temple was a famous oracle, the cella was kept closed to all but priests and the initiated, and its violation by others brought the severest punishments. The temples afforded the Greeks the utmost scope for their sculpture, in the capitals, friezes, g^^p^^jg pediments, etc. ; and while no light was admitted into the cella from the sides, it- was frequently partly open above. The entire series of legends about the gods was represented in sculpture, and the highest skill and costliest ma- terials were lavished on the statues of the gods, which are m reahty only to be distinguished from the "idols" of other religions in the greater ASCLEPIOS (^SCULAPIUS). 396 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. beauty and imaginative power they displayed. This is not degrading the beautiful images of the gods ; for few so-called idols have ever been imag-. ined to be anything in themselves, apart from the spirit of a god believed to reside in, or to visit them ; yet the rudest image made by a savage may represent as true an act of devotion and submission of himself to the unseen powers as the most magnifi- cent Greek statue. "Who can assign relative merits in this the most difficult of all fields ? But as we have shown the savage as not destitute of genuine religion, so do we de- monstrate the same fact for • the Greek, whom St. Paul re- cognised as "very attentive to religion." Among the most notable Greek temples -were those of Zeus at Olympia, of Athene Parthenos (known as the Parthenon), and Theseus at Athens, of Zeus at iEgina, Artemis at Ephesus, Athene at Syracuse, the Erechtheum and Propyleum at Athens. The Spartans were conspicuous for their lack of grand temples. We must not omit to note that the porch of every temple had a font containing holy water, consecrated by dipping into it a burning torch from the altar. With this water, all those who entered to take part in the sacrifices were sprinkled. ' The altar was an indis- pensable part of the temple, and indeed existed Altar. THE FAENESE HEBCXJLES. before there were The early Greek altar signifies any and then came to temples. word for elevation, mean any elevation used for worship. Originally it was always in the open air ; but when temples were built, the altar for burnt sacrifices continued in the open in front of the temple, while a smaller altar was placed in front of the statues of the gods in the cella. They might be made of earth, turf, or stones, and might be built anywhere on occasion, especially during war ; GREEK SACRIFICES; PRIESTS, TEMPLES, ETC. 397 but in the temples tliey were built of regular masonry, raised several feet, either of a round or of an oblong shape. They were decked with flowers and ornamented with appropriate sculpture, and either bore the name of the god or gods to whom they were devoted, or some representation of them. The inner altars were used for kneel- ing in prayer, and for the offering of incense and other non-living sacri- fices. Altars were universally held to be places of refuge for criminals or unfortunate persons ; the altars had horns, of which refugees took hold. Solemn oaths were also taken at altars. Some altars, as that of Zeus at Olympia, on which offerings of hundreds of animals were made, were of great size. The gods of the lower world, however, had no altars, the blood of the sacrifices made to them being received in ditches or trenches. No part of the Greek religion was more devoutly believed in than the oracular utterances de- livered at many shrines The gods were believed to make communications to mankind through some medium, an inspired priestess or priest, or by dreams or signs. There were comparatively few oracles of Zeus, who was supposed to be too far from men's affairs to enter into close relations with them. Thus his will was revealed through Apollo and other gods, and even through heroes. Oraeles of Zeus were given at Olympia from the in- spection of victims, and at Dodona from sounds produced by the wind in a grove of trees. ^ The oracle of Apollo at Delphi so far outgrew all others in fame that it has become the typical example. Here, in the innermost sanctuary, in front of the statue of Apollo, was an altar fire always burnmg, The Delphian and in the centre was a small opening in the ground, from which °'^= «• at times an intoxicating or sulphureous smoke arose. Over this was placed a tripod, upon which the prophetess, known as Pythia, took her seat. Oracles. PALLAS- ATHENE. The 398 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS.^ smoke ascending produced a kind of delirium in tlie prophetess, who, wMle it lasted, uttered various sounds -whicli were believed to contain revelations from Apollo. These being taken down by the priests were iaterpreted by them to" the people, being often given in hexameters, and conveyed in lan- guage that admitted of more than one interpretation. Many oracles, how- ever, were quite direct and plain, so that the modern meaning attached to " oracular utterances " is not quite just to the originals. The oracle was beheved to give answers to every one of pure heart, but no answer could be obtained by a criminal until he had atoned for his crime. At first oracles were only given once a year ; later, certain days were set apart every month, when the oracle could be consulted on payment of a fee, and sacrifice of a goat, an ox, or a sheep.. The Pythia prepared for her function by fasting for three days, bathing, and sacrificing laurel leaves and barley flour to Apollo. , The priests of this oracle belonged to certain noble families of Delphi, and were appointed for life. No doubt the credit of the oracle was principally due to them ; they were of high birth, and had the most advantageous oppor- tunities for gaining education and worldly wisdom, especially as Delphi was visited by embassies from every Grreek city, as well as others ; and there are grounds for believing that for a long period they were actuated by lofty ideas and constituted a means of elevation and of religious conservation. " In the earliest time we can trace the influence of the oracles discouraging the relentless blood-feud, distinguishing classes of murder, and allowing purification and expiation in certain cases. They make the sanctity of oaths between man and man a special duty ; Apollo regards even hesita- tion to keep a pledge as already a sin. They are the centre of unions or amphictyonies which bind their members to observe certain duties, and show mercy to their fellow-members ; and Delphi, as the oracle of an amphictyony including great part of Greece, had an important share in promoting the ideal unity of the whole country" {Ency. Brit., "Oracle"). During the great struggle for supremacy between Athens and Sparta the Delphic oracle showed an increasing partiality towards Sparta, and gradually the Athen- ians and their allies lost their respect for it ; but it continued to be con- sulted down to the time of the emperor Julian. At an early time the spirits of the dead were believed to appear and give counsel ; lat^r the inquirer went to sleep over the grave of a hero, who Various appeared to him in a dream. At the oracle of Amphiaraus near Deuefs. Oropus, where the hero had risen from the earth to become a god, the inquirer slept m. the temple on the skin of a ram which he had sacrificed, after abstaining from food for twenty-four hours. Oracles were also at one time believed to be given by Mother Earth, being the abode of the dead, who could still give counsel to their descendants. The conception that Themis and Apollo gave oracles at Delphi appears to have been later than this. In addition to regular or occasional religious worship at the temples, the Greeks had a religious bond and influence of a yet more powerful nature, in the public festivals kept by every State of any importance, or by "'■' ■ -'• '''il!i!!pli|||ilSi|j 1 IP l!jjiiJ,ill.ililii|iil,i, 1 I |i ii nil , , II iiiii ill' I Ill 'i illii ri|n nil Ill iiiiiJ»Jili|l||llll rli'Villi'lBli 'll, I i iP f'ti'l'l!l!l||ll|l||lil|l mfk I I ' .1 llilll liiiim II is; ' llr" i,i°°*''®^^™- later into polytheism. It is evident that the belief in one Grod and in many gods was held by the same men without the thought of inconsistency. Thus we find many expressions in which the almighty Power is referred to as one and supreme. " If thou art a wise man, bring up thy son in the love of God." "God loveth the obedient, and hateth the disobedient." "Praised be God for all His gifts." " The God of the world is in the light above the firmament; His emblems are upon earth; it is to them that worship is rendered daily." And on the walls of the oasis-temple of El-Khargeh is an inscription from which the following recognition of the identity of this supreme God with all the gods is derived : " The gods salute his royal majesty (Amun-ra, the sun-god) as their Lord, who revealeth himself in all that is, and hath names in everything, from mountain to stream. That which persisteth in all things is Amon. This lordly god was from the very beginning. He is Ptah, the greatest of the gods. . . . Each god has assumed thy aspect. ... To thee all things that are give praise when thou returnest to the nether world at even. Thou raisest up Osiris by the radiance of thy beams. To thee those give praise who lie in their tombs. The gods are in thine hand, and men are at thy feet. What god is like to thee ? Thou hast made the double world, as Ptah. Thou hast placed thy throne in the life of the double world, as Amon. . . . Thy form emanated at first whilst thou shinest as Amon, Ea, and Ptah. . . . Thou art Mentu Ea. Thou art Sekar ; thy transformations are into the Nile. Thou art Youth and Age. Thou givest life to the earth by thy stream. Thou art heaven, thou art earth, thou art -fire, thou art water, thou art air, and whatever is in the midst of them." (E.) The following extract from a hymn to Amen-ra still further exemplifies the idea of unity or supremacy among the gods : " The One in his works, single among the gods ; the beautiful bull in the cycle of gods, Hymn to chief of all the gods. Lord of truth. Father of the gods. Maker ^m^^- of men, Creator of beasts, Lord of existences. Creator of fruitful trees. Maker 464 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. of herbs, Feeder of cattle — good Being, begotten of Ptah, beautiful youth beloved : to whom the gods give honour ; Maker of things below and above, Enlightener of the Earth, sailing in heaven in tranquillity," . . . and the hymn continues through a long series of most elevated phrases. In one THE SUN. CHNUM, THE GOD OF THB WATEa SECHET, OQ FA.SHT, SEBEE, THE LION-HEADED GODDESS. THE CROCODILE-HEADED GOD EGYPTIAN DEITIES [a few out of many divine representations). part Ea is addressed as " Athom, maker of men, supporting their works, giving them life, distinguishing the colour of one from another, listening to the poor in distress, gentle of heart when one cries to him, deliverer of the timid man from the violent, judging the poor, the poor and the op- pressed" (E.P., vol. ii.) ; and one almost imagines he is reading one of the Hebrew Psalms of blessing. Many such splendid compositions have been found ; and we must realise that the people who had such conceptions stood at a high level, poetic and spiritual, and that there must have been many CONVEYANCE OF A MUMMY TO THE TOMB. besides the composers who reverenced their inspiration, and carefully pre- served and valued its products. It is evident that this religion is, like the Vedic, at bottom a nature- religion. Their mythology concentrated itself mainly upon the daily THE EG YPTIAN RELIGION. 465 recurring phenomena, especially of sunrise and sunset, and had a large number of different stories about these events, often mutually ■==» The inconsistent. Perhaps the oldest form under which the sun was ^^Sr^ *" worshipped was Ra, that being the common word for sun. The reugion. i \\ I THE AH-OEBATIlfG. THE ALI-IOCOMPLISHIMQ. 03IKI9, .TDDGE OB THE DEAD* ISIS, -'^'^ ^ All-BODSTEOtrS irATOEB. HORVB, BOX OT 0SIBI8. ITEBT-HA, A BUBTIBBAKBAlf BBITT. AKUBIS, THE BBCOBT O! THE DEAD. EGYPTIAN DEITIES. THOTH, THB MOOK-GOD. 466 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. as rising sun, and Turn, as the setting sun. He is generally represented as a haiwk-headed man, witli the solar disc on his head. The sun's disc was termed his emblem, but he was said to journey in it across the sky. The following quotation from the " Book of the Dead " will give an idea of the worship addressed to him : " Hail, thou who art come as Tum, and who hast been the creator of the gods ! HaU, thou who art come as soul of the holy souls in Amenti ! Hail, supreme among the gods, who by thy beauties dost illumine the kingdom of the dead ! Hail, thou who comest in radiance and travellest in thy disc ! Hail, greatest of all the gods, bearing rule in the highest, reigning in the nethermost heaven ! . . . Hail, renowned and glorified god ! Thy enemies fall upon their scaffold ! Hail ! thou hast slain the guilty, thou hast destroyed Apap." (T.) Shu, the son of Ea, without a mother, represents the air, and also the principle of heat and light, and as such is called the abode of the sun. But Shu aid lie is also said to be uncreated, the principle of creation, the Ufe- Tefuut. giver, the young old, and by him righteousness and truth reign. Later he was made a sun-god, in union with E.a, and is then represented as a male cat; but his ordinary figure is human. Tefnut, representing dew, foam, and ocean, is the wife of Shu, by whom the birth of all things is brought about. She is represented as a lioness. These three gods formed the central objects of worship at On (known to the Greeks as Heliopolis, the city of the sun). Its priests were notable The worsMp for their learning ; and it was an especial distinction for Joseph to at On. |3e married to a priest's daughter. This worship continued influ- ential, and was widely spread throughout Egypt to a late period. It was closely associated with the belief in resurrection and immortality. Osiris was the chief god worshipped at Thinis and Abydos ; his pa- rents were said to be Seb (earth) and Nut (heaven). The myth of Osiris given by Plutarch, describing him as an Egyptian king, is but a late explanation ; but it seems that Osiris rejpresents the good principle, and the Creator, always at war with evil, and especially with Seb, the destroyer, his brother, who is darkness. The myth, as given in the " Book of the Dead " in various places, appears to show forth the sun's daily course, as well as the^daily round of human life, both combating darkness and evil, continually succumbing and reviving. The aspect in which Osiris was most thought of was that in which he is hidden ; and thus the dead were placed under his guardianship, and nearly all the inscriptions on tombs are addressed to him. As typifying the good principle, Osiris also represents Egypt and the Nile. As his worship ' spread widely, many local legends were adapted to him, and we find in one chapter of the " Book of the Dead," a hundred names ascribed to him. "It would appear," says Tiele, ^' that so soon as his worship had established itself in any one place, Osiris took the form of the deity whose ancient seat it was, and the sacred animal of that particular town or district was consecrated to him." Thusj at On and at Abydos, he was represented as the migratory bird BennU, at Memphis as a species of ape and as a lofty pillar, surmounted by his THE EG YPTIAN RELIGION. 467 complete headdress and emblems, indicating his abode ia the highest heaven. Perhaps the most remarkable of the emblems of Osiris was the living bull, Apis, -worshipped as an incarnation of the god in the temple of Ptah at Memphis. His movements and varying appetites were care- fully observed, and indeed regarded as giving oracular indica- tions. His life was not to extend beyond twenty-five years ; at this age he was put to death, and his successor sought for and recognised by certain markings. Thus the succession of these bulls fixed periods of chronology. When dead he was termed Serapis or Apis. BESIOKATION OE rA9AIlE OP ROCK TEMPLE Or HAIHOB, ABU SIMBEL, HUBIA. Osarapis (Apis who has become Osiris) and lord of the under world. The Mendesian goat, termed the Earn, was an embtem of Ra as well as of Osiris, worshipped at Mendes. , , , ■ Isis the Wife of Osiris, had temples in early Egypt, and had some- thing in common with the Greek Demeter and Persephone. In later Egypt, especiaUy under the Ptolemies, she became elevated to a most ^^^ prominent position. Originally she represented chiefly festivity,_ and was mistress of heaven and daughter of Ea. She appears with acow s head instead of a human one, or with a vulture-headdress, and also m the form of a female hippopotamus. All these symbols show how completely 468 THE WO-RLUS RELIGIONS. the early Egyptians recognised natural phenomena and animals as living manifestations of the gods. Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis, and his avenger; thus he was identified with the rising sun. His name was associated with a whole group of gods representing the visible sun, and very like Ra in some forms. There are many myths about him which we cannot detail. He is always represented with the head of a hawk. Hathor, described both as the mother and wife of Horus, was very like Isis, and was worshipped throughout Egypt, as the female counterpart of Osiris. She was queen of the heavens, both by day and by night, the giver of great gifts to Egypt. Thoth was the Egyptian moon-god, wearing the moon upon his head as crescent or fuU disc, but often represented with the head of an ibis. From the moon being the measure of time, he becomes patron of all measurement, and hence of all science and letters, and of priestly culture. His influence steadily increased as the kingdom advanced in culture. Phtha, or Ptah, was the chief god of Memphis, representing creative power, but not the sun distinctively. He was worshipped in a human form, and sometimes as a pigmy. The gods were said to have come out of his mouth, and men from his eye. He was the god of justice and of beneficence to man. The frog-headed deity, Ka, is also a form of Ptah. Among other gods whom we can only briefly mention were Anubis, son of Osiris, the god presiding over mummification, with four attendant Anubis and subordinate divinities; and Neith, or Nit,. a goddess worshipped Neith. specially at Sais, described as "the mother who bore the sun, the first-born, but not begotten." We must also briefly mention the god Amen or Ammon (hidden or unrevealed deity), whose worship assumed such great proportions during later Egyptian history. Amen, his wife, Mut (the mother), and Amun-ra. ^^.^ ^^^^ Khonsu, formed the chief triad of gods worshipped at Thebes, especially from the eighteenth to the twentieth dynasties. At this period he was identified with E.a, the sun-god, and named Amun-E,a. Later, he was regarded as the god of oracles ; and his oracle, in the oasis in the Libyan desert, was consulted by many foreign rulers and nations. Amen was often figured as a man seated on a throne, holding a sceptre in his right hand and a small cross with a handle in his left. His headdress frequently had two huge feathers. Animal worship became more marked in Egyptian religion than in Indian ; and there were fables representing that the spirits of the principal y^jiiiaaj animals were supposed to be embodied in the kings. In later worship, times every important place had its sacred animal ; and it was a great part of the local religion to tend it, and to embalm and bury it with honour when dead ; and their mummies have been found in many places. The dog-headed ape (cynocephalus) at Thebes, the jackal at Kynopolis, mice THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 469 and sparrowliawks at Butos, the ibis at Hermopolis, Memphis, and Thebes, the cat, the ram, the vulture, the ichneumon, the hippopotamus, the cro- codile, at other places were waited on with the utmost care. Herodotus relates that the crocodile at Krokodilopolis, on Lake Moeris, had golden earrings, and rings on its forefeet, was fed with meat and meal, and em- • balmed after death. BUINS OP TEMPLE OF AMUK-BA, KARNAE, EaXPI, No doubt the Egyptian animal worship represents an extreme form of animism. The Egyptians regarded animals, especially those most con- spicuous for strength, power, or beauty, as incarnations ot spirits, ^^^^^^^ whose favour might be gained or displeasure averted by worship. This may have been originaUy quite apart from conceptions "^ f ^« j^^^^^^^ the latter became more developed, it was imagined that the gods themselves 470 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. were symbolised or -were inhabited by the animals. Later, these ideas grew and varied in different ways, and new animals were worshipped, because their names resembled more or less closely those of the gods. As the Egyptians worshipped animals, they also, at an early date, worshipped their kings. At first they were only so worshipped after death, Deification priests being appointed for their service ; but later, they were of kings, -^vorshipped while alive, and temples were buUt for them by the side of their pyramids. This worship grew very expensive, so that Una, a high of&cial in the fifth dynasty, boasts that he had built four sanctuaries in connection with great levies for public works, in order that the spirits of the living king, Merenra, might be invoked " more than all the gods " ; and the succession of priests of the several kings was kept up till a late date. The divine right of kings was never more zealously believed in or more devoutly expressed than by the Egyptians. What we should term, now-a-days, the • most abject servility, was an unquestioned commonplace among them ; and it by no means appears to have been- first imposed by the kings themselves. Indeed, if an animal was regarded as an incarnation of a god, how much more a king ? Thus we find a disgraced servant im- ploring his king in this fashion : " Let god be gracious to him whom he has removed, whom he has banished to another land, let him be mild as Ea." When restored to favour, he cannot sufficiently express his adoration of the king. " The great god, the equal of the sun-god, mocks me ! thy majesty is as Horus, the power of thy arm extends over all lands." When admitted once more to his presence, he says : " The god spoke amicably to me. I was like one brought out of the darkness into the light. My tongue was dumb, my limbs refused their office, my heart was no longer in my body, so that I knew not whether I lived or if I was dead." (TO When such opinions prevailed, even among the common people, it is not surprising that the kings accepted with complacency the adoration offered to them. The China of to-day was outdone by ancient Egypt, and the king alone was fuUy competent to approach the gods in the temples with the priests. In many an inscription the king claims the empire over all nations and the whole world. Even the gods are represented as worshipping the living king. The god says to Eameses II., " I am thy father ; by me are begotten all thy members as divine Thou art lord Hke the majesty of Ea ; the gods and goddesses are praising thy benefits, adoring and sacrificing before thine image." And the king was said to possess the seven souls and the fourteen Eas, or spirits of Ea. Yet the divinity assigned to the kings did not prevent them from worshipping the gods in the humblest attitudes. Perhaps the kings so utterly flattered really had some notion of their own insignificance before the Divine power. It would be as impossible to describe within our limits the Egyptian as the Indian or the Greek temples. They were erected, to a large extent,. Tern les ^^ ^ uniform plan, though differing considerably in details. Each was built by a king in honour of some god or triad of gods ;. and the motive was not that the people might worship the 'gods, but that THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 471 tlie king might pay tonour to them, and secure their future fa- vours. The temples are always massive stone structures, surrounded by lofty brick walls, with fine entrances, sometimes flanked by huge broad towers sculptured with repre- sentations of the king's doings, either in war or peace. Within was an avenue of sphinxes ; images wherein the body of a lion was con- joined with a human head, denoting the com- bined excellence of mind and body of the king ; this might be interrupted by one or more portals, flanked by huge side towers. Then came a portico opening into one or more fore- courts, through which a roofed enclosure was reached, adjoining the sacred sanctuary, which was low and compara- tively small, and con- tained a sort of ark or chest, half covered by a veil or curtain, and con- tained in a boat. Both these- were decorated with symbols of life, light, and fertility. The ark contained a small image of the god, never seen, and supposed to have never been seen. Everywhere in the tem- ple the deeds of the u S A. • ••• .. • • • m •••• * •••• •••• ^ •••• 472 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. great king were celebrated in pictures and sculptures of various kinds, and records of them were engraved upon tke walls. To the right and left of, or aU round the central sanctuary, might be smaller courts in which special kinds of offerings were made. Huge statues of the kings, obelisks, and other special Egyptian features were abundant. As a speci- men of the "greater temples we may mention that that of El-Karnak, Thebes, has a front 360 feet wide ; the first court is 275 feet long ; the great roofed haU is 170 feet long by 329 feet wide, and its roof is supported by 134 columns, of which the twelve tallest are seventy feet high, and about 40 feet in diameter, and form an avenue through the middle, the smaller columns forming groups on either side. Thus a marvellous effect, as of a forest of columns, is produced. It does not appear that the people performed their worship at any time in the temples ; they, if they had any special place of worship, probably had private chapels. The Egyptian priests were not a definite hereditary order, and were not absolutely confined to their priestly office. " The priest of a god was often a military or naval commander, exercised the ofiice of scribe, and was invested with the supervision of public works or local government. A general in the army could marry the daughter of a priest, and his children could be scribes, priests, or public functionaries.'' (W.) All this emphasised the power of the king, who was fully initiated as a priest, and was the head of the national religion. In fact, upon great occasions, the king himself offered the sacrifices ; he appointed and superin- tended the great festivals and regulated the sacrifices. But the extent to which the priests were employed in all the great offices of the State, and their function of expounding to the king his moral duties, gave them an aggregate influence transcending that of any other class. In fact^ viewing the king as priest also, it must be acknowledged that, as in China, India, Greece, and Eome, the priests of Egypt practically ruled the country. The priests were very numerous, and formed many colleges, classed according to the god they specially served, and their various functions. Thus^ Orders of there were the prophets, who were the chief priests, four being priests. ^ attached to each principal god ; the divine fathers, who might become prophets ; the purifiers or washers, the incense-bearers, the funeral attendants, the bards, and others. There were also priestesses, divine wives and divine handmaids, singers, etc. ; and in the early Empire there were prophetesses, and these offices were held by queens, princesses, and ' mem- bers of the noblest families. The priests and their families had great privileges, were free from taxes, and received as a body one-third of the land, besides being provided for out of the public stores. The prophets had the greatest amount of learning about all rehgious matters, they also managed the priestly revenues, and they had a conspicuous place in re- ligious processions. They kept their mysteries as secret as some of the Greek priesthoods, and only admitted to them those who had satisfied them of their high character and learning. They paid great attention to THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 473 the education, of their children in all the science of the time, and kept up a strict discipline and severity ot outward demeanour. They were strict as to the quantity and quality of their food — fish and the flesh of swine, pulse, etc., being strictly forbidden. They bathed twice in the day and twice in the night ; and they shaved the entire body every third day. EGYPTIAN KIiS'U WOUSHXPPI.MJ IN A TliJirLE. Fasts of great length, from seven to forty-two days, were observed by them, preceded -by a period of purification. They were circumcised at initiation (though this was very general among the people). Their ordinary garments were of hnen, but the high priests wore an entire leopard s skm on great occasions ; they wore sandals of papyrus and palm leaves, and they 474 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. lay either on skins on tlie ground, or on wickerwork beds of palm branches, the head being raised on a semi-cylinder of -wood. The great occasions of Egyptian religion were the festivals and pro- cessions ; among these were the processions of shrines, the dedication of Festivals t^^^pl^s ; the conveyance of the royal offerings to the gods ; the and king's coronation, and his triumphs on returning from war. ■ The procession of shrines included a variable number of arks, and their boats, carried by priests, by means of long staves passed through metal rings at the sides. A shrine of the reigning king might also be included in the procession, as well as the statue of the principal deity, of the king and of his ancestors. The shrine or shrines were brought into the temple, placed on a table, and decked with fresh flowers. Many offerings were made, on several altars, and the king offered incense and made a libation. The anointing of the king at his coronation was per- formed by the high priest in a similar manner to the anointing of the Jewish high priest ; but such anointing was an ordinary expression of welcome in Egypt. Many other ceremonies showed the intimate con- nection of the kings with the national religion ; the king represented the whole nation and was everything in himself. The annual invocation of the Nile was one of the most important festivals. If this were not duly celebrated, the' people believed the Nile Invocation 'would not rise and inundate the land. People assembled in the oftheNUe. towns from all the villages around to take part in this festival, which was marked by hymns, music, and dancing, as well as feasting. A wooden statue of the Nile-god was carried througli the villages. A re- markable hymn or invocation to the Nile has been preserved, in which it is credited with divine honours. " inundation of the Nile," it is said, " offerings are made to thee, oxen are slain to thee, great festivals are kept for thee . . . unknown is his Name in heaven, he doth not manifest his forms, vain are all representations." (E.P. iv.) Many other festivals were held in celebration of the various qualities of the gods and of the recurring seasons. The festivals of Isis and Osiris were numerous and magnificent, and so many details are known that it is impossible here to give even an outline of them ; but yet Sir Gardner "Wilkinson remarks that " the greater part of the fetes and rehgious rites of the Egyptians are totally unknown to us." How thoroughly, therefore, the religious element entered into Egyptian as into Indian and Chinese life ! The Egyptians offered animal sacrifices to all their gods, as well as cakes and wine, incense, flowers, and herbs. Oxen were prominent among Animal the victims, which also included gazelles, ibexes, geese, and wild sacrifices, f^-^i^ b^^ j^ot sheep. The right shoulder was generally the part first offered on the altar. The king was present at the daily sacri- fices, when the people prayed for him, and the priests praised him and warned him against the faults of other kings, caused by iU advice having been given to them. The king himself inspected the entrails of the victim and performed some of the ceremonies of sacrifice. There is no distinct THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 475 evidence that human sacrifices were ever made in Egypt within historic- times ; and indeed, at the earliest time we can clearly read, they seem to have advanced beyond the idea that human victims are required by the gods.. "We have already seen how important a place oracles came to occupy- in Greece; but the Greeks themselves confessed that they were of lata institution among themselves, and had been derived from Egypt. The most famous oracles were those of Thebes, of Buto, of Heliopolis, and of Ammon in Libya, the giving of oracles being a function* of some gods only. ' In some temples questions were taken to the temple in writing, and sealed ; and answers were given in the same fashion, and supposed to have been inspired or given by the god. The oracle of Ammom was highly celebrated in foreign countries. In some cases oracles were- spontaneously sent, to warn, censure, or command prominent persons or- States. Astrology was also largely cultivated in connection with the' temples ; and future events were predicted by the indications of the stars. These predictions gained high repute in the ancient world through their frequent accuracy. Astrology^ WORSHIP OP SUN BY AN EGYPTIAN KING. It is in the funeral rites and literature of the Egyptians that we come upon some of the most interesting features of their religion. That they- very early had a belief in a continuous life after the death of me after the body, is indubitable. Every human soul being supposed to ^«^*^ have a divine part which returned to the deity after death, the good were- believed to attain reunion with the deity, and consequently received the name Osiris. The deceased person's body was bound up so as to bear- a resemblance to Osiris; and offerings were made to Osiris after the burial, in the deceased's name. Sacrifices and liturgies were offered to Osiris, by the priests in the presence of the mourners ; and these were repeated on a greater or less scale as long and as frequently as the family were- willing to pay for them. Sometimes the special funeral songs composed for a festival or anni- versary attained great beauty. Thus, when we read such a song as this of the-- harper, dating from the eighteenth dynasty, we are irresistibly remindedi. 476 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. of passages in the Bible ; and this is older than a large proportipn if not A funeral all of the Hebrew Psalms. " The great one is truly at rest, the song. good charge is fulfilled. Men pass away since the time of Ea, and the youths come in their stead. Like as Ea reappears every morning, -and Turn sets in the horizon, men are begetting and women are conceiving. Every nostril inhaleth once the breezes of dawn, but all born of women go down to their places. . . . No works of buildings in Egypt could •avail; his resting-place is all his wealth. Let me return to know what remaineth of him. Not the Ifeast moment could be added to his life. Those who have magazines full of bread to spend, even they shall encounter the hour of a last end. . . . Mind thee of the day when thou top shalt start for the land to which one goeth to return not thence. Good for thee, then, will have been an honest life, therefore be just and hate transgres- sions. . . . The coward and the bold, neither can fly the grave, the friendless and proud are alike." (E.P. vi.) The treatment of the deceased after death and the general practices of the Egyptians in regard to death showed that, as Diodorus says, they re- garded the tombs as " eternal dwelling-places," and this idea goes very far iback in the records. Only the evil are spoken of as actually dead. The igreatest importance was attached to the permanence of the religious cere- monies for the dead, just as among the Chinese, and the motive of building "the Great Pyramids was to perpetuate the dwelling-place of the dead kings Jor ever. The supposed fate of the dead, as related by Herodotus, quite corresponds -with the sculptures, pictures, and inscriptions. He describes the principal Osiris tue °^<^® ^f Osiris as being that of judging the dead in the under- judge of the world (Amenti) ; seated on his throne, he received an account of the actions of the dead as recorded by Thoth, his actions having £rst been weighed in the scales of Truth by Anubis, who, assisted by Horus, placed the heart, as typifying virtuous actions of the deceased, in the balance -against the figure of the twofold goddess of Truth and Justice. Sometimes the deceased are represented as wearing round their necks the emblem which appears in the scales, signifying their acceptance. Those who had ■done evil were supposed to pass in succession into the bodies of different animals, the number and kinds of the animals depending upon their gmlt ; it is however a disputed point whether this view was really held by the Egyptians. These views are borne out by the manuscript and inscribed writings found in Egyptian tombs and known as " The Book of the Dead," or the "TheBookof "S^itual of the Dead," containing prayers mostly supposed to be the Dead." recited by the deceased in the underworld, but always recited in his name by those present at the funeral ceremonies. In many cases however there is great difficulty in ascertaining the precise meaning of •expressions, owing to the carelessness of copyists, and to dififerent readings. Much of it dates from the' early dynasties, and implies a complete knowledge of the early mythology. In it the happy dead are represented as leading a THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 477 life like that on earth ; the gods provide their food and admit them to their tables. Even agricultural employments are attributed to them. But they ■were believed also to be able to traverse the whole universe in every desired shape and form. Through their identification with Osiris and their utter- ance of " words of power," they can pass unhurt iii any direction. In some chapters of the Ritual the limbs of the deceased are each separately identi- fied with a distinct god. In one chapter it is said that " Whom men know not " (a mode of referring to a god without naming his revered name) is his name. The " yesterday which sees endless years is his name. The deceased is the lord of eternity." (E,.) His soul, his Ea or genius, and his shadow are all given back to him; he overcomes in combat crocodiles, serpents, etc.^ and successfully surmounts all kinds of difficulties and dangers, to which evidently those of evil life or not protected by the gods would succumb. mONI OF TEMPLE AT EDFO. The recitals made by the deceased to the gods indicate the virtues which were highly esteemed. Thus : " I am not a doer of fraud and iniquity agrainst men. I am not a doer of that which is crooked in „ ., , , ,.,.., Ti 1^ 11 • Eecitals to place of that which is right. ... 1 do not force a labouring man the gods to do more than his daily task. ... I do not calumniate a ^""^ *^® ^®^'*- servant to his master; I do not cause hunger; I do not cause weeping; I am not a murderer ; I do not give order to murder privily ; I am not guilty of fraud against any one ; I am not a falsifier of the measures in the temples." Even inward faults or crimes are referred to in this way by implication, such as causing pain of mind to another, turning a deaf ear to the words of truth and justice ; and sins against chastity are included in the list of sins disclaimed. These quotations are contained in the 125th chapter of " the Book of the Dead," and are beKeved to represent the oldest known code of 478 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. TQorals. It is entitled : " Book of entering into tlie Hall of "the twofold Maat : the person parts from his sins that he may see the divine faces." The twofold Maat is the twofold god of Truth and Justice, represented by ■a double figure. There are other ancient Egyptian books of great interest, which we -cannot detail. Such are the book which describes the course of the sun through the night, the twelve divisions of his journey, and the Egyptian names of the gods of each locality ; the Lamentations of Isis and *°° ■ Nephthys, supposed to be recited by the two sisters of Osiris in -order to bring about his resurrection, and actually recited by priests over the dead ; " the Book of glorifying Osiris," " the Book of the Breaths of Xiife," etc., etc. The influence of the Egyptian ideas about the future state was mar- kedly shown in the preliminary proceedings at the sacred lake which was constructed near or in every city or centre. The body of a at the deceased person was brought to the borders of the lake, and sacred laue. ^ jiumber of judges were assembled to hear any accusation of ■evil life that might be brought against the deceased. On sufficient proof, ceremonial burial and transport across the sacred lake were denied ; while a false accusation subjected the accuser to heavy penalties. If no accuser appeared, or if accusations were disproved, the relations praised the dead person, enlarging on his virtues, and begging the gods below to receive him as a companion of the pious ; and if the family already possessed special tombs, the funeral then proceeded. But the denial of honourable burial was considered an extreme disgrace, foreshadowing the terrible fate which ■overtook the deceased in Hades ; and no little share in this feehng was due to the triumph enjoyed by the enemies of the family. There appears however to have been a way of escape ; crimes might be thus punishable for limited periods ; and thus when the priests had been sufficiently paid to make continuous prayers for them, and the sorrowing relatives showed sufficient religious devotion, it was believed that the evil destiny could finally be removed from the deceased. Many persons of course had no money to go through this ceremony of the sacred lake at aU, or to be ■embalmed, and such had to be buried on the shores of the lake, or in the houses of their relatives. Even kings had to go through the ordeal of possible accusation and judgment, and in several cases a public honourable funeral was refused to them. The .descriptions of mummies and embalming, besides being very well known, would lead us too far from our main subject. We may note that obiectB *^^ tombs of rich persons had various objects of value placed in burled with them, such as vases, some with the heads of the genii of Amen-ti, and small images of the deceased, papyri with sacred or other writings upon them, tablets of stone or wood decorated with funeral subjects or narratives relating to the deceased, and many objects connected with the deceased's profession. Some of the little figures, in all kinds of materials, had their arms crossed like Osiris, with whom the dead became identified, PUNEKAL OF AN EOYPTIAN KINO. 479 48o THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. and bearing hieroglypHcs containing the deceased's name and rank and the formulae of presentation of his soul to Osiris. These figures, which only commence in the eighteenth dynasty, were called "respondents" in the- " Ritual of the Dead," being imagined to answer the deceased's call for aid to do various agricultural work for him in the other world. One of these has- engraved on it a chapter of the ritual, entitled " Avoiding," or " How not to do Work in Hades," showing that in that degenerate period the Egyp- tians were greatly concerned to avoid the toils of the future. In some respects Egyptian morals present a favourable picture; in. others, the kings appear as trying varied experiments in social legislatioii Egyptian ^'^^ regulation; in others, morals fared but badly. Truth and morals, justice were sought to be attained, but sometimes by primitive- methods. False oaths were even punished with death; and a man who slandered the dead was severely punished ; whilst a false accuser was con- demned to the same punishment as the accused would have deserved if guilty. Wilful murder, even of a slave, was punishable with death ; and the witness who did not try to prevent the crime was similarly punished- Parricide was punished with torture before death. Child-murder was visited, not with death,- but with the strange punishment of spending three days and nights with the dead body fastened to the neck of the culprit, under a public guard. Adultery in a woman was punished by loss of the- nose ; forgery and falsification of weights and measures by loss of the hands. Many offences which are now visited with imprisonment were visited with the bastinado. Usury was condemned, and interest was never allowed to increase beyond double the original sum. Only goods, not persons, could be seized for debt, the person being the property of the king or of the State. At an early period people were required to give in pledge for bor- rowed money the mummy of a father or near relative, a deposit certain to be redeemed if at all possible, for if it were not redeemed the debtor could not be buried with the usual ceremonies, or in any honourable place. Luxury and vice had their place in Egypt as in every other rich country ; but we do not find evidence that Egypt was worse than other nations, if so bad. ■ Women occupied a considerable place in society and in politics, and were by no means kept as secluded as in modern Oriental life. One wife was the rule, but not the limit ; and the kings had as many wives as they pleased; the marriage of brothers and sisters was however allowed. All children, by whatever mother, shared in the inheritance. Sons were re- quired to pay great deference to their parents and to serve them much as in China. Their respect for old age and for elder strangers, reverence for ancestors and for the monarch, remind one of marked features in the Chinese, and suggest that if the Egyptians and the Chinese did not derive their religion from a common source in a far-distant past, they were at least founded on such deeply-implanted instincts or such naturally-growing per- ceptions that strikingly similar results appeared in widely different nations. Whether Egypt was the original home or not of the divine right of kings, it was there very early and markedly believed in ; and the king's actions. THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 481 unless jflagrantly injurious, were celebrated as great benefits to the nation, and his funeral was marked by extreme magnificence and by prolonged fasting and mourning. The whole country, in fact, belonged to the gods, who regarded it with special affection, and conferred on it all its great institutions. It was not wonderful that the Israelites should have been powerfully influenced by what they saw in Egypt, or that they should east k)nging eyes back to its gorgeous forms and objects of worship, and seek to introduce some of them among or in addition, to the features more peculiarly their own. . ■ , , It is noteworthy how frequently, the Egyptian inscriptions praise the I I 482 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. . strictest truthfulness and -works of charity. Thus we read of one man : HI h t " -Doing that which is right, and hating that which is wrong, I of truth and was bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to the " ^ '^- naked, a refuge to him that was in want ; that which I did to him, the great Grod hath done to me." Again, "I -was one who did that which was pleasing to his father and his mother ; the joy of his brethren, the friend of his companions, noble-hearted to all those of his city. I gave bread to the hungry ; my doors were open to those who came from without, and I gave them wherewith to refresh themselves. And Grod hath inclined his countenance to me for what I have done ; he hath given me old age upon earth, in long and pleasant duration, with many children at my feet." (R.) It must be remembered that these commendations, though put in the mouth of the deceased, were the work of his survivors ; even if they are not strictly accurate, they show what features of conduct were considered worthy of praise in view of the eternal world, and therefore they have a wide-reaching significance in our estimate of the character of the ancient Egyptians. It is singular to find, in a song of a king so early as the eleventh dynasty, ideas which are familiar to us in the much later book of Eccle- singuiar siastes. Herodotus describes a custom which may be connected custom with the recitation of some song. He says : "At the entertain- ' ments of the rich, just as the company is about to rise from the repast, "a small coffin is carried round, containing a perfect representatioi). of a dead body, . , . as it is shown to the guests in rotation, the bearer exclaims, ' Cast your eyes on this figure : after death you yourself will re- semble it ; drink then, and be happy.' " The song, after reciting that the body passes away, goes on, "After all, what is prosperity? Their fenced walls are dilapidated. Their houses are as that which has never existed. No man comes from thence who tells of their sayings, who tells of their affairs, who encourages their hearts. Ye go to the place whence they return not. Strengthen thy heart to forget how thou hast enjoyed thyself, fulfil thy desire whilst thou livest. . . . The day will come to thee, when one hears not the voice, when the one who is at rest hears not their voices. Lamentations deliver not him who is in the tomb. Feast in tranquillity, seeing that there is no one who carries away his goods with him. Yea, behold, none who goes thither comes back again." (R. P. iv.) Altogether, in considering the moral nature of Egyptian religious teaching, we cannot but give it a high place. The standard set up was high, an ideal excellence was aimed at and praised ; and if the people failed ultimately to keep up to that level, it was scarcely for want of knowledge or opportunity. All the systems of religion we have yet surveyed seem to have gone through stages of development and degeneracy, as if human religions were in themselves endowed with bodily or mental life which ^hey were compelled to imitate by decay and death, as well as by stages of growth, assimilation, and differentiation. GKEAT MOCND ON BITE Or BABYLON. CHAPTER II. €f)t ^abplonian, ^sfspriaii, anti ^ftccuician Eeligfong. Early magical texts— Exorcists — Heaven and earth as creative powers— Local religions— Ea, the god of the deep— Dav-Mna, the lady of the' earth — Hynm to Ea— Mul-lll, lord of the ghost-world— The moon-god of Ur — The sun-god Samas or Tammuz — Istar — The fire-god — Nergal— Matu— Bel-Merodach — His temple at Babylon — Neho — Assur — Rimmon— Hymns to the gods — Penitential hymns — Future existence — Star-worship and 'astrology — Early cosmogony — Mr. George Smith's discoveries — Bel and the dragon — The tower of Bahel — The epic of Izdubar— The Chaldaean deluge — Priests — Festivals and sacred days^Sacriflces — Images — Monotheism — Kellglous character of people— Phoenician religion— Baal — Melkarth — Ashtoreth — Adonis— Nature-gods— The Eahlri — Human and other sacrifices— Moloch — Chemosh — The Philistine gods— Dagon. BABYLONIA and Assyria, like Egypt, in varying degrees and through long periods, influenced the Israelites and were influenced by them ; and consequently the study pf their religious development is of high im- portance. Though much remains to be known about Mesopotamian religion, muoh is already known.^ In Chaldsea, as in China, we come near to primitive animism and its development into an advanced polytheism. The magical texts which form the earliest Chaldsean sacred literature probably date from a time ^ariy magical as early as the earliest Egyptian records, when there was no texts, distinct idea of gods, and when the world around the Accadian was peopled by supernatural powers and spirits of living things. This state of mind > Savce : " Hibbert Lectures " (Beligion of Ancient Babylonians) , (S.) . Sayoe's edition of Smith's Chaldffian Account of Genesis ; Bawlinson's " Five Great Monarchies," and " Religions of the Ancient world" • Sayee's "Ancient Empires of the East." St. Chad. Boseawen, in "Religious Systems of the World," 1890. " The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia." PubUshed by Trustees of British Museum (I.). 483 484 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. was dealt with by shamanists or exorcists who can hardly be called priests, but who rank rather with the medicine-men of the American Indians. They undertook to cure or prevent all kinds of diseases, and to cause the spirits of evil things to depart ; and this was effected especially by incantations such as the following : " The evil god (or spirit), the evil demon, the demon of the field, the demon of the mountain, the demon of the sea, the demon of the tomb, the evil spirit, the dazzling fiend, the evil wind, the assaulting wind, which strips off the clothing of the body as an evil demon, conjure, spirit of heaven ! conjure, spirit of earth ! "^ " The painful fever, the potent fever, the fever which quits not a man, the fever-demon who departs not, the fever unremovable, the evil fever, conjure, spirit of heaven! conjure, spirit of earth!" (I.) These texts which have come down to us, probably do not represent the earhestform of exorcism, but rather the highest level attained by the system ; and they show in a most interesting way, that, in connection with these early incantations, the idea of the spirit of heaven and the spirit of earth, as representing the essence of the higher powers, was impressed upon the early Accadians and their suc- cessors the Babylonians and Assyrians. The belief in these great powers as- beneficent grew stronger as the cures wrought by medicines, by natural recovery, or by mental faith were noted ; and the idea of the good powers as antagonistic to and stronger than the evil demons rose into prominence. Heaven and It was conceived that the heaven and earth, and the deep sea, creative 'w^re the creative powers, and were especially the creators of powers, man, and of all good things. Strangely enough, these powers. Ana or Ann, the sky, Mul-lil, the earth, Ea, the deep, were represented as themselves having a spirit, like all hving or moving objects. These gods might assume human forms, and then their spirits corresponded to those of men ; they are represented as inhabiting animals, which were worshipped as totems. Thus Ea appeared as antelope, fish, and serpent, and we find divine bulls, storm-birds, dogs, etc. So, according to Prof. Sayce, innu- merable spirits were believed in, controlled by creative gods representing the order and law of the universe. In opposition to them were the malevolent spirits of darkness and disease, and there were also spirits neither good nor bad. All these were supposed to be controlled by the sorcerer-priest, using spells and exorcisms, and communicatiag with, and practically influencing, the gods by his ritual. The forms of worship became enlarged with this higher belief, and true supplication appears in the Penitential Psalms, such as this : — " Accept the prostration of the face of the living creature. I, thy servant, ask thee for rest. To the heart of him who has sinned thou utterest words of blessing. Thou lookest on the man, and the man lives, potentate of the world, mistress of mankind! Compassionate one, whose forgiveness is ready, who acceptest the prayer. {Priest) God and mother goddess that art angry with him, he calls upon thee ! Turn thy face towards him and take his hand ! " (I.) In this prayer, as well as in others, we see an invocation of more gods than one, as being in combination BABYLONIAN RELIGION. 485 or alliance. Of course while this elevation was proceeding, the incantations and exorcisms remained largely in use among those less enlightened, but were gradually lowered in esteem, like charms in modem days ; while the religious development went on to produce the hymns to the gods. But these were due partly no doubt to the early Semitic influence which largely ■altered the character of Mesopotamian religion. As in Egypt, the national religion grew upon the basis of local re- ligions, adopting and adapting local gods of cities and tribes. Thus, Ea was originally the god of the city Eridu, at the then mouth of the Local Euphrates. Under the name of Cannes, he is said by Berosus, reugions. the late Chaldsean historian, to have come out of the water of the gulf, to have passed his days among men, and to have given them insight Ea, the god into letters and sciences, and arts of every kind. "He taught °^ ^'^^ *^®P' them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws, and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them dis- tinguish the seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits ; in short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften man- ners and humanise their lives." Thus he was the god of wisdom of early Babylonia, and was represented as partly man and partly fish. In conjunction with Ea was worshipped his consort Dav-kina, the lady of the earth, which she personified ; and this relationship accords with the old Ohaldasan idea of the origin of the world from, the deep, ^po^jjg^^.^a^ tne which the earth lay. Through Dav-kina the words of Ea were ladyoftne conveyed to men, as heard in the roar of the waves. The attri- butes of Ea may be gathered from a hymn addressed to him. He is " the god of pure life, who stretches out the bright firmament, the god of good winds, the lord of hearing and obedience, creator of the pure gy^^^^ ^^ ^^^ and the impure, establisher of fertility, who brings to greatness him that is of smaU estate. . . . May he command, may he glorify, may he hearken to his worshippers. . . . May he establish, and never may his word be forgotten in the mouth of the black-headed race, whom his hands created. As god of the pure incantation may he further be invoked, before whose pure approach may the evU trouble be overthrown ; by whose pure spell the siege of the foe is removed." A later part of the same hymn is occupied with recognising the identity of the Bel of Northern Babylonia with Ea, showing the process of fusion by which different local deities became amalgamated, and regarded as practically the same. Ea is repre- sented as saying, " Since he (Bel) has made his men strong by his name, let him, like myself, have the name of Ea. May he bear (to them) the bond of ail my commands, and may he communicate all my secret knowledge through the fifty names of the great gods." The hymn goes on, ''His fiftv names he has pronounced, his ways he has restored. . . . May father to son repeat and hand them down." (S.) This emphasis_ on the " name " is intelligible when we remember that the name signified the essential nature of the deity, as in the Old Testament and in Egyptian religion. 486 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. We find a son also ascribed to Ea, namely Mardugga, tlie holy son, the same name being traceable in Marduk, or Merodach. He was supposed Maxduk, or ^o visit mankind as a mediator and healer. Between Ea and Merodach. Merodach, as good gods, and the powers of evil typified by a serpent with seven heads and seven tails, there was continual warfare. There is doubtless some connection between this belief and that recorded in the early chapters of Genesis. Another of the gods dating back to Accadian times is Mul-Hl, the lord of the ghost- world, of the earth, and of the spirits of the earth, originally a Mui-m lord ^^^^ god of Nipur (now Nifier) in nothem Babylonia. Here the of the belief in ghosts and demons and spirits of disease was strong, and ^°^ "hence it spread to other parts. Adar (a name possibly read wrongly) was the son of Mul-lil, a sun-god, represented as issuing from night, es typified by the god of the lower world ; and his wife was the lady of the dawn. Adar was especially the meridian sun, the warrior and champion of the gods, the messenger of his father. It is strange to find the moon-gbd represented as masculine, and the sun-god as his offspring. There was apparently a local moon-god in every The Moon-god Babylonian town; Ur seems to have been a great centre of ofur. ]^^g -worship, and the moon-gods of Ur and Nipur were early identified. At Ur the moon-god, known as Nannak or Nannar, became the father of the gods. Part of an old hymn to him runs thus : " Lord and prince of the gods, who in heaven and earth alone is supreme. . . . Father Nannar, lord of heaven, lord of the moon, prince of the gods. Father, long-suffering and full of forgiveness, whose hand upholds the life o-f all mankind. . . . Father, begetter of gods and men, who causes the shrine to be founded, who establishes the offering, who proclaims dominion, who gives the sceptre, who shall fix destiny unto a distant day ; First-bom, omnipotent, his heart is far-extended ; none shall describe the god. ... As for thee, thy will is made known in heaven, and the angels bow their faces. ... As for thee, thy will is done upon the earth, and the herb grows green. ... As for thee, thy will is the far- off heaven, the hidden earth which no man hath known. . , . Look with favour on thy temple ; look with favour on Ur ; let the high-born dame ask rest of thee, lord ; let the free-born man ask rest of thee, lord ! Let the spirits of earth and heaven ask rest of thee, lord." "When we remember that this Ur in Chaldsea was the place whence Abraham migrated to Harran, we shall see that he already lived in an atmosphere of very considerable development. Local gods were wor- shipped, not a truly universal god ; but already conceptions of no slight elevation had been attained, and Harran, to which he in the first place migrated, was closely connected with Ur in religion. The moon-god of Ur appears to have gained fame and to have taken a predominant position among the Babylonians as the father of gods and men, under the name Sin "(the bright). And in conformity with the Chaldsean idea of the sun coming forth and being produced from the night (over which the moon presides), BABYLONIAN RELIGION. 48-7, we find the sun-god Samas (Tammuz) described as the son of Sin. Perhaps the most noted sun-god of the Accadians was that of Larsa, not far „^ irom Ur, whose temple was famous, having been founded or re- samas, or stored by Ur-bagas, the earhest known king of United Babylonia, ^^°™'"- He also was noted as the builder or restorer of the temple of the moon-god at Ur, that of Mul-lil at Nipur, and those of Ann and Istar at Erech. Istar was the goddess of the evening star, assigned as the wife ^ ^' of Samas, later developed into the Ishtar or Ashtoreth of Semitic worship. The sun-god was also worshipped under his name of Samas at Sippara (the Scripture Sepharvaim), where there was a temple believed to -worship at have already grown old and decayed in b.c. 3800, which ^as ^^p"^^""^^- the centre of a vigorous worship, with many priests, scribes, schools ; and most interesting hymns to the god have come down to us apparently from this very early date. WINGED FIGUBES FROM THE EXCAVATIONS AT KINEVEH, WITH KIN, OK NINIP, BETWEEN. There was also a fire-god among the early Accadian gods, celebrated in this fashion in an early hymn : " The Fire-god, the first-born supreme, unto heaven they pursued and no father did he know. Fire- „ g^ ^j god, supreme on high, the first-born, the mighty, supreme en- joined of the commands of Ann. The Fire-god enthrones with himself the friend that he loves." He is represented as conquering especially seven evil or injurious spirits of earth and heaven. Another god of whom we know little in his early Accadian form is Ana or Anu, the sky, the chief deity of Erech, which city regarded him as a creative god. He became early in the Semitic dominion of Babylonia the chief member of a sort of triad of gods, Anu, Bel or Mul-lil, and Ea, representing the heaven, the earth, and the ghost-world, and the water. Nergal, the god of Cutha (now ^^^^^ Tel-Ibrahim), the strong one, the god of death, among the Accadians, became rather the champion of the gods among the Semites, destroying especially the wicked. But he passed very considerably out of mind with the advance of Semitic forms of worship. The winds, especially 488 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. the destructive ones, were also worshipped as deities ; and one of them, Matu, is supposed to have given rise to part of the Semitic conception worshipped under the name of Eamman or Rimmon. Many- other spirits or gods were included in the worship of the many separate states or cities of early Babylonia, spirits of heaven, spirits of earth, etc. ; and we even meet with such expressions in the Penitential Psalms before mentioned, as "To the god that is known and that is unknown, to the goddess that is known and that is unknown, do I lift my prayer." When the Semites gained predominance in Mesopotamia, they to a large extent adopted or adapted the religious worship they found already established, in accordance with a general idea that it was necessary, or at least advisable, for the conquerors to establish friendly relations with the gods of a conquered country, while maintaining their own original beliefs. The Semites were already to a large extent sun- worshippers. "We cannot yet unravel this development in its details, but it seems probable Bei-merodach ^^'^ Bel-merodach, the great god of Babylon, represented a local 'god of Babylon who was identified by the Semites with their sun-god and elevated to a supreme position above all the gods, though not excluding their worship. The following prayer of Nebuchadnezzar indicates that monarch's attitude toward his god : — " To Merodach my lord I prayed ; I began to him my petition, the word of my heart sought him, and I said : ' prince that art from ever- lasting, lord of all that exists, for the king whom thou lovest . . . thou watchest over him in the path of righteousness! I, the prince who obeys thee, am the work of thy hands ; thou createst me and hasfc entrusted to me the sovereignty over multitudes of men, according to thy goodness,. lord, which thou hasfc made to pass over them all. Let me love thy supreme lordship, let the fear of thy divinity exist in my heart, and give what seemeth good unto thee, since thou maintainesfc my life.' Then he, the first-bom, the glorious, the first-born of the gods, Merodach the prince, heard my prayer and accepted my petition." It is evident that Merodach was supreme in Babylon ; but outside Babylon other gods and creators were acknowledged. He is variously described as merciful, as the inter- oessor between gods and men, and as interpreter of the will of Ea. Not the least remarkable of the old Chaldsean hymns is one in which he is addressed as " the merciful lord who loves to raise the dead to life," and this is held to show that the Chaldseans had some belief in a resurrection. To Bel-Merodach a great temple was erected at Babylon, a huge square containing a tower of eight great stages, with a shrine in the topmost, also Merodacu's "^^"^ ^^ ^^ observatory. The temple at the foot contained a great temple at golden statue of the god, seated : and outside was a golden altar tor tne sacnface ol special victims, while a larger altar was used for the offering of large numbers of sheep, and for burning large quantities of frankincense at the god's festival. The ceremonies at this temple are said to have presented many resemblances to those of the Jews ; they in- cluded daily morning and evening sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, the BABYLONIAN RELIGION. 489 free-will offering, the sin-offering, and the shew-bread. In close association with this temple was a smaller one erected to Nebo, the god of prophecy, called the son of Merodach, the pro- claimer of his mind and wishes ; and within the shrine of Nebo, Merodach was supposed to de- scend at his festival aijd an- ^ Nebo. nounce his oracles to his priests. Nebo had a separate grand temple in the sub- urb Borsippa. He was famed as the creator of peace, the author of the oracle, the creator of the written tablet, the author of writing ; he was also the bond of the universe and the overseer of the angel , hosts. Thus we can understand the exultation of Isaiah's words : "Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth," and those of Jeremiah, "Ba- bylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Me- rodach is broken in pieces." The con- ^ quest of Babylon by >]^^ Cyrus introduced a ^ wider cult, in which NIN, OB NINIP. 490 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. Merodach. was recognised as the god of all men ; and the Greeks even identified him with Zeus. The Assyrians especially worshipped him, and, in conjunction with him, Beltis his lady. Now we come into the- area of the Semitic tendency to attribute to each god a corresponding goddess. The worship of Nebo passed westward, like that of Bel-merodach, and he was assigned a consort, Tasmitu, " the hearer," who opened the ears of those who received Nebo's inspiration. In addition to Bel and Nebo, a third important god rises to view in Assyria, being the national god of the people, Assur, king of all the gods, *^^™" enabling the Assyrians to destroy " the enemies of Assur." He was originally the local god of Assur, the early capital, and became a national god, being transferred to Nineveh when it was made the capital. Assur was still more special among the Semites, as not having a consort. " "When a female divinity is invoked along with him, it is the equally independent' goddess Istar or Ashtoreth." (S.) With him were worshipped many of the gods of Babylonia ; but he is especially named as their creator and father. In many respects the characters ascribed to Assur correspond to those by which Jehovah was worshipped by the Israelites. Thus, to quote Pro'f. RawHnson, "He places the monarchs upon their throne, firmly es- tablishes them in the government, lengthens the years of their reigns, preserves their power, protects their forts and armies, makes their name celebrated, and the like. To him they look to give them victory over their enemies, to grant them all the wishes of their heart, and to allow them to be succeeded on their thrones by their sons, and their sons' sons, to a remote posterity. . . . It is to spread his worship that they carry on their wars. They fight, ravage, destroy in his name. Finally, when they subdue a country, they are careful to set up ' the emblems of Assur,' and to teach the people his laws and his worship." He is often represented as a man with a horned cap, and carrying a bow, and his face appears in the middle of a winged circle, shooting an arrow or stretching out his hand ; and this emblem is upon everything royal, robes, rock-carvings, obelisks, etc. A probable suggestion is, that Assur represents an early ruler or king ; but later he was closely identified with the riiler of heaven and earth. Among the other gods introduced into Assyria from Chaldsea, Nergal was much worshipped, together with Nin (Ninus) or Ninip. The symbol of the latter, the winged bull, was greatly in vogue throughout Assyria. Nin and Nergal sharpened the king's weapons, and gave him the victory over the fiercest beasts. There was a large temple to Nin (Ninus) at Calah (the modern Nimrud). Nergal was symbolised by the winged lion with a human head. Another god of interesting history, most especially worshipped in the kingdom of Damascus, by the northern Syrians, was Himmon, more properly Ramanu, the exalted one, believed to be a literal trans- lation of the name of the Accadian god Muru, representing the air. The Hebrews identified the name with rimmon, a pomegranate, and in that form it became widely known. In Syria, Bimmon was identified with BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGIONS. 491 the northern Baal or sun-god Hadad ; and there are traces of the worship of Hadad-Eimmon as far south as the plain of Jezreel (Zech. xii. 11). In Babylonia and Assyria he was a god of the air and winds, whose worship incorporated that of many older deities. To some of these only their evil powers remained, while Eimmon exemplified beneficence. We must now return again to the religious texts of Babylonia. The hymns to the gods, composed at different dates, and largely Semitic in origin, include forms to be recited at sunrise and sunset, and on Hymns to special festivals of the gods. There appear to have been sepa- *^® ^°'*^- rate collections for each temple, but it is doubtful how far they were incorporated into any general collection ; at any rate, they have travelled far beyond primitive conceptions, and include many advanced ideas. Many of the penitential hymns show strong resemblances to the Old Testament psalms. For instance : "I sought for help and none took my penitential hand ; I wept and none stood at my side ; I cried aloud and there i»y™ns. was none that heard me. I am in trouble and hiding ; I dare not look up. To my god, the merciful one, I turn myself, I utter my prayer. The feet of my goddess I kiss and water with tears. To my god whom I know and whom I know not I utter my prayer. lord, look upon me ; goddess, look upon me. . , . How long, goddess whom I know and know not, shall thy heart in its hostility be not appeased? Mankind is made to wander, and there is none that knoweth. Mankind, as many as pronounce a name, what do they know ? Whether he shall have good or ill there is none that knoweth. . . . The sins I have siuned turn to a blessing. The transgressions I have committed may the wind carry away. Strip off my manifold wickednesses as a garment. my god, seven times seven are my transgressions ; forgive my sins ! . . . Forgive my sins ; may thy bane be removed." (I.) This psalm, copied out from the original by direction of Assur-bani-pal (Sardanapalus) in the 7th century B.C.. dates back to a much earlier time, when, however, the Semites were in fuU possession of Babylonia. It is interesting for its view of sin, penitence, and prayer for forgiveness, as well as for its association of the goddess with the god. Instead of evils being due to evil spirits, they were now read as the offspring of man's sinfulness or the punishments inflicted by the gods. Yet there are Accadian ideas clearly distinguishable in it ; the gods are not personally named lest they should be offended, and there is no clear idea what is the nature of the sin committed, or how it became an offence. There is remarkably Uttle reference in the early magical hymns and incantations to ideas of future existence. Later we find Merodach invoked as raising the dead to life; but it is not certam that future life ^e is meant StiU the description of Mul-hl as god of the ghost- ~- world implies some kind of belief in the continuance of the dead. Later we find reference to the " land of the silver sky." But there were various inconsistent views of the abodes of the gods produced m Mesopotamia, which we can merely allude to. One of these describes a mountain of the world " a sort of Chaldeean Olympus, where the gods were born and lived. 492 THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. It was also called " the mighty mountain of Mul-lil, -whose head rivals the heavens ; and whose foundation is the pure deep." The predominant impression as to the ghosts of the departed was, that they abode in the gloomy underworld, eating dust and mud, and sometimes emerging to ■drink the blood of the living. It was not a land of punishment, but of darkness and forgetfulness, shadows and spectres. But in the Epic ot