Glass__ .._,_._-_ Book_.^..K COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT ^<^' ^C^^<->' INDIA'S MILLIONS, A short account of the land and the people of India with a brief description of their manners and cus- toms, social evils, religious rites and cere- monies, etc., etc., and a short account of the author's experience. — BY— A. D. KHAN, Calcutta, India. " Long have they waited in the dark heathen lands For the pure living water from the dear Savior's hands; Still they are waiting for the gospel to come, Let us hasten to tell them of our heavenly home. " {Illustrated with cuts and maps. ) MOUNDSVILLE, W. Va. Gospel Trumpet Company, 1903. THE LIBRARY OF CCNtiPeSS, (wo Copies Receive* AUG 1! 1903 C*p>iifci>i fcntty CLASS ^ XXc No COPY B. Copyright, 1903, J i *,'* BY GosPHL Trumpet Company. PREFACE. During tlie camp-meeting held at Moundsville, W. Va., India's mil- lions—their miserable condition, thmr utter darkness, their crying need— which had been a burden on my soul, naturally sought expression. Near the close of this series of meetings I felt led to write something about India for the information of the church at large in this land. A brother's encouraging words gave me the first impetus toi the task, and at the suggestion of others I began at once to write a short de- scription of the land, and also the peo- ple I belong to, whom I love with a sincere love, and for whose salvation I am devoted to the Lord. Having only very limited time and leisure to give to this work, during fre^ quent travels in the States, and also a limited opportunity to collect mate- rials, I am afraid my work has not been complete. This small volume is by no means free from imperf ectionsi ; how far it will be satisfactory, is left with the reader to judge. Peefacb. Most of the material presented in these pages was collected from my per- sonal experience and contact with dif- ferent nations of the country ; and yet I have to acknowledge my indehted- ness to Miss Lucy E. Guiness, author of Across India at the Dawn of the 20th Century, to Dr. John Murdock,of Mad- ras, author of Religious History of India, The Principal Nations of India, etc., to John B. Mott, the author of The Evangelization of the World in this Generation, and to Annie W. Marston, the author of The Great Closed Land, whose helpful works I have consulted in the preparation of my sketch on India's millions. Besides these I owe my indebtedness to the ^* Student and the Missionary Problem'^ for sonae helpful diagrams. For various help in preparing the manuscript, reading proofs, etc., my sincere thanks are due to a number of the brethren engaged in the Lord's work at the Gospel Trumpet Office. The statistics have been compiled from various sources and corrected up to the latest information and reports. The account of the Khasi Hills was PKEPACEi. largely taken from the writings of Bro. W. M. Roy, of SMUong, and Bro. J. M. Roy, of Calcutta, to whom I am indebt- ed for their valuable help. The Scrip- tures quoted in the book will be found in some cases different from the read- ing of the Common Version, being usually quoted from the Revised En- glish Bible. I have tried to represent India's Millions as they are, and if I have missed the mark, it is because I have fallen short of it, and not gone beyond. I have not exaggerated the sad condi- tion of that dark land. I wish I could paint it as it really is. This is only a faint glimpse of things as they are. "I wish, oh, I wish that their helpless cry Could be heard by you ere they sink and die! It is such a mournful, low and bitter wail. Telling of searching, only to fail In finding the Truth, the Light, the Way; Ah, who pineth and longeth more than they?' ' May God bless the perusal of the following pages to every reader, and may the Holy Spirit who prompted their writing illuminate themi with heavenly light unto the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen. A. D. KHAN. CONTENTS. The Land 17 Physical Features 17 Political Divisions 22 Chief Cities 25 The People 29 The Early Inhabitants 29 The Aiyans 32 Parsees 34 Mohammedans, etc 35 Manners and Customs 37 Aborigines 37 Dravidians 42 Aryans 4^5 (a) Bengalis, (6) Orij^s, (e) Hindustanis, (d) The Punjabis, (e) Mahrattas, (/) Gu- jeratis, (gr) Eajputs. 45-56 Social Evils . ........ ...,,.., 57 Marriage 57 Purdah or Seclusion 64 Widowhood 71 Caste 75 Religion 79 Hinduism 80 (a) Sacred Books, (6) Eeligious Kites, (c) Gods of the Hindus, (d) Avatars of the Gods, (e) Worship, (/) Temples and Priests, [g) Hindu Devotees 81-130 Buddhism 130^ (a) Buddhist Books, (&) Buddhist Doctrine,! (c) Buddhist Precepts 133-138g Contents. Jaiuism 138 Zoroastrianism 141 Mohammedanism 144 Sikhism 151 Christianity in India 155 Evangelization of India 157 Necessity of Evangelization .... 162 Criminal Silence 172 Dark India (a poem) 177 From Darkness into Light 179 {Author's experience.) New Light 205 Callto Work .'..... 215 Our Home 228 Khasi Hills 231 Tibet 236 Our Prospect 250 The Evening Call {a hymn,) 260 Appendix 261 List of Illtistrations. An Ascetic Burying His Head 251 Bathing in the Ganges 1 18 Benares — Priests on the River Bank 87 Bengali Country Home 49 Bengal — Nomadic Tribe of 78 Bengali Home 180 Boats Carrying Goods 225 Boats Carrying Passengers 47 Bride and Bridegroom — Indian 59 Buddhist Priest .137 Buddha .131 Bullock Cart 249 Burmese Cab 23 Calcutta— a Group from 229 Country Road ... .186 Demon Worshiped in Ceylon .30 Female Bathing in the Ganges 255 Ganesh 103 Goddess Durga 101 Hanuman 89 Hindu Ascetic Sitting on Spikes 126 Hindu Ascetic Burying His Head 128 Hindu Ascetic with Both Hands Stiff. .125 Hindu Ascetics 153 Hindu Ascetic with One Stiff Hand and Arm 154 Hurdwar on the Ganges 119 Jagannath 104 Jain Temple of Calcutta 139 Kali— Goddess 99 Kalighat— Temple of 26 Khasi Village 232 Krishna and His Wife 109 Maidan — Calcutta 208 Mohammedan Dress 36 Mohammedan Festival — Id 149 Monkey Temple — Benares 117 Mundul— N. N. and Wife 218 Portrait of the Author Frontispiece. List of Illustrations. Kiver Soene in BeiigaL. 19 Silver Palanquins 66 Steamer Station in Bengal 203 Street-car— Old Fashioned 28 Tibetan Bridal Party 254 *' Carrying the dead 244 " Priest Casting Out Evil 238 " Taking Evil Out of the Land 240 " Woman Turning Prayer- wheel 246 Tower of Silence 143 Village Market 221 Wife — Nine-year-old 60 Worshiping Tulsi 97 Maps and Diagrams. Colored Map of India between 24j 25 Map of Bogra 216, 217 Population of Globe and India 261 Area of Globe and India 262 Population of U. S. A. and India ... 263 Area of U. S. A 264 Area of India 265 Education in India 266 Religions of India 267 Women and Girls of India 268 India's Boys and Girls 269 Possibilities of Personal Work 270 INTRODUCTION. India is considered a heathen land, notwithstanding the fact of it being un- der the government of a Christian na^ tion, and that missionaries have invaded its territory constantly for many years. While some here andt there are learning of the true God, and accepting the faith of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, tiie masses of the people are still worshiping idols. Many of tih.em are living bar- barous lives, while others are civi- lized, yet strangers to the Lord of heaven.. The inspired words, '^Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance," is more vividly portrayed to our minds as' we have the situation and present condition of the heathen nations pictured before us. It awakens a chord of sympathy, and brings to remembrance a neglect- ed dutr toward peri'shing souls who kEKow not how to serve the true smS' living Grod. This volume, *'indta's' MILLIONS," contains miuch valuable in- Inteoduction. formation, not only about that country, but about its people, their customs, beliefs, various kinds of worship, manner of living, etc., during the past and at the present time. The author being a native of that country, having been converted from Mohammedanism, and having trav- eled over the land among the various tribes, is competent to present the facts concerning these people. Comparatively few people in Chris- tian lands know of the suffering and savage practises among heathen na- tions. The manner and custom of sac- rificing to heathen gods, and a descrip- tion of the things sacrificed, vividly impress one with the great need of their enlightenment. The author not only produces a compilation of facts from other writ- ers, but speaks from personal knowl- edge, and the reader is assured of the reliability of what is presented. Hav- ing been present with him during the writing of the manuscript, while he was on a tour in America in behalf of the people of India, it is my desire that it be widely circulated, and I feel as- Introduction. sured that it will be both instructive and of intense interest, and will meet the approval of the reader. Wishing the blessings of God upon it and those who peruse its pages, I remain Yours in Him, E. E. Byrum. Moundsville, W. Va., U. S. A. July 1», 1903. The Land. "The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever." Kev. 11: 15. PHysical Feattires. Because of its most diversified sur- face and varied scenery, India has rightly been called ' ' an epitome of the world." Its lofty mountains with per- petual snow-clad tops, its extensive and Natural scen- ^ ery. fertile plains with rich verdure and luxuriant foliage, its vast and numer- ous watercourses, its sunny sandbanks and extensive coast-lines— all contrib- ute in making India one of the most beautiful countries. Almost all the different climates of the world can be found in India; possessing as it does a great variety of landscape, vegeta- tion and natural features, it is indeed a multum in parvo of the world. In the north the Himalayan regions, with the loftiest mountain in the world, reaching an elevation of 29,002 feet, far above the clouds, have 17 18 IJMDIA S MILLIONS. Area. an icy cold climate. In the sontli the intense sunshine, and the equatorial heat make it almost unbearable, while the temperate and mild climate on the plains form a happy medium between the two extremes, and is very pleasant and agreeable. But the people of the land are perhaps more diversified in color and stature, temperament and nature than the natural scenery. India is by no means a small coun- try. It forms the central peninsula of southern Asia. It is bounded by the Himalayan mountains on the north, and the great Indian Ocean on the south, by the bay of Bengal and the transgangetic peninsula on the east, and the Arabian Sea and Afghanistan on the west. The total area is 1,559,603 square miles, equal to half the area of the United States, or the whole of Eu- rope, Eussia excepted. Compared to the area of the habitable earth it is one-fifteenth of the globe. The great mountains are Himalayas in the north, Solaiman in the west, Bindhya range in the south, the east- ern and western Ghats on the two sea- coasts. Besides there are hills and PHYSICAL FEATURES. 19 forests almost all over the land except- ing the plains. The great tableland of northern India has an elevation of about 2,000 feet above the sea-level. The river system of India is on a grand scale. The Ganges with a course Rivers. A RIVEE SCENE IN BENGAL. of 1,500 miles on the northeast, to- gether with its tributaries, drains about 500,000 square miles. The In- dus taking its rise in the north trav- erses the northwestern part of the country, and w^itli its ^ve tributaries drains about 400,000 square miles, while Brahmaputra has a course of 600 20 India's millions. miles in Indian territory alone. Eight- een rivers water the east side of In- dia, the principals being Godavary, 830 miles long ; Kristna, 800 ; Kavery, 470; Mahanadi, 520; Brahmani, 400. There are twenty others on the west side, of which the Nurbudda, 800 miles long, and the Tapti, 400, are the most noteworthy. Vegetation of India is as varied as its soil and climate. Kice is the prin- Vegetation. cipal food, and grows in abundance wherever irrigation is practised. In the northwestern provinces maize (corn) and wheat are cultivated with great success. Opium is one of the most valuable but pernicious products of the country. Cotton and jute are also produced and extensively exported to foreign lands. Tea, coffee, and tobac- co are largely cultivated. Indigo is one of the important products. The im- proved implements of husbandry are unknown in India. Wooden ploughs are drawn by bullocks or buffaloes. Almost all the implements are made of wood or bamboo. There are no sow- ing or reaping-machines, everything is done by hand. PHYSICAL FEATURES. 21 Beautiful palm groves, the shady avenues of banyan trees, the umbra- geous mango topes form the character- istic features of Indian scenery. Man- goes, jack fruits, wood apples, tama- rinds, cocoanuts, areca nuts, pomegran- ates, oranges, bananas, palms, dates, apples, pears, peaches, grapes, lemons, melons, papitas and pineapples are the principal fruits. Cabbage, cauli- flower, beets, potatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, and saffron are some of the vegetable products. Besides the ordinary domestic ani- mals, India has the elephant, camel, Animals. hum.ped ox, yak, and Kashmir goat. The Bengal tiger is the most formida- ble of wild beasts. There are also leop- ards, wolves, jackals, panthers, bears, hyenas, lynxes and foxes. Several varieties of poisonous snakes are also found, and there is an average of 2,700 deaths in ayear from snake bites alone. Having such a great variety of ele- vation and surface, the climate of In- dia must differ greatly. There are Climate. three well-marked seasons in northern India— the winter, the summer, the rainy. The cool months are November, Mineral prod- ucts. 22 INDIANS MILLiOKS. December, January and part of Feb- ruary. The climate of South India is greatly influenced by monsoons, pre- vailing in southern Asia. Mean tem- perature of Calcutta 78 degrees, with an average rainfall of 65.6 inches; Bombay, 80 degrees, rainfall 74.4 inches ; Madras, 82 degrees, rainfall 49.1 inches. (^al, iron, and rock salt are the principal mineral products. Gold, sil- ver, cox)per, lead, antim±ony, tin, salt- peter and petroleum are also obtained. Political Divisions. There are eight large provinces, and four small states, under the direct rule of the British govermiient. Under Lieutenant-Governors. 1. BENGAL. — Situated in the northeast on the bay of Bengal, forming the basin of the lower Ganges, Area, 187,222 square miles, with a poinilation of 81,000,000. Capital city, Calcutta. 2. NORTHWEST FEOVINCES AND OUDH. — Situated on the northwest of Bengal along the foot of the Himalayas, forming the main basin of the Upper Ganges and the Jumna, its main tributary. Area, 107,503 square miles. Population, 49,000,000. Capital city, Allahabad. 3. THE PUNJAB (including Beluchistan). — Situa- ted on the northwestern frontier, watered by the five tributaries of the Indus. Area, 110,667 square POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 23 miles. Population, 27,000,000. Capital city, La- hore. Under Governors. 4. MADRAS PRESIDENCY.— Lies along the East coast, from Bengal to the south. Area, 141,189 square miles. Population, 41,000,000. Capital city, Madras. 5. BOMBx^Y PRESIDENCY. — Situated on the west coast of India, from Beluchistan to Mysore. Area, 125,144 square miles. Population, 26,000,000. Capital city, Bombay. Under Chief Commissioners. 6. CENTRAL PROVINCES. — Those form the northern part of the Deccan. Area, 86,501 square miles. Population, 12,000,000. Capital city, Nagpur. 7. ASSAM. — Assam forms the valley of the Lower Brahmaputra, along the Himalayas. Area, 49,004 square miles. Population, 6,000,000. Chief city, Shillong. 8. BURMA. — East of Bengal and Assam. Area, A BURMESE CAB. 24 INDIANS MILLIONS. 171,430 square miles. Population, 10,000,000. Chief city, Mandalay. The four smaller states of A j mere, Berar, Coorg and the Andaman Islands, are under the direct administration of the Governor-General of India. The Chief Native States^ They cover an area of over 600,000 square miles, with a population of more than 66,000,000. They vary greatly in size. There are about 800 native states, but only 200 are of any importance. The following are the most important ones. 1. BAJPUTANA.— Consists of twenty-one states south of the Punjab. Chief town, Jaipur. 2. CENTRAL INDIA. — Comprises an agency of over eighty-two native states, lying between Eajputana and the Central Provinces. Chief town, Indore. 3. HAIDAEABAD. — Haidarabad is a large territory on the Central Deccan. Chief city, Haidarabad. 4. MYSORE.— Mysore is south of Haidarabad. Chief city, Bangalore. 5. BARODA.— North of Bombay. Consists of six native states. Chief city, Baroda. 6. KASHMIR.— Kashmir is in Valley of the Him- alayas, north of the Punjab. Chief city, Srinagar. 7. NEPAL.— North of the Northwestern Provinces, on the Himalayas, and is a mountainous region. Capital, Katmandu. 8. BHUTAN.— This is a petty Himalayan state, and inaccessible to foreigners. Capital, Tassisudon. These last two states are closed against the Gos- pel. No missionaries are allowed to enter these countries. India ^*^^effree Channel SCALE OF STATUTE MiLES. ' 4i^'^^vM,,J'\.^ ^ or.0 100 200 300 490 3.ow...:ra M-. ^^«. "• ^ %t?^i2 IDon^raJi PREPARED FOR INDIA'S} 90" 100° S BY MR. A. D. KHAN. CHIEF CITIES. 25 Ctiief Cities of India. 1. CAI.CUTTA.— On the Ganges, and eighty milea from the Bay of Bengal. It is the flourishing cap- ital of British India, and the residence of the Gov- ernor-General and Viceroy. On account of its mag- nificent buildings, Calcutta is often called **The city of Palaces"; and it so unites the luxury of the East and the West that it has often been styled the ''London and Paris" of Asia. As a port its trade is immense. Including Howrah, on the other side of the river, with which it is con- nected by a bridge, it is the second largest city in the British Empire. Population, 1,698,310. (Calcut- ta and suburbs.) 2. BOMBAY.— In Bombay Presidency, on the west coast. Is one of the most beautiful cities of the East. In commerce it stands next to Calcutta. It is the capital of Bombay Presidency. Population, 822,000. 3. MADRAS. — Capital of Madras Presidency, on the Bay of Bengal. Population, 509,346. 4. HAIDAE.ABAD. — Capital of the Deccan. Popula- tion, 415,000. 5. LUCKNOW. — In the Northwest Provinces. Cap- ital of Oudh. Population, 273,000. 6. BENARES. — In the Northwest Provinces. The sacred city of the Hindus, on the Ganges. There are over 1,000 Hindu temples. It is a pilgrim, rather than an industrial city. Population, 219,000. 7. DELHI.— Ancient capital of India, a place of great historic importance. Population, 193,000. 8. MANDALAY.— In Burma. Ancient capital of Burma. Population, 189,000. 9. CAWNPUR. — In the Northwest Provinces. Noted for its memorable siege and the horrible mas- 26 INDIA S MILLIONS. .^im *,^m.m^ A^iP^ CHIEF CITIES, ■ 27 sacre during tlie mutiny of 1857. Population, 189,000. 10. BANGALORE.— Capital of Mysore, situated on the beautiful plateau of the Deccan. It is famous as a sanitarium. Population, 180,000. 11. RANGOON.— In Lower Burma, on the Ira- wadi. Population, 180,000. 12. LAHORE. — Capital of the Punjab. An ancient city. Population, 177,000. 13. ALLAHABAD.— Capital of the Northwest Prov- inces, situated on the Jumna. Population, 175,000. 14. AGRA.— In the Northwest Provinces, noted for ''The Taj," one of the most beautiful build- ings in the world, built upon the tomb of one of the Indian Queens. 15. PATNA. — In Bengal. Population, 105,000. 10. POONA.— In Bombay, was capital of the Mahratta Princes. Population, 101,000. 17. JAIPUR.— In Rajputana. Ote of the chief cities of Eajput states. Population, 159,000. 18. AHMAD ABAD. — In Bombay. Population, 148,000. 19. AMRiTSAR. — In the Punjab. For some time it was the capital of the Sifeh chiefs. Popula- tion, 137,000. 20. BAREJTJ.Y. — In the Northwest Provinces. Population, 121,000. 21. MEERUT. — Is in the Northwest Provinces. Pop- ulation, 119,000. 22. SRiNAGAR.— Is thc capital of Kashmir. Population, 119,000. 23. NAGPUR. — Capital of the Central Provinces. One of the ancient capitals of the Mahratta chiefs. Population, 117,000. 24. HOWRAH. — Iq Bengal. The other side of the Ganges, 0])posite to Calcutta, with which it is joined by a bridge. Population, 117,000. 25. BARODA.— In Bombay Presidency, under the Gaehivar of Baroda, a native chief. Population, 110,000. 20. SURAT. — Is an important cotton port in 28 INDIANS MIUuIONS. Bombay. The first English factory of the East India Company was established here in 1612. Population, 109,000. 27. KARACHI.— Is a great port in Sindh, one of the divisions of the Punjab. Population, 105,000. 28. GWALiOR. — Is in the Centrallndian Agency. It is a place of historic importance. Population, 104,000. Numerous other cities with population less than 100,000, we do not mention. AN INDIAN STEEET-CAB. THe People. "God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him. ' ' Acts 17 : 26, 27. Tlie Early Inliabitants of India. The. ahorigines.—lndm was inhab- ited, from prehistoric times, by: a sav- tribes.'"^ age race of people generally supposed to be Negritos— a small black negro- like race spread over the eastern archi- pelago. They seem to have been in the rudest state of society, called the Hunting Stage, and lived on wild ani- mals, fruits and roots. The northeastern tribes.— Ki a very early period some tribes from central Asia crossed over to India by the northeastern passes and settled near the foot of the Himalayas. Other tribes succeeded them by the same route and proceeded southwest- erly further in the country; these are 29 30 INDIA S MILLIONS. called the Kolarians, and in the south- west of Bengal their descendants can A DEMON WOESHIPED IN CEYLON. Dravidian tribes. THE EAELY INHABITANTS. 31 still be found in different hilly tracts, in an uncivilized savage state. Tliey number about 2,000,000. D rav idian tribes. — Dravidians — the ancestors of the principal nations of southern India seem to have entered India by the northwestern passes and settled further down the country. All these early inhabitants of India w^ere a semi-barbarous, half civilized people. They believed in one supreme God, buttheyworshiped— asclo some of their descendants even to-day— demons or evil spirits, who, they believe,^ inflict punishment ani bring misery upon them. Demonolatry still prevails in India, Their reiig- especially among the hill tribes. Sir Moiiier William says : "The great majority of the inhabitants of In- dia are, from the cradle to the burning-ground, victims of a form of mental disease, which is best expressed by the term demonophobia.* They are haunted and op^jressed by a perpetual dread of demons. They are firmly convinced that evil spir- its of all kinds, fromi malignant fiends to merely mischievous imps and elves, are ever on the watch to harm, harass and torment them, to cause plague, sickness, famine and disaster, to impede, injure and mar every good work. ' ' * Fear of evil spirits. ioiis faith. The Aryan stock. 32 India's millions. THe Aryans. After the Kolarian and Dravidian races settled in their respective divi- sions, there came the great body of peo- ple called the Aryans, who entered India from the northwest. They are supposed to be a great branch of the same people who went westward, set- tled in Europe, and became the fore- fathers of the principal European nations. Before their separation, cen- tral Asia seems to have been their common ancestral home. But some are of opinion that it was somewhere in Russia in Europe. Be that as it may, this much is certain, that the an- cestors of the Greek, Roman, and Indian Aryan nations lived together several thousand years ago. The won- derful similarities existing between Sanskrit (Indian language), Greek, Latin, German and Celtic languages corroborate the above. Professor Max Muller says : ' ' Many words still live in India and in England, that have witnessed the first separation of the Northern and Southern Aryans, and these are wit- nesses not to be sh?\en by cross-examination. The terms for God, for house, for father, mother, THE ARYANS. 33 son, daughter, for dog, and cow, for heart and tears, for ax and tree, identical in all the Indo- European idioms, are like the watchwords of soldiers. We challenge the seeming stranger, and whether he answers with the lips of a Greek, a German or an Indian, we recognize him as one of ourselves." After the eastern Aryans were parted from their west-bound branch they parted again into two divisions, the one stock, the early settlers in invasion and Persia— the ancestors of the Par sees conquest. of to-day— peopled near the Caspian Sea, whereas the other pressed for- ward toward India, crossed the, moun- tain ranges, forded the great Indus and settled in the country. They had to fight their way, however, against the aborigines— black tribes, whom they defeated in battle. Some of them became subjects to the Aryan invaders and served their conquerors as slaves, while the rest fled into the mountains and forests, where their descendants can be found even to-day, remaining in the same backward, uncivilized con- dition. Some of these tribes are still naked and live like wild beasts. The Aryans at first were all farmers, and their name seems to have origi- 34 India's millions. nated from the root AR, which both in Greek and in Latin signifies a plough. In modern Sanskrit the word arya means noble. But by and by they found the necessity of division of labor and profession, and according to occupa- tion four different castes were formed ; viz., the priests, the warriors, the trad- ers, and the servants. Kings and lead- ers would always be selected from the warrior class. Thus they went on conquering and Kingdom?. ^q conquer until they became sole mas- ters of the whole of northern India, building great cities and founding ex- tensive empires. One dynasty after another reigned, great battles were fought, nations rose and fell until they were defeated by the inroads of the Mohammedan conquerors. Parsees. Before the Mohammedan empire was founded in India, the Parsees came to India. Their land was conquered by the Mohammedan Arabs, and to escape persecution and suffering they fled for refuge in India. They settled mostly MOHAMMEDANS. 35 on the west coast. Further mention of them will be made hereafter. Moliammedaiis. Mohammed Kasim, an Arab general under the Khaliph of Bugdad, invaded India as early as 711 A. D. But this was not a lasting conquest. For several hundred years Mohammedan conquer- ors invaded the country from the northwest, defeated the native chiefs, killed the inhabitants, plundered the treasuries, pillaged the temples, and carried away immense booties from the country. But it was not until 1193 A. D., that a lasting conquest was made, which resulted in founding a Mohammedan empire in India, and caused the final overthrow of the Ar- yan kingdoms. Mohammedans reigned in India until 1765 A. D., when the English began to take the ruling power in their hands. Besides these nations there are a number of Portuguese, English, French, and also some Jews, 36 INDIA S MILLIONS. MOHAMMEPAN DRE^S, Manners and Customs. Aborigines. The descendants of the primitive in- habitants of India who lived in the hills and forests are living in the same state of darkness and ignorance as ^^ aborig- ,, . 1 £ J.' • 1 ""a' tribes. their ancestors from time immemorial. They are found all over the country. They dress scantily, or some of them do not dress at all. Most of them have a piece of cloth around their waist— both men and women. They live upon wild beasts and fruits, some of them are omnivorous, eating almost any- thing—frogs, snakes, reptiles, rats, rotten fish, elephants, horses, and any other animals form their delicious ar- ticles of food. Their houses are very poor, and generally made of pieces of wood or bamboo put together, thatched with leaves of trees or weeds. Polygamy is practised freely, often one man having three or four wives at 37 38 India's millions. the same time. But tlie opposite is also the case in some places, that is to say, three or four men marry one wife. The marriage tie is very loose, wives are disposed of as domestic animals. If Marriage. it does not suit, the Contract is broken, the man and woman are free then to marry whomsoever they choose. There are some tribes not far from Bengal who marry the mother and the child together; that is to say, if the wife is too young her mother comes to her home and lives with the son-in-law as wife, until the daughter is old enough to take charge of the home. Such is the barbarous custom prevail- ing among them. This, however, is happily not the case everywhere. Of many of these tribes women gen- erally labor hard in the field, while the men folks are comparatively lazy. Among some tribes girls alone inherit paternal property, boys do not get anything. So when a boy gets mar- ried he leaves home, father and mother, and goes to his wife 's house and lives there as a member of their family. Hence girls are more valuable and de- ABOBIGINES. 39 sir able than boys. But in other places precisely the opposite is the case. Agriculture of a poor kind is the main profession of these aboriginal tribes. Many live by selling wood in the neighboring towns and villages. In Central India there is a tribe of hill people, who were found even lately to practise human sacrifice. When their fields became unproduc- tive, they had a strange way of fertilizing them. They used to go out in the plains sometimes by stealth and kidnap a child from the neighbor- ing country. They brought the child under a shady tree and gathered around him with their sharp weapons, and each one cut a part of his flesh and buried it in his field, by which they be- lieved their field would produce more crops. Though this custom was officially abolished by the British gov- ernment, it is believed to be still carried on in some parts in secret. Utensils of the rudest kind are in use among these savage tribes. They generally use leaves of trees for plates or cups ; in some places wooden, earth- en or stone cups or vessels can be seen. Human sacrifice. 40 INDIANS MILLIONS. A dog is sometimes fed with rice and curry, and then killed on the spot ; and Peculiar food afterwards they roast the dead dog on lire, baking the contents of its stomach at the same time. This roast with the baked rice inside becomes one of the most delicious dishes among some of these savage nations, and is often served at special feasting times. Among the Burmese a kind of rotten fish, preserved in jars for months until v/orms are generated in the same, is one of the special dishes. These nations generally put on a kind of coarse cloth (what little they use) made by themselves; some of them put on skins or bark of trees. Many of these aboriginal tribes do not know the use of salt. They use a kind of ashes prepared from some vegetable containing a great propor- tion of soda or potash. Most of these tribes are fond of tattooing their bodies, especially wom- en. They are also fond of jewels and ornaments made of brass or bell-metal. ' ' Some of the women wear very heavy bracelets, armlets, and anklets of bell- metal. It is a singular sight to see ABORIGINES. 41 the young women at a market subject- ing themselves to the torture of being fitted with a pair of these anklets. They are made so that they can just, with great violence, be forced on. The operation is performed by the manu- facturers, who put moistened leather on the heel and instep to prevent re- moval of the skin. The girl clinging to and resting on one of her companions cries bitterly at the violence inflicted on her, and the operation is a long one ; but when it is over she admires her decorated foot and instep, and smiles through her tears."* Often both arms from elbows upwards and down- wards to the wrists are full of armlets, and several pairs of anklets of various shapes and sizes around their ankles, the whole weighing sometimes ten or fifteen pounds. Some of these tribes have bunches of earrings all around the ear, often sev- eral rings put in the same hole until the ear skin gives way. Among them whoever has the most rings is the high- est in social rank. Both men and * The Principal Nations of India. Madras. Jewels and ornaments. 42 INDIANS MILLIONS. women put on such rings in many places. Others have nose rings and also necklaces. Earthen ornaments and jewels painted with lac or sealing- wax coating are also in use among them. Some of them wear a kind of turban, but others go bareheaded. These aboriginal tribes number about ten million all over the country— double the population of the whole of the Dominion of Canada. Just think of it! Dravidians. Besides the aboriginal tribes men- tioned above, there are two main bod- ies of people in India— the Dravidian races and the Aryan stock. But as they are so much divided and subdi- vided into great nationalities differing greatly in manners and customs, men- tion ought to be made of them sepa- rately in order to do justice to the cause. But time and space will not allow us to enter into an elaborate description at present. All that can be attempted would be a brief outline of the subject. DEAVIDIANS. 43 The Dravidian races mostly inJiabit the southern part of India, in different provinces, and are divided into the p^^p'® <>* . . southern principal nations of Telegu, Tamil, in6\a. Canarese, and Malay alls. Each of these tribes has a language of their own, each tribe having more or less peculiar manners and customs. The people are darker in complex- ion, and smaller in stature than those of northern India, but are very hardy and intelligent. Among all these na- tions there is a custom of men keeping long hair on the crown of their heads, shaving all around. And their women have more freedom to go out than their northern sisters. The women dress more decently than the men, it seems. ^. . •^ ' Chewing There is a universal custom among pan. them to chew pan like the rest of the Indians. This is a kind of leaf of a creeper, which is taken together with pieces of areca nut called ^^supari/' lime (mineral), and catechu. This compound, when chewed, helps to pro- duce saliva in the mouth and colors both lips and tongue a deep red. They are very fond of using this prepara- tion always after meals, and several Tobacco. 44 India's millions. times during the day. In Soutli India cocoannt pieces are also put with it in addition to areca nut, lime (miner- al), and catechu. In India if a visitor comes to your home, it would be altogether bad man- ners and betray your inhospitality and lack of sociability if you do not offer him ''pan/' at least. The custom of chewing tobacco is also practised among men as well as women. In some parts a preparation of tobacco-leaf powder is made and used with pan, together with other congruents. This is prevalent among the women more than among men in Bengal and universally used in Orissa. Tobacco grows in the country in abundance, and ship-loads come from abroad, so smoking is increasing every day. Little boys of eight and ten can be seen in the streets smoking Ameri- can tobacco. Tobacco is used as a social indulgence, and is the most com- mon way of entertaining a visitor almost all over the country. There are other intoxicating plants also used in some form or another among the people. Head-dress. ARYANS. 45 South India is somewliat poor in architecture, though the Tamil people are noted as great temple builders. Most of the ancient houses are made of clay, while stone is extensively used for building at present. Another feature that strikes a stran- ger in southern India, is the peculiarity of their head-dress. Men wear various kinds of turbans, white, red, or purple. They never go without it, though you will find them going about barefooted. Even those that put on European costumes do not care for shoes or boots. Aryans. The Aryans are divided into many nations and races, but Bengalis, Oriyas, Hindustanis, Punjabis, Mar- p^«p;^,„**Jj^, hattas, Grujaratis, and Rajputs, are the principal of them. Covering an extensive territory of the country, as they do, their manners and customs vary a great deal from each other, as do their languages. So we shall attempt a short separate account of them, 46 India's millions. The Bengfalis. i i In Bengal proper/'* says Mr. Beverley/ 'wehave apeople physically distinct from any other race in India. Official _ Whether, on the one hand, they are * to be attributed to climatic influences and the natural characteristics of the country, or, on the other, to the great infusion of aboriginal blood, that people presents national peculiarities sufficient to identify it in any part of the world. Living amid a network of rivers and morasses, and nourished on a watery rice diet, the semi-amphib- ious Bengali in appearance belongs to a weak and puny race, yet he is able to endure an amount of exposure to which the up-country Hindustani would soon fall a victim. In active pursuits the Bengali is timid and slothful, but in intellect he is subtle and sharp-witted ; and these latter qualities, combined with the plodding industry and natural fondness for sedentary employments, have carried him into government offices all over the country, and raised * Census Beport of Bengal, 1872 THE BENGALIS. 47 him to some of the highest judicial posts in the land.'' This is a brief description by a government official of a people who number over forty million (more than half the population of the entire United States ) , and inhabit the north- eastern corner of India. The province of Bengal being a low plain, and having an abundant supply Bengar of water, is almost all inundated during the rainy season (froin July to Rains in BOATS FOE CARRYING PASSENGERS. September) , when the river-beds swell to overflowing and the whole country presents the appearance of one vast 48 India's millions. sheet of water. Houses, however, are built high above the surface, so as to remain above water, like islands sur- rounded by water. But in case of abundant rains, houses are often over- flooded bringing extreme suffering to people. They have to travel during this time by boats and canoes. Nearly every house possesses one or more of them ; and in some places they can not go out of their homes except in a boat. They go out shopping or selling to the market in canoes or boats. They come to meetings in boats. Boats are the only means of conveyance during this time. In the dry season the country is free from water, and one can walk from village to village. Bullock carts with small bamboo thatched roofs are used as conveyance in-some parts of Bengal during the dry season. The people generally live in vil- Bengaiihome ^^g^^, and are mostly farmers, but a life. great number of them are now going to school and pursuing literary prd fessions. Bengali cottages are built of mud or mat, bamboos and straw. The walls ^re either built of mud or made of THE BENGALIS. 49 mat or straw. The posts (pillars) are either of bamboo or wood. The roof A BENGALI COUNTRY HOME. is generally thatched with straw on a framework of bamboo, sloped to shed the water easily. Numerous rivers in the country make bridges a necessity for the convenience of traveling. These bridges are often made of bamboo and can be easily moved or put up in case of necessity. Many of the rivers have boat ferries, pulled from shore to shore either by oars or by ropes fastened to the boats from both sides of the river. 50 Eice is the principal product, and the staple food of Bengal. Fish form an important article of food, and are found in the rivers in abundance. Vegetables are also to be had in plenty, and are used freely. There is a custom of wearing wood- Wooden i i i • j i j. shoes. ^^ shoes or sandals m the country, sometimes with leather straps and sometimes with wooden knobs to keep them on. Spoons and forks are not in use in general, but are being introduced in more advanced society. Most of the people use their fingers in eating. They sit on the floor to eat; some on mats and carpets, others on low wood- en stools, but always crossed-legged ; some sit down in the kitchen, others in drawing-rooms. Some eat on banana leaves, others on earthen, brass, or stone plates. They bathe every day before midday meals. There are two principal meals a day, at about ten or twelve A. M., and at six or eight o'clock at night. Some eat their last meal as late as ten or eleven P. M. There are others who have OKIYAS AND HINDUSTANIS. 51 a little lunch in the morning at six or seven o'clock. The Ofiyas. The Oriyas are found in Orissa, situated on the southwest of Bengal along the sea. They number over eleven million, more than double the population of the whole of Canada. Their language is very similar to Bengali, both being of the same Sans- kritic origin. The people are more backward than the Bengalis, and edu- cation is not so much spread. ''The Oriyas are," to quote the words of Mr. Beverley, ''even more timid than the Bengalis. Conservative to a degree, they are wanting in enter- characteris- prise, contented to follow the practise of their forefathers, and evincing a thorough dislike of all modern im- provements. The same characteristic makes them the most bigoted and priest-ridden people in India." The Hindustanis, Northwest of Bengal, along the valley of the Ganges, lies the wide, extensive country of the Hindustanis, National tics. Their Coun try. 52 India's millions. covering an area of 250,000 square miles. These people speak a language, which, while having several dialects in different parts of the country, can be called the French of India. It is more or less understood all over the country, being a mixed language of Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit. The language originated in the camp of the Mohammedan emperors, where soldiers of these three nations lived together, and by their frequent and constant intercourse this wonderful language was produced. It is spoken to-day by a population of over 75,000,000, almost equal to the population of the whole of the United States with Alaska and Hawaii together. Manner of liv- Hindustanis are hardier and strong- ing and dress, er than the Bengalis, and larger in stature and growth. Their principal food is wheat and corn, of which they prepare a kind of cakes called Chapati. They dress more tightly, their cli- mate being colder. They are fond of the Turban or Head-dress^ a long piece of cloth, white or colored, about twenty yards long wound around their head. They use a kind of shoes manufactured in the country. THE PUNJABIS. 53 Their houses are generally built of mud or clay, and not having so much rain as Bengal, often they do not need any roofing except mud; but most of the houses in town are roofed with baked tiles. There are not so many streams or watercourses as in Bengal, hence the necessity of irrigation for agriculture. Deep wells are sunk in the fields and worked with Persian wheels to irri- gate the fields. Some of the wells are as deep as 3Q0 feet. Hindustanis are more conservative and bigoted than the Bengalis. They love to cling to tlieir old manners and customs even to-day. They are as a whole more rough and haughty, im- perious and warlike. Tiie Punjabis. Still farther up in the northwest, reaching as far as the frontier, is the origin of the land of the Punjabis. The country "ame. derived its name from the Persian Punj (^ve) and ab (water), the land of the Five Waters; namely, the ^ve tributaries of the Indus. The country is plain and fruitful, and has an ex- 54 INDIANS MILUONS. Character. treme climate. The people are more hardy and strong, and probably the largest in stature. Many of them are in the British regiments serving as sol- diers. They are a great warlike peo- ple, and number over 26,000,000. There is a peculiar custom prevalent among this nation of women dressing themselves with a kind of pantaloons and flowing shirts, unlike the rest of the Indian women. Their country. National cus- toms. The Mahrattas. South of the Punjab and the North- western Provinces, west of Bengal and Orissa, stretching up to the west- ern sea, lies Maharashtra— the country of the Mahrattas. The area may be estimated at 110,000 square miles, and the population over 20,000,000. The Mahrattas are a small race of people, but hardy and active. They always go about with big turbans on their heads, each tribe or clan having its distinctive mark or color. Their women go about more freely than those of northern India. They are very bigoted and proud, hating other nations with great hatred. GUJEBATIS AND EAJPUTS. 55 Mahrattas are very intelligent and bright. They were the rnlers of a great part of the country at one time. Mah- rattas are strict vegetarians. Gujeratis^ Gnjeratis inhabit the peninsula of Gujerat on the west coast of India. They are noted for their mercantile enterprise. They are much like their next-door neighbors, the Mahrattas, but not so enlightened. The country is well watered by several rivers, and is productive ; but they have suffered ter- ribly during the last famine. There are several agricultural tribes in Gujerat. They generally live in villages. Their houses are more com- fortable and the people are well clad. One of these clans called Kunhis has the singular custom of celebrating ^^^^^^ ^^_ their marriages only on one particular riage. day of the year. The Rajputs, There are several tribes of warlike people inhabiting the west central part of India, called the Eajputana. These tribes are generally denominated as 56 INDIANS MILLIONS. Country. The name. Jews of India. Rajputs. The whole territory is di- vided into twenty-one native states, governed by the Eajpnt princes. It covers an area of 130,000 square miles. The population is over 10,000,000. The Rajputs are usually very big- oted and conservative. They are very warlike and full of a ruling spirit. Their name signifies ''sons of the king ' ' (princes) . They also call them- selves ''children of the sun.'' "The poorest Rajput of this day," says Tod, "retains all the pride of ancestry, often his sole inheritance ; he scorns to hold the plow, or to use his lance but on horseback. In these aris- tocratic ideas he is supported by his re- ception among his superiors and the respect paid to him by his inferiors." The money-lenders of India are gen- erally a tribe of Rajputs called the Marwaris. They are the Jews of India. They exact exorbitant usury from the poor, and oppress the needy to ruin and destruction. Having noticed in brief some of the principal nations of Indian people, we shall now direct our attention to some of the baneful customs prevailing in the land. iSocial Evils. "O Father, touch the East with light, The light that shone when Hope was born. ' ' As a venomous insect hidden inside the beautiful rose eats away the pet- als and mars the beauty of the flower, ,.,. T 1 1 Hidden SO superstitious and barbarous cus- ^^5^353^ toms— nay, corrupt and degraded so- cial manners, are eating away the very vitals of beautiful India to-day. It is with a benevolent hope of curing the disease, that we attempt a short de- scription of some of these social evils. We shall first of all mention the awful system of Marriage. Marriage One of the crying evils of India is its perverse system of marriage. Mar- riage in India is a religious necessity, necessity. and that because offspring is also a religious necessity; for according to some theological teaching a man can not get out of the purgatorial peniten- tiary after death until Ms children on 57 58 INDIANS MILLIONS. earth make special sacrifice and obla- tions on Ms behalf. Hence an unmar- ried or childless man or woman is looked down upon with contempt. So much so that people do not like to see such persons the first thing in the morning, fearing lest their whole day would be spent in misfortune. If any fail to have an issue from their first marriage they marry more Polygamy. l^^^^i once, their number of wives being only limited by their means of sup- port. Rich people count their wives by pairs, princes by tens, while kings and emperors by scores and hundreds. In many instances if the former wife is impotent, or afflicted with an in- curable disease, even after giving birth to children, the husband marries the second time; but whenever polygamy is practised, peace and harmony take their flight from that home, leaving jealousy and envy, fighting and quar- relling to demonstrate the evil of the system by bringing a very hell upon earth. Again, marriage being a sacred ne- cessity, parents count it their incum- bent duty to marry their children. Mabriagb. 59 Therefore it is no wonder that they should be very anxious to payoff their debt by performing this duty as early as possible. Hence the custom of early or child marriage. Rich people marry their children while they are yet far Child riage. mar- INDIAN BKIDE AND BRIDEGEOOM. below their teens. Sometimes girls of three years are married to boys of nine or ten : whereas in a good many cases marriage takes place even earlier than that. For instance, in bengal alone THERE ARE 3,901 BABY WIVES UNDER ONE YEAR OLD. 60 INDIA S MILLlOl^S. Unmarried girls a dis- grace« If a father can not succeed in get- ting his girl married within eight or ten years of age he is considered up A NINE-YEAE-OLD WIFE. fortunate. He is very anxious to get rid of his daughter at or before that age, it does not matter how. Some- times he has to bribe the bridegroom or his parents to marry his daughter, MARRIAGE. 61 and thus save himself from social dis- grace and degradation. If he has no means he has to borrow or beg, sell or mortgage his property ; he must do it or lose his social rank. In case of failure, he is degraded from society. Unmarried daughters are considered the greatest burden of Indian parents. Sometimes a great sum of money has to be paid to procure a good bride- groom. They have their prices by thousands of rupees (Indian money), besides a full supply of ornaments, jewels, gold and silver, silk and satin, and household furniture often being demanded from the father-in-law. If the bridegroom is a student all his school or college expenses must be met, and all responsibility up to certain university examinations must be un- dertaken. In addition to this, during the year there are several festival days on which valuable presents must be sent to the bridegroom. If the son-in- law is not respected, or he is not prop- erly paid, daughters have to suffer persecution or ill treatment for it. So a loving father with natural affection is forever under obligation to his son- in-law. Expenses of marriage. 62 INDIA S MILLIONS. Unequal matches. Marriage by post. Again, if they do not or can not pay so mncli they have to marry their girls to either poor people having nothing to support their wives or to old men having wives, children, and even grandchildren. Since marriage is such a necessity, and giving in marriage is an incumbent duty, the non-perform- ance or omission of which brings in- evitable social degradation and dis- grace, parents sometimes even con- sent to such unequal relationships. Girls of eight or ten have often been known to be married to men of sixty or seventy. As boys and girls have very little choice in marriage, even when they are grown up, the parents or other rela- tions attend to the whole business, and the bride and bridegroom do not even get to see each other until after the marriage ceremony is performed. Among some nations the ceremony is performed while the bride and bride- groom are kept in two different houses and the marriage covenant is entered upon by means of a messenger running to and fro. This might almost be called a ''marriage by post." The MAERIAGE. 63 parties in India have to take their lot by chance alone. Sometimes one gets a blind, lame or deformed wife or hus- band to their great disappointment and surprise. There being no inter- marriage between different clans or* classes allowed in India, marriage be- comes all the more difficult. Owing to these and a thousand other disadvantages of marriage, girls are always considered inauspicious off- spring, and are almost universally undesirable. Indian mothers consider Female in- their daughters ^^ fiery baskets'' on their heads ; hence the monstrous cus- tom of female infanticide. Though this barbarous custom has been abol- ished by the British law, yet it is prac- tised to some extent in many cases. '' Infanticide, properly speaking, is the deliberate murder of a child at its birth, but there are other forms of the practise, which consist in per- mitting the child to die, without any di- rect act towards that end. The de- grees of guilt in these forms vary enormously. There may be the fullest intention to cause death, or only a half conscious hope that the child may 64 India's millions. not live."* Can there be imagined cns- toms more barbarous? How one evil only paves the way for a hundred others to follow in its train! God have mercy on dark India ! Purdali or Secltision. The melancholy custom of confining the feminine sex to the inner apart- ments of the house, secluded from all outward communication is commonly Meaning. called zenana or purdah, the latter word signifying a curtain; hence it properly means, the custom of women sitting behind the curtain securely screened from the view of the opposite sex. This custom originated with the Mohammedans, who are very particu- larly strict as to its observance, in fact this is one of their incumbent du- ties of religion. According to Mohammedan law no part of a w\)man's bod}^ should be ex- posed to public view, from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet. A woman violating this law will have fiery robes around her body in hell. Origin. Not only are the Mohammedan women * Indian Census Bejjort, 1901. CZD PUEDAH OR SECLUSION. 65 lorbidden to show any part of their body to those of the opposite sex (with a few exceptions), but also to lookupon them. Once upon a time Mohanuned was sitting in his drawing-room, so runs the tradition, with his wives (he had about fourteen wives), and there came Omar of Medina, a blind man, Mohammed. to have an interview with him. No sooner was he seen at a distance com- ing toward the prophet (?) than Mo- hammed asked the ladies to retire to the inner apartment. To this injunc- tion they objected, saying, ''What harm is there if we stay, for he being blind would not see usV ''But you would see him,'' replied Mohammed, "and it is just as unlawful." Mohammedans in all parts of the world are very particular therefore to adhere to the strict injunction of their prophet. The following strange story is current among Moham- medans in India. Once a lady of high society was ill and sent for the doctor, who wanted to see the patient An odd way of when he came. This could by no ^^^^"^ means be granted, as she was a lady, the doctor a man ; so the doctor had to 66 INDIA S MILLIONS. be satisfied with having one end oi a piece of thread tied to her hand, while he, being in the onter court of the house, held the other end of it; and thus feeling her pulse he pre- scribed. Such is the strong prejudice of seclusion among them. This system is binding even after death, for a dead body can not be looked upon by the opposite sex. SILVEH PALANQUINS OF AN INDIAN PRINCE. PUBDAH OR SECLUSION. 67 When Mohammedan ladies travel on the railway they mnst be accommodated in separate cars reserved for them. R^Rrc^rs. '" They come to the station in a shut-up carriage or palanquin, carried by four men, and when she has to step out of it into the car she is screened from all sides to obstruct the public view. Not only are the Moham- medan ladies subject to this custom, but it is equally in vogue among all classes in northern India, though not so much in the South. If a man were to go to an Indian home he could sit onlv in the outer ^,. . . . Visiting in court- with the men, he would have no \„d\a, access to the inner court where the ladies live. It would be considered criminal trespass if one attempted such a thing. For a stranger to en- ter within the walls of an Indian home is as much of an outrage as to enter a lady's bedroom, and probably more so. Women are not allowed to go out in the open air, except the poor labor- ing classes, whom necessity compels KingEd- to break the custom. The other day ^q^^q^^ the whole city of Calcutta was beauti- 68 INDIA S MILLIONS. Ignorance of women. Their worth- lessness. fully illuminated on the occasion of King Edward's coronation; thousands of men were out in the evening, but no women were to be seen in the streets. All they could see of the pro- cession would be by peeping through the windows by stealth. On account of the above custom the wom^en of India are destined to re- main ignorant of what is going on in the outside world, and consequently female education is at a great dis- count in India. Girls can not be sent to school with boys, nor can they go out anywhere for lessons. So if they are to learn anything it must be with- in the four walls of their own home. All this is mainly due to the mis- taken idea that prevails in India as to the utter worthlessness of women. "There are mau}^ Hindu sects in India, but upon two points we all agree— the sanctity of the cow and the depravity of women.' ^— Hindu Saying. 'Q. What is the chief gate to hell? J *A. A woman. _ *Q. What bewitches like wine? 'A. A woman. ") 'Q. Who is the wisest of the wise? PUEDAH OB SECLUSION. 69 •A. He who has not been deceived by women, who may be compared to malignant fiends. 'Q. What are fetters to men? 'A. Women. 'Q. What is that which can not be trusted? 'A. A woman. 'Q. What poison is that which appears like nectar ? *A. A woman.' '*So runs an Indian catechism on moral sub- jects written by a Hindu gentleman of high liter- ary reputation. Such are the views that paganism has made possible." 'Women,' says an Indian proverb, 'are a great whirlpool of suspicion, a dwelling-place of vices, full of deceits, a hindrance in the way to heaven, the gate of heU.' 'Never put your trust in women,' says another. •Women's counsel leads to destruction.' 'Hear now the duties of a woman,' writes the Indian lawgiver Manu. 'By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house. . . . Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, yet a hus- band must be constantly worshiped by his wife. ' — Across India, etc., p. 202. Such is the condition of 145, 000, 000 miserable souls in India, doomed to a lifelong imprisonment, leading Their num- , . „ , , . . bers and our a lite — nay, a mere shadowy exist- responsi- ence— within the ghastly tomb of the Wiity. four walls of their dismal dungeon, mistakenly called their home. They al- most double the entire population of the United States. They are far more in 70 India's millions. number than all the men and women, boys and girls of the whole of North and South America taken together. Think of their number, and think of their miserable lot ; and yet only three- fourths of a million of this great host know anything about reading and writing. Over 144,000,000 of them can neither read nor write, and are not under any instruction. So the great mass of them are hopelessly ig- norant—ignorant of everything, tem- poral and spiritual. They are altogether ignorant of the glorious fact that a Sa^dor came into the world for them and gave his life to save them from sin and depravity, and to raise tliem to virtue and sanctity; but in their ignorance and gross darkness they are heedlessly hurrying to ever- lasting and inevitable destruction. * ' Must they truly be consigned To the pit and there confined, Since the blessed Savior shed his blood for aU?'' WIDOWHOOD. 71 "WidoMrliood. Q. What is crueH A. The heart of a viper. Q. What is more cruel than that? A. The heart of a woman. Q. What is cruellest of aU? A. The heart of a sonless, pen- niless widow.— Hindu Saying. Since marriage takes place so very early in India, there are wid- ows of all ages. In Bengal alone there are 538 widows who are under one year old. Think of these babies ! ^. before they have completed a year of widows. their existence they have been already married and have lost their husbands. There are 77,000 widows under ten years of age and 25,000,000 of all ages. Huge figures moving among thousands and millions! Can you imagine that these 25, 000, 000, bereft as they are of all joys of life and pleasures of love in conjugal ^, ^ "^^ No remar- relation at the prime of their lives, riage. are never more to marry again? Hundreds of thousands of them even do not know what marriage is in fact. This is not all. "Widowhood in India is not only a ows 72 INDIANS MILLIONS. lifelong sorrow, but a lifelong curse. Suffering of It is believed to be the e:ffect of some !."^!^" ^'^" borrible crime committed by the wom- an in a previous life (for they believe in transmigration of souls) ~ a crime for which her husband has been pun- ished. He has died, but she must suf- fer. Of course ! it is her fault. ' ' ^'The widow in India must wear a single coarse garment, white, red or brown. She must eat only one meal during the 24 hours of a day. She must never take part in family feasts with others. She must not show her- self on auspicious occasions. People think it unlucky to behold a widow's face before seeing any other object in the morning. A man will postpone his journey if his path happens to be crossed by a widow at the time of his departure. The relatives and neigh- bors of the young widow's husband are always ready to call her bad names, and to address in abusive lan- guage at every opportunity. There is scarcely a day of her life on which she is not cursed by these people as the cause of their beloved friend's death." A widow is not allowed to keep WIDOWHOOD. 73 long hair, of which an Indian woman is so remarkably fond. She thinks it worse than death to lose her hair, and yet she must do it. Again, as soon as a woman loses her husband, her much loved jewels are all taken away ; she is not allowed to put them on in her whole life. She is a curse to the family, and a burden to society, wishing death every day of her miserable and doleful existence. The following extract written by an Indian widow gives a glimpse of their sad condition: "O Lord, hear my prayer! No one has turned an eye on the oppression that we poor women suf- . ^, ^. ,.•;,, .,T ^ • ^ /I • Apathetic ±er, though with weeping and crying and desire we have turned to all sides, hoping that some one would save us. No one has lifted up his eyelids to look upon us, nor enquire into our case. We have searched above and below, but thou art the only one who will hear our complaint; thou know- est our impotence, our degradation, our dishonor. * ' O great Lord I our name is written with drunk- ards, with lunatics, with imbeciles, with the very animals; as they are not responsible, we are not. Criminals confined in the jails for life are happier than we, for they know something of the world. They were not born in prison, but we have not one day— no, not even in our dreams— seen thy world. To us it is nothing but a name; and not having seen the world, we can not know thee, its Maker. Those who have seen thy works may learn to un- derstand thee; but as for us, we are shut in, it is prayer. 74 not possible to know thee. We see only the four walls of the house. Shall we call them the world, or India? We have been born in this jail, we have died here, and are dying.'' **Tlie Indian woman as bride goes inside her hnsband 's house, and never Living tombs. ^^ scarcely ever goes out again till she is carried out to be buried at her death. For the rest of her life she is hidden there in a living tomb. And if she be a widow that tomb becomes a prison-house of pain, from which un- numbered cries, such as that we have just read, go up to Grod.'' Who will go and announce the ac- ceptable year of the Lord? Who will proclaim the glorious liberty to them They are that are bruised? Who will go to tell them of the Woman's Friend who came to set them free I Luke 4 : 18, 19. ^ ' He sat once by the wayside, not thinking about millions, but about one. He was very tired, but not too tired to care about her sorrows, her shame; to talk to her, to bring her home to God. And we, amid life's many claims who say we follow him, have we cared for one of these in India, as Jesus cared that day!"* * Across India, by Miss Lucy E. Guiness. waiting. CASTE. 75 They are anxious to hear of this 'wonderful Savior; They have been j waiting for ages, and are wistfully ®^ ^"^ I looking for you to go over to tell them the story of the cross that has raised you so high in the world. How long shall they wait? Oh, how long? Caste. The caste system is one of the crying evils in India. The entire community is divided into several sects or divi- , . , . . TT J. i T r? The four main sions which originally started irom wastes. some professional distinction or nat- ural predilection. Originally there were four main castes or divisions: the Priests (Brahmins), the Warriors (Khshatrias), the Merchants (Bai- ^hyas) and the Slaves (Sudras), each keeping his own caste pure from inter- mingling with another. According to the inevitable law of division minor sects and subsects have arisen in course of time, and are being multi- plied every day. The manners and customs of differ- ent castes vary considerably. The one hates the other as bitterly as a Jew ration. 76 would hate a Samaritan or a Gen- tile. They seldom eat one an- strict sepa- Qther's food. Even the water touched by one caste would be unfit for use by another caste. If one of an inferior caste happened into the house of one of a superior caste all the eatables in the house, all cooked things, and all water would be polluted, and must be thrown away. The least possible con- tact with a low caste man would ne- cessitate ceremonial cleansing or im- mersion. Sometimes even the tread- ing on shadows made by a low caste man is enough to contaminate a person with a ceremonial impurity. While customs like this remain in force one need hardly be told that in- termarriage is impossible among castes. Hence marriage becomes hard to accomplish, and often unsatisfac- tory. So strict are they in observing this groundless nonsense, for which they claim divine origin and sanction, that a man would sooner die of starva- tion during the famine than eat food cooked by one of a lower caste. It has entered so deep into the sys- tems of the Indian life, and taken such CASTE. 77 strong root in the Indian heart, that even among the so-called Christians Caste among of some parts there is a custom of having separate cups in communion service for different castes. What non- sense ! What folly ! It is because of this ruinous system that India is chafing under the foreign yoke for generations, and being left far behind the train of progress and Cause of so- civilization for ages. It is this baneful ^'^' <*®9»*««*a" . ticn. custom that fills the Indian brain with pride and haughtiness, so that a boy of the Priest class, though he be void of all qualifications for the sacred office, and could do better in some other trade, would rather beg than condescend to do something outside of his profession, as he would consider it vile and mean. Europeans often, though innocently, offend Indians by asking them to do things which they consider beneath their dignity to do. This is natural pride; this is vain glory of life. (1 John 2:14.) Who but Christ can break the fetters of age- honored customs! 78 India's millions. L nomadic tribe of bengal. R^eli^ion. "Of a man or of a nation we inquire first of all: What religion had they? Answering this question is the giving us the soul of the history of the man or the nation. The thoughts they had were the parents of the actions they did; their feelings were the parents of their thoughts; it was the un- seen and the spiritual in them that determined the outward and the actual; their religion, as I say, was the great fact of them."— Carlyle. As the national history and life of a principal reii- people are indispensably related, and g«ons of India. inseparably connected with their re- ligion, and as these two are always wonderfully interwoven with each other, we can not afford to be indiffer- ent or to remain ignorant about the different religions of India, if we want to know anything about that ''conti- nent of nations." "We shall therefore turn now to the different systems of religion that exist in India to-day. Their number being so many, notice will only betaken of the principal ones in succession. The following are the principal religions of India: Hindu- ism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Mo- hammedanism and Zoroastrianism. 79 Definition. 80 India's millions. Hizidtiisxn. Hinduism includes such- a variety of creeds and doctrines that it has often been called an ^^encyclopedia of re- ligions. ' ' ' ' Hinduism is not, ' ' says one of her own sons, '^and never has been a re- ligious organization. It is a pure social system, insisting on those who are Hindus the observance of certain social forms, and not the profession of particular religious beliefs. ... It is perfectly optional with a Hindu to choose from any of the different re^ ligious creeds with which the Shas- tras abound ; he may choose to have a faith and creed is he wants a creed, or to do without one. He may be an atheist, a deist, a monotheist, or a poly- theist, a believer in the Vedas or Shas- tras, or a skeptic as regards their au- thority, and his position as a Hindu can not be questioned by anybody be- cause of his beliefs or unbeliefs, so long as he conforms to social rules. This has been the case with Hinduism in all ages, and has not been brought THE SACRED BOOKS. 81 about by the so-called transition state we are now supposed to live in." It is from sucb a conglomeration of ideas and creeds, and from sncli a hodgepodge of orthodoxies and heter- odoxieSy faith, and unbelief, that we are to get our notion of what Hindu- ism really is. So we shall, first of all, notice the Sacred Books of the Hindus —the authprity and guide of the whole system. The Sacred Books* The Vedas are the most ancient and time-honored books of India. They arc considered to be the very words of their god, and are supposed to be in- The Vedas. fallible in their teachings. They are four in number: Rig-Veda, Yajur- Veda, Sama-Veda, Atharva-Veda. ' ' The general form of the Vedas, ' ' says Dr. Whitney, *'is that of lyric poetry. They contain the songs in which the first ancestors of the Hin- du people, at the very dawn of their existence as a separate nation, while they were still only on the threshold of the great country which they were afterward to fill with their civilization, praised the gods, extolled heroic deeds, and sang of other matters which kindled their poetic fervor. '^ The Big-Veda is the Veda of praise. It is full of hymns addressed to the various gods of the ancient Hindus. There is nothing divine about it of course. 6 82 INDIA S MILLIONS. Philosophical works. Traditions. Eipc poems and law- book.' Yajur-Veda is the Veda of sacrifice. It contains directions to the priests about sacrifice. Sama-Veda contains sacrificial hymns. Atharva-Veda teaches how to appease the gods and secure their favor, to destroy human and ghostly enemies. It is the Veda of prayer, charms and spells. The Darsanas or pMlosopMcal books are six in number, teaching dif- ferent aspects of the Hindu philo- sophical systems. The Puranas or traditions of the Hindus, are eighteen in number, con- taining all legendary and superstitious and fabulous stories of their gods and goddesses. Most of them are as ludi- crous and ridiculous as Aesop 's fables or fairy tales, with regard to their au- thenticity or historical value. To these may be added the cele- brated Epic Poems of Ramayana and Mahahharata and the Code of Manu, which last is the mpst important moral code or law-book of the Hindu system. Relig:io«s Rites, Having noticed in brief the Sacred Books of the Hindus we shall pro- ceed to describe a few of their relig- ious rites and ceremonies. RELIGIOUS BITES. 83 DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. The Hindus seldom bury their dead. The general custom is to cremate their dead bodies, and that as soon after death as possible. If a person dies at night they must take the body out of the house for cremation before day- light. Certain curses they believe would overtake the house if this is neglected. Again, when they perceive that death is inevitable and sure they Exposure be- fore death. take the dying person out of the bed and make him lie down on a mat in the open courtyard, and there allow him to die. If a person dies in his room the house is detiled and polluted. Some- times if possible the dying person is carried to the river Ganges, and left to die there on its bank with his feet in the water and his head on the shore. Persons thus expiring acquire much merit and secure right to heaven. Of- ten the dying person in extreme agony and pain, exposed to the inclement weather, lingers in the open air or on the riverside for several hours. Some die solely because of such barbarous rites, who would otherwise probably Cremation. 84 India's millions. have recovered all right. Some such cases have heen rescued, and the sup- posed dying persons have recovered and lived for years afterwards. All this is done in the name of religion. The dead body is carried by two or four men on a bamboo or wooden bed, clad with new white clothes, to the river or pool. They can not cremate the dead anywhere they like, it must be near some water. After the crema- tion is over they throw the ashes of the dead body into the water. There is another cruel custom in connection with cremation. The near- est relative of the dead must first put fire into his mouth, and to his face, and then the others will do the rest. The son therefore is required to start the fire on the dead body of his father or mother. It is indeed an inhuman cus- tom, to say the least. SKADDHA. After the death of one's father or mother, or other near relative, a man must subject himself to a system of hardship and penance in honor to the departed as an expression of his sor- EELIGIOUS EiTES. 85 row and grief for the dead. He is to go about barefooted, has to put on a Penance for coarse or plain cloth like the widows, ^ ®^ * and is not allowed to sit upon any cushioned seat or wooden chair. He must not comb his hair, he must not eat twice during the day, he must not use any salt with his food, he must not have any palatable dishes or fish or meat or any condiments. He shall have to cook his own food and must not eat food cooked by another, who- ever it may be. He is allowed to cook only once, and that in one pot, and the foods must be all cooked together. If it is burnt, or otherwise becomes un- fit for use, he must go without a meal that day. He must use a new vessel to cook in every time he cooks. He must give the first morsel of his food to a crow or raven, and wait until it is eaten, and then he may eat. These he must do for a period of thirty or forty days, according to the caste to which he belongs. After the days of penance are over he is to perform what is called srad- dha. It consists in making a great feast for the Brahmins or priests, who 86 INDIA S MILLIONS. Praying for the dead. Offering to the priests. come to Ms house, read from the sa- cred book in Sanskrit and offer some gifts to the god. The host must feed them sumptuously, give them valuable gifts of wearing apparel, household furniture, and useful utensils, besides gold and silver. Sometimes thousands of dollars are spent for these things, by which they believe the departed soul is relieved of its sufferings in the next world. Therefore every dutiful son must perform such foolish relig- ious rites. If he does not do it he is looked down upon, and often excom- municated from society. If he has no money to spend in feeding the priests, he must borrow or beg, and thus go to ruin forever, never to rise again— not being able to pay off his debts. He often leaves it as a burden to encum- ber his descendants. It often involves the ruination of a prominent and pros- perous family forever, but there is no help. Oh, the depth of satanic bond- age! It is perhaps not out of place to mention right here that the cow, being a sacred animal, even regarded as the very incarnation of the goddess her- KELIGIOUS BITES. 87 Belf,— if one of them dies an nnnat- Penance for liral death, the owner must undergo t*^®^®^^ the same ceremony for it as he would in case of his father 's death. P/^i)7.— Generally a relic is pre- served from the fire at the cremation of a dead body. Often a piece of bone is kept, and this is taken to Benares, BElsTAKES— PKIESTS SITTING ON THE EIVER- BANK TO OFFICIATE FOR THE PILGRIMS. one of the sacred cities of India, and a famous place for pilgrimages in the Northwest Provinces. Another srad- dha ceremony is there performed in the same way, spending money and 88 INDIA S MILLIONS. Ceremonial offering to the dead. Sacrifices. Multiplica- tion of dei- ties. gifts. This is called offering pindi to the departed, and it satisfies the hunger and thirst of the deceased. This is simply another money-making scheme invented and imposed upon the natural affection of men by the ava- ricious priests. SACRIFICES,— T\ie custom of sac- rifices is as old as humanity. It is to be found everywhere, in every nation in some form or another, and it is to be found in India also. Animal sacri- fice is very extensive in use, but hu- man sacrifice is also enjoined in the Hindu books, though it can not be per- formed on account of human obstacles (government and law) in civilized ter- ritories. Often people make vows to the gods for different kinds of sacrifices in case of their success in their enterprise and deliverance from danger, offering sac- rifices in various temples. Gods of the Hindus. Wherever there has been a deifica- tion of created objects in preference to the Creator, an enormous multiplicity of gods and goddesses has been an aODS OF THE HIKDUS. 89 wmt W: pf« : ■ '1^ m ^«r: V irt- i ■•: ; ::; :: i-yy: . I- ■ j Rs:;' ^- !:l mi" 1; HS;J''"" " ^1*; i ill HIS : !■ KiC ! K ■'■'■-■ !! i mi ,■;,,. '^ ■■■ 1 j , ::i^ttii.l 'i HANUMAN — A HINDU GOD. 90 inevitable result, and a necessary se- quence. It appears very plain that when men begin tO' worship created ob- jects, physical forces, and natural phe- nomena in various forms or orders, it does not give any real satisfaction, nor are their inward cravings after the unknown God satiated thereby. Hence of necessity there is a growing increase of the number of gods, swelling from time to time with new additions. As this is a universal law and an axiomatic truth, it is also true in In- dia. The early ancestors of the Hindus . J , ^.. began their idolatry by worshiping an Gods. the natural phenomena and physical and material forces; such as, sky, dawn, wind, rain, etc. Soon new gods were invented and canonized, and their number steadily increased until it reached to 330,000,000 -until almost everything they could think of, either in heaven above or earth beneath, eve- ry object, whether animate or inan- imate was deified and made a god or goddess. It is impossible to men- tion them by name; all that is pos- sible is to speak of a few of the prin- GODS OF THE HINDUS. 91 cipal gods and goddesses of India, in order to give a brief idea of their character and work. DYAUS-PITAK— HEAVEN FATHEE. In the very^ early period of the his- tory of Aryan nations, even before Sky-god. their separation from one another, they all used to worship the beauti- ful sky under the name of Dyaus-Piter (Heaven or Sky-Father). The prim- itive Hindus seem to have been wor- shipers of natural phenomena and physical forces. PEITHIVI — EAKTH. Later on they joined Prithivi or Earth with Sky or Heaven-God and ^^''**'- married them together. VARUNA. The next conception of God to be found in the ancient Hindu books is Varuna. He is also a representation of Heaven and is the same as the Ocean god. Greek Ouranos (Heaven). In later ages Varuna became simply the name of the god of the ocean. INDRA— GOD OF RAIN. Indra was afterwards added to the number of the gods. He is the god 92 INDIANS MILLIONS. of rain, and was mucli worshiped by Rain-god. tliG Aryan farmers. In later ages he became the king of the gods. He rides on his famous elephant, and wields his thunderbolt as his weapon in battle. His whole body is full of eyes. A fil- thy story is told to account for their origin: He was drawn away by lust to commit lewdness with the wife of His vile sin i r> t j i • andtheawfuf l^s owQ teacher, who, finding out ins result. guilt cursed him so that his whole body became full of shameful scars. At his repentance and entreaty the teacher changed them into eyes. AGNI — PIKE. Agni is the god of fire. He is praised and adored in the Vedas very Fire-god. prominently. This being one of the most useful natural elements, the Hin- dus worshiped it from a very early date. VAYU — WIND. He is often mentioned in the Vedas together with the god of rain (Indra) riding on the same chariot. The wind and the rain being associated to- gether there is no wonder that the Hindus would deify and worship them together. Wind. storm. GODS OP THE HINDUS. 93 MARUTS — STORM GODS. To worship and adore the higher power is inherent in hnman nature, so when the Hindus found the terrible effect of storms they began to entreat them as gods to save their houses and property. SURYA— THE SUN. . This the Hindus began to worship as the origin of all heat and light from a very early date, and the wor- ship of the sun is practised even to- day. In the morning when the Hin- ^^^^ dus bathe in the sacred river Ganges, or anywhere else, they can be seen af- ter their ablution to be addressing their prayer to the sun. USHA— THE DAWN. Seeing the beautiful dawn in the morning before sunrise the Hindus ^^^^ were struck and began to adore it as a beautiful goddess. VISHNU — GOD OF PRESERVATION. He is the second person of the Hin- Second per- du triad, into whose hands is com- so"®**^® . triad. mitted the preservation of the uni- verse. He is the husband of the god- dess of wealth, Laksmi. Vishnu is 94 INDIA S MILLIONS. His wife. Architect god. Creator. Goddess of speech. Liquor deified. worshiped in every house in the form of a piece of stone painted purple with vermilion. LACKSMI— GODDESS OF WEALTH. She is the wife of Vishnu, and daughter of the third peison of the Hindu triad, Siva, the god of destruc- tion. VISHVAKAEMA— ALL CKEATING. This name was given to the archi- tect god. Whenever anything is to be constructed in heaven he is to be summoned. PKA JAP ATI — THE CEEATOR. Pie is considered the god who is the first cause of this universe, from whom the whole thing sprang ; but the name is also used as an epithet of the Sim. VACH — SPEECH. She is considered the goddess of speech personified, who was the first means of imparting divine knowledge to men. SOMA— A SPIRITUOUS DRINK. ''The simple-minded Aryan peo- ple," says Prof. "Whitney, "whose GODS OF THE HINDUS. 95 whole religion was a worship of the wonderful powers and phenomena of nature, had no sooner perceived that this liquid (Soma) had the power to elevate the spirits, and produce a temporary frenzy, under the influence of which the individual was prompted to, and capable of, deeds beyond his natural power, than they found in it something divine: it was to their ap- prehension a god, endowing those in- to whom it entered with godlike pow- ers; the plant which afforded it, be- came to them the king of plants; the process of preparing it was a holy sacrifice; the instruments used there- for were sacred.'' The Soma is the juice of a creep- ing plant, and is intoxicating when fermented. The Hindus used to drink it themselves, and to offer it as libations to their gods. YAM A— DEATH. Yama is supposed to be the lord of the departed spirits, and also the cause of all mortality. He is believed to be the judge of the dead and the punisher of the wicked. Death. 96 INDIA S MILLIONS. First person of the triad. His charac- ter. Goddess of wisdom. BKAHMA. The first person of the Hindu triad. He is the father of all. According to tradition he first created water and de- posited in it a seed, which became a golden egg, from which he himself was born. Brahma has fonr heads, whose origin is explained in the fol- lowing way: ''Beholding his daughter Satarupa, he lusted after her. As she tried to escape, four heads were made to look at her. When she sprang into the sky a fifth head was immediately formed. Siva (the third person of the triad) is said to have cut off the fifth head with the nail of his left hand." ''He is said to have told a lie and to have hired the cow Kamdhenu to bear false witness for him." Brahma rides on a swan and lives in a heaven 800 miles long. SAEASVATI — GODDESS or WISDOM. Yach or Speech is the same as this goddess, and she is the wife of Brah- ma. She is said to be the inven- tress of the Sanskrit language, the sa- cred tongue of the Hindus. She al- GODS OF THE HINDUS. 97 ways sits on a lotus. Sarasvati is worshiped by all the students in In- dia during the winter season with great pomp. TULSI— A SMALL PLANT. Tulsi plant is considered the incar- FamUygod. 1,1 .■ .... ' K. • ^f Mtavmk^ t mm t' t I -f^-,:- *■ ■^■,ii:>i:5^ A HINDU WOMAN WOKSHIPING THE TULSI PLANT. nation of the Hindu goddess and is worshiped in every home by the wom- en, who bow down to it and say their prayers. 7 98 INDIA'S MILLIONS. The Moon's wives. Planet gods. A musician given to dis- cord. A popular and blood- thirsty god- dess. MOON. The Moon is one of the gods, who has twenty-seven wives, which are the ditTerent constellations in the sky. THE PLANETS. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Sat- urn, Neptune are all gods. NAEADA. The heavenly musician Narada is one of the gods of heaven. His chief occupation seems to be creating feuds and quarrels among men and gods. "KALI. Kali, the wife of Siva, is one of the most popular goddesses in Bengal. It is impossible to conceive anything more hideous and abominable than the image of this goddess. Kalighat, the southern suburb of Calcutta, is noted for the famous shrine dedicated to this goddess. Pilgrims come from all quarters to visit this temple, to sacri- fice to the goddess, and to bathe in the river flowing past the temple, with a hope of washing away their sins. In earlier days human sacrifice was made to her. Even as late as 1866, during GODS OF THE HINDUS. 99 GODDESS KALI. the great famine, human heads with flowers were found in her temple. The secret worship of this furious goddess is too repulsive for description. The following is quoted from one of the Tantras describing this goddess. LofC. 100 "One should adore with liquor and oblations that Kali, who has a terrible gaping mouth and uncombed hair; who has four hands, and a gar- land formed of the heads of the demons she has slain, and whose blood she has drunk; who holds a sword in her lotus-like hand; who is fearless and rewards blessings; who wears two ear-rings (consisting of two dead bodies) ; who carries two dead bodies in her hands; who has terrible teeth, and a smiling face; whose face is awful; who dwells in burning-grounds; who stands on the breast of her husband Alahadeva.* She is one of the most blood-thirsty deities of the Hindus. It is said that the blood of a tiger satisfies her for 100 3^ears, and that of a man for 1000 years. She is often worshiped at the time of plagues and epidemics. DUEGA. Durga Piija, or the worship of the wife of goddess Durga, is the chief festival in Siva. Bengal. The festival comes during fall, when all the schools and colleges, courts and offices are closed for the occasion. The worship lasts for ten days. Friends and relatives are in- vited and entertained; new clothing and valuable presents are generally exchanged. After the worship the idol is thrown away into some river or lake. This goddess is another repre- Ten-armed * Mabadeva— gre^t god- Another qame for Siva, GODS OF THE HINDUS. 101 THE GODDESS DUKGA. SAKSHI SAEASVATI GANESH KARTICK sentation of Kali and has ten arms. ^She rides on a lion, treading upon a monstpr. She is the wife of Siva. 102 INDIA S MILLIONS. KARTICK. The Hindu "Horse- shoe." Kartick is the son of Durga, and Deified pride, is worshiped as the god of beauty. He rides upon a peacock, the emblem of pride. GANESH. Ganesh, brother of Kartick, is wor- shiped as a g'od of good luck. In eve- ry house his picture is kept on the door-post as a sign of good luck. His name is a charm that ensures success in every enterprise. His form is quite the opposite of his brother Kar- tick. He has an elephant head and trunk on a human body, which pre- sent a most hideous appearance. The following story is often told to account for his strange appearance. Soon after his birth, his uncle Saturn, the god of misfortune, came to see him. No sooner had he cast his eye upon the child than its head was separated from the body on ac- count of his evil influence. But at the entreaty of the mother Saturn consented to bring the child to life again. * * Go round the house, ' ' he said, * ' and whomsoever you meet first, cut off his head and put it on the child, and it shall live." To their surprise they found an elephant behind the house, and cut off his head and put it on the child. The child lived, but has retained the trunk of the elephant ever since. His ugly look was counteracted by making him the god of prosperity and good luck. GODS OF THE HINDUS. 103 GAISTESH. 104 JAGANNATH. He is another representation of Krishna. Orissa is especially noted for the worship of this god. Puri, a city in Orissa, contains the famous temple of Jagannath, where thousands JAGANNATH. of pilgrims resort every year, during the festival. There is a wooden car, made in the shape of a temple, in which the god is placed, and the car is drawn with two pieces of strong rope by hun- dreds of men. Formerly pilgrims de- siring to get rid of their sinful GODS OF THE HINDUS. 105 existence on earth, would throw them- selves under the wheels of this car when in motion, and would kill themselves on the spot, hoping to gain heaven by the act. This barbarous custom, however, has been abolished by the British government. The idol is a shapeless one, con- sisting only of a piece of log, having no hands or feet. Dr. Ragendra Lall Mitra, a learned Hindu antiquarian, de- scribes the image as '^the most hideous caricature of the human face divine/' The following legend explains the origin of the idol, and accounts for its hideous appearance. "When Krishna was shot, his bones were left lying under the tree till some pious person placed them in a box.* Indradhumma, a king, was direc- ted to form an image, and place in it these bones. . The king prayed to Visvakarma to assist him in making the image. The architect of the gods promised to do so on condition that he was not disturbed. Though the king consented, after fif- teen days he tried to see Visvakarma at work, but ■ there was only an ugly image, without hands or feet." The image could not be finished because the king broke the promise, and Visvakarma left the job, being disturbed. * According to tradition Krishna died on a tree, being shot througli his feet with a fowler's arrow. The whole of the Krishna myth is a caricature of the story of Christ and his cross, to deceive the people and prejudice them gainst the gospel. 106 India's millions. Avatats of the Hindu Gods* ^ ... Vvhf never a great disorder, physical Ten Hindu i ^ i i • incarnations, or moral, arose in the world, God him- self would come into this world in an assumed form of some wonderful ani- mal or superhuman being, or be born of human parents in a human form. These are called the Avatars of the gods. There are several such Avatars, of which the following are the chief: 1. THE FISH. During the deluge God became a huge fish to guide and direct Manu's ship tO' a high mountain till the flood was overpast. 2. THE TOETOISE. God became a tortoise and dived into the sea to recover certain things which were lost during the flood. 3. THE BOAK. ^ ' A demon named Hiranyaksha had dragged the earth to the bottom of the sea. To recover it, Vishnu assumed the form of a boar, and after a. con- test of a thousand years he slew the demon and raised the eartii.'' AVATAES OF THE HINDU GODS. 107 L THE MAN-LION. God assumed the form of half man and half lion to destroy a demon Hiranyakasipn, who received a boon from the gods that he could not be killed either by gods, men or wild ani- mals. Hence he became a peculiar be- ing, neither god, man, nor animal, and killed the demon. ). THE DWARF. King Bali by his devotions and be nevolence acquired the dominion of the three worlds, the earth, the heaven, and the Hades. Consequently tlie gods lost all their power and dignit}^. To check him and to restore power and honor to the gods, Vishnu became a dwarf -man and went to the king as a poor Brahmin to beg a small portion of land, even as much as he could step over in three paces. This small re- quest the king readily granted, and the dwarf -god at once extended him- self, and in two strides recovered the whole heaven and earth, and out j^ compassion he threw the king down to Hades. ). PAEAsu-EAMA (Eama with axe). Parasu-Rama is said to have killed 108 INDIANS MILLIONS. all the warriors of the world twenty- one times, to avenge the death of his father. So great was the massacre that five large lakes were filled with tho blood of the slain warriors. 7. EAMA CHANDEA. Eama Chandra was the son of King Dasaratha of Oudh. He was banished at the instigation of his stepmother the day he was to be crowned king. In his wandering he is said to have come to - South India, where he with his wife and brother lived in the forest. It was there that his wife, the beanti- fnl Sita (Helen of India) was stolen by the ten-headed monster, king of Ceylon. Rama waged war, killed the monster and reclaimed his wife. 8. KRISHNA THE BLACK. Vishnu became incarnated as Krish- Characterof na to kill the tyrant king Kansa, the r*s na. representative of the principle of evil. According to the popular idea '^he is represented as mischievous and disobedient as a child, guilty of theft and lying, stealing the clothes of neighboring ladies, and sporting with them, as having eight queens and 16,000 wives, who burnt up Kasi, de- AVATAKS OF THE HINDU GODS. 109 KRISHNA AND HIS WIFE. 110 India's millions. stroying its iniiabitaiits, and fimslied his course by slaying a great number of Ms 180,000 sons." He is no doubt a most disgraceful character among gods. His favorite concubine was one of his aunts. To account for such vile and gross miscon- duct a skilful legend was invented : His uncle in his previous birth was a poor Brahmin, who prayed to Vishnu for wealth, which is exactly the same word as the name of his wife ''Laksmi" ; so when Vishnu granted the prayer he ac- tually granted his wife. Strange god, and strange request! Accordingly in the next age his wife became the wife of this Brahmin. As Vishnu could not remain without his wife, he also came upon earth incarnated as Krishna, and nephew to the Brahmin. His wife in order to keep true to her first love of- ten used to come out of home and live with Krishna in the groves. Oh, the depth of the degradation and infamy to which they descended! BUDDHA. This is not really a Hindu incar- nation, but the Hindus being worship- ers of whatever is great gave him also AVATARS OF THE HINDU GODS. Ill a place in their vast pantheon. Notice will be taken of him later on. KAI.KI. This is 3^et to come. He will come at the close of this age for final de- struction of the wicked, the redemp- tion of the good and the restoration of perfect order. The above are the principal incar- nations of Vishnu, but according to some authorities they run up to some twenty-two in number. ''The incar- nations of Vishnu," they say, "are innumerable, like the rivulets flowing from an inexhaustible lake. Rishis (Hindu sages), Manus, sons of Manus (Hindu patriarchs), Projapatis are all portions of him. ' ' In fact, according to another creed, nothing exists in heaven or earth save himself, everything is his part, and Everything in everything he is to be found, is God. Hence everything is God. Man is God, beast is God, bird is God, tree is God, sky is God, air is God, light is God, darkness is God, every atom is a part of God, everything that we see is a part of God. Oh, the utter darkness and rank blasphemy of men! 112 India's millions. We might add a hundred other names of gods and goddesses, but time and space compel us to cut short the list. These few will give you an idea of their nature and character. These be the gods that India's 207,000,000 Hindus daily worship. Having such debasing and immoral ideas of the objects of adoration before them, can they rise any higher than their gods'? May God open their eyes to see the folly and wickedness of worshiping wood, stone, and all creeping things, every inanimate object they meet. Worship, The Hindu system of worship is as sickening and ridiculous as their gods. The objects of worship having been briefly noticed, a few remarks on the manner of worship will not be out of place. Two kinds. Worship is of two kinds : Periodical and Regular. There are household gods in almost every family in one sacred room on a family altar, where worship and adoration are rendered every day, morning and evening regu- larly. These gods are mostly pieces WOKSHIP. 113 of black stone, painted with vermilion and consecrated, or the plant tulsi at one corner of the courtyard. The worn- '^®9"'^''- en generally worship the latter, she being a goddess. The former is pnt to sleep on a small bed every night when the master of the honse goes to sleep and a mosquito curtain is dropped about the bed to protect the god from mosquito bites. Early in the morning a bell is rung to wake the god, and then flowers and holy water from the sacred river Ganges are offered to him with prayers. Besides there are other gods which have a regular time of worship dur- ing the year. So all the year round they worship one or the other of them. When they have to worship a god, first of all they make a figure of the same with straw and clay and paint it with colors to give it an appearance of life. Jewels and clothes are put on, but the idol is not ready to receive worship yet. They have to bring the pri-est, who by his prayers brings the life and spirit of the particular god that they are about to worship into this idol. Then the worship begins. Eve- 114 India's millions. ry day offerings are made and sacred books are read in the temple; these last four, five, or sometimes ten days. During this period dancing girls are hired to entertain the assembled Dancing girls, crowd on the occasion of the festival with their vile and obscene singing, and wicked and lustful gesticulations, which they call dancing. The following quotations on reform, from an Indian paper, will show their v^ile character and destructive in- fluence on society. "Not the least urgent of such subjects of re- form is the institution of dancing girls among us. Stripped of all their acquirements, these women are Remark of an ^ class of prostitutes, pure and simple. Their pro- Indian paper. Session is immoral, and they live by vice. Being never married, they can never be widows. Hence the wedding tie (in marriages) woven by these women xS considered propitious and sufficiently potent to confer lifelong wifehood on the newly married girl. Indeed their presence at marriages and other ceremonies is almost a necessity, and few persons who can afford the expense and are un- able to disregard the opinion of their neighbors can forbear to call, them ■- to grace the occasion. The dancing girl is everywhere. It is she who crowns all merriment at all times. If it is a mar- riage, she gives the finishing stroke to the gaieties of the occasion. If you begin to occupy a house newly built, the ceremony of the day is only brought to a conclusion when 'the house rings to the noise of her anklets,' as the phrase goes. WORSHIP. 115 Nay; you can not treat a friend or bid farewell to a departing Anglo-Indian except by her mediation. **She is the bane of youthful morality. In her rich dress, her trained voice, and the skilful ma- nipulation of her hands and feet she is the center of attraction to the young, impressionable minds. If their introduction to her is too early, there is yet no repulsion about it. And the favorable im- pressions thus early associated with her, grow and develop with advancing years. Thus immorality is handed down from father to son." Some of the songs of these dancing girls are not only objectionable, but blasphemous. The following is a speci- men: ''Darling, I do not know whom Blasphemous to admire most, God who made you *®"^®* or you who were made by God! No, no, you are the more lovable ! The Almighty repents that he created you so beautiful. Oh, envious, jealous God!" etc. Such music and such blasphemy must accompany the periodical wor- ship of gods and goddesses in India, held just before the temple court, and what is worse than that, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, boys ^**^'^' degra- and girls, all eagerly listening, drink such deadly poison night after night. Sometimes the whole night is spent in such festivities. As the gods, so are 116 India's millions. the people, and they often try to sur- pass one another in their vileness and debased practises. There are yet other forms of wor- ship which are too corrupt and ob- scene even to be described. We dare not pollute our pen or intrude upon the refined taste of our enlightened readers by violatins: the laws of de- Abomination of darkness, cency and decorum m drawmg the cur- tain of darkness that conceals the dis- gusting abominations of the Tantric worship. Suffice it to say that the ^ve essential elements of their secret worship, often performed in the wil- derness or remote places far removed from villages or cities, and often in a place where dead bodies are burned, are: 1. Maidya— wine, 2. Mamsa— flesh, 3, Matsya— fish, 4. Mudra— parched grain, 5. Mai thuna— sexual intercourse. Extinction of desire is the final goal of all Hindu worship, and this is usually sought by the suppression of desires and passion, but these wor- shipers believe that it is to be attained by a full and free gratification of lust and passion. TEMPLES AKD PBIESTS. 117 * * The things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of/' — Eph. 5 : 12. E. V. Temples and Priests* Becanse of the vast number of tem- ples dedicated to the great host of Land of gods and goddesses in India all over ®'"p®^' THE MONKEY TEMPLE OP BENARES. the country, India has often been called the "Land of Temples." These temples are magnificent buildings of different size and shape, and conse- crated to different gods and goddesses in different places. In all famous 118 INDIA S MILLIONS. Temple wor- ship. cities and towns you can find scores of such temples. In some cities hundreds ; few villages can be found without one at least. In these temples there are idols made of wood, stone or clay. There are regular priests taking care of the temple and attending to the worship. In a small town in Bengal we have seen thirteen hundred priests in the temples. People come on spe- cial, auspicious occasions from all over the surrounding country, numbering sometimes hundreds of thousands, to offer sacrifices. Sometimes they gather on the bank of a sacred river BATHING IN THE GANGES. TEMPLES AND PRIESTS. 119 to wash away their sins. Large sums of money are spent to keep these tem- ples, but people offer enough to meet expenses both of the temples and of the priesthood. Worship and sacrifice of goats and kids is carried on every day. These priests send emissaries all over the country to allure innocent HUEDWAR ON THE GANGES. OP PILGRIMAGE. A PLACE men and women, sometimes young Pilgrimage. widows to come to the temples. Most of the journey is accomplished on foot and much trouble and hardship is 120 India's millions. undergone. Then when they come to the temple, owing to ill management and half-cooked food they often get sick. Sometimes cholera or other epi- demic diseases break out and sweep away hundreds of these unfortunate creatures— and where? _Most of the priests are bad charac- ters themselves, and they have often Character of \yQQj^ prosecuted and sentenced heav- the priests. ^ . . „ , . ily at the courts of justice for their licentious conduct, and there is no wonder. Yet the darkest spot in the temple is probably the custom of having '^temple girls." This custom is more prevalent in South than North India. If a married couple have no offspring after a certain length of time they make a vow of offering the first child, Temple girls. ^^ ^ ^'^^^ ^^ ^^^ Service of the gods in the temple. Thus girls are sent to the temple, and they are ^^ married to the god, and a part of the marriage vow is to abandon themselves to every pil- grim in the shrine." These avowed prostitutes are an es- sential part of the temple and its wor- ship. It is estimated that in the Mad- Priests in TEMPLES AND PRIESTS. 121 ras Presidency alone there are over 11,000 such girls. Among the Gnjeratis there is a de- basing religions sect who believe that their priests, whom they call Mahara- jas (great kings), are the direct incar- nation of Krishna. Men and women prostrate themselves at their feet and render divine homage to them. Some of them go so far as to give their own ^ . wives and daughters to be prostituted by these priests, and thus they think they please their god by ministering to the sensual gratification of the Ma- harajas. These vile priests not only ruin the innocent women of their dis- ciples, but charge high fees for con- descending to sport with them. Strange to say, these blinded people not only do not resent such shameful practises, but rather congratulate themselves on such honors. The following are some of the charges : For homage by sight, Rs. 5 ; for homage by touch, Rs. 20; for the honor of washing the Maharaja's foot, Rs. 35 ; for the credit of swinging him, Rs. 40; for the glory of rubbing sweet unguents on his body, Rs. 42 ;for Their char- ges. 122 the joy of sitting with him, Rs. 60; for the bliss of occupying the same room, Rs. 50 to 500 ; for the delight of eating pan siipari thrown out by the Mahara- ja, Rs. 17; for drinking the water in which the Maharaja has bathed, or in which his foul linen has been washed, Rs. 19.* Note:— Bs. 3 equal $1.00. There is another equally disgrace- ful custom in the East, in Bengal (at Guruprasadi. ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ prevailing only a few years back), called Guruprasadi. The Hindus generally give the first fruits of everything to their priests. There was a sect of Hindus who car- ried it to such an extreme that they would allow their priests first of all to enjoy the company of their wives after marriage, and tlien they would live as husband and wife ! Can there be deg- radation and demoralization greater than this! '' Imagine, if you can, this licensed shamelessness, this consecrated prof- ligacy, carried on under the sanction of religion, and in the full blaze of * Mr. Malabari in Gujerat and the Gujeratis. HINDU DEVOTEES. 123 publicity, while statesmen and patriots, philosophers and men of letters, looked on unconcerned, not uttering one word, and not raising one finger to put it down ! ' ' Hindu Devotees* Matter is sinful, therefore our body is sinful, for our body is matter. To get rid of sin is salvation, therefore to Hindu phiios- get salvation is to get rid of our body, ^^p^^^* To be in the flesh, or to have a body, is suffering the consequence of sin; therefore as long as we have a body we are suffering the consequence of our sins committed before. As suffer- ing begins at birth, we must have had sin before we were born. Therefore we must have existed before we were born. As we are suffering the conse- quence of former lives in the present, we must suffer the consequence of this life in the next. There is no salvation until this suffering is ended. Hence there is no salvation until we cease to be born again and again. "As a man having cast off his old garment takes others that are new, so 124 INDIA S MILLIONS. Transmigra- tion. Hopeless pessimism. the embodied (soul) casting oi¥ old bodies, enters others that are new.'' Some enter the womb (again after death) for assuming a body, others go inside the trunk of a tree, some become pigs, others dogs, some become birds, others flies, according to their works, according to their knowledge. This transmigration of souls will go on un- til they are reabsorbed in the Great Universal Soul— after being liber- ated from all matter, all desire, all hatred, all love, from everything good and evil. This is salvation, this is Nir- vana. When one has attained to this, ' ' He wants nothing, . . . neither lov- eth, nor hateth, nor giveth, nor desir- eth, renouncing good and evil, desti- tute of attachment, . . . silent, . . . homeless." This is the doctrine of Hinduism, this is the teaching of their Scriptures. Having a creed as above, setting forth the pessimistic view of life, the Hindu soon finds out that ' ' Path of sorrow, and that path alone Leads to regions where sorrow is unknown.'* Hence severe forms of asceticism are practically the religion of the dev- HINDU DEVOTEES. 125 otees of India. They devise all pos- sible means of getting rid of their bodies— to cnt short their lives, so that the whole number of 86,000 births severe as- and deaths through which each indi- ceticism A HINDU ASCETIC WITH BOTH HANDS STIFF. vidual must pass, may soon be over, after which they hope to be free from sin and be absorbed in the deity. Some go out of cities and towns, villages and homes, away from any human habitation, leaving their wives 126 INDIA S MILLIONS. and children, parents and friends all behind. They go far into the forests, and there wander about either ill clad or clothed in skins of wild beasts, A HINDU ASCETIC SITTING ON SPIKES. some altogether naked, living upon fruits and roots. Some go so far as to live upon leaves of trees ; some become altogether silent, never speaking to HINDU DEVOTEES. 127 any one; some sit in thehotlndian sun. kindling fire all around; some have ashes for their covering day and night. They do not comb their hair nor dress it until it becomes clotted and knotted like ropes and stiff like rods. Some put a turban of ropes on the head; some si^ on beds made of spikes fast- ened on a plank. Others consecrate their one or both hands and hold them up straight until they wither and be- come so stiff that they lose all use of them. Some go out from city to city, to visit all the different temples in order to acquire merit for their future life. Son:e can be seen eating all unclean things, all refuse food thrown in the streets, for they do not believe in ask- ing for anything. Some go to the bury- ing-ground and feed upon dead human bodies of strangers or poorer people not cremated. Some cut parts of their bodies to a- void certain temptations; others bury their own heads in the sand with their feet up, standing, as it were, on their heads, and count their beads that seif-torture. way. Some hang themselves by 128 INDIA S MILLIONS. A HINDU ASCETIC BUEYING HIS HEAD FOK MERIT. HINDU DEVOTEES. 129 their legs with bended knees over the branches of trees, connting their beads and saying their prayers in that posi- tion. Oh, the numerous other forms of self-tortnre they invent to get what they call salvation! Some vow to make pilgrimages, and start from their homes, measuring their length on the ground by falling face forward, marking with their nose the spot where they must next plant their feet, and again measure their length, and so they continue for the whole journey. Often their body is bruised, and the knees become swol- len and bleeding before they reach the temple. Some go into the temple and lie prostrate for three, five, seven, fourteen or even twenty-one days, ab- staining from meat or drink (some- ''^^*'"?- times ) , and determining not to get up until their requests are granted or their prayers heard by some delusive dream or some diabolic vision from the infernal regions. With all these, and many other forms of asceticism they are seeking to satisfy their inward craving after God, and yet they are not sure whether they 130 INDIANS MILLIONS. are getting any nearer him or not. We have not met with one of them yet who could say he doeth good and sinneth not, no, not one. Poor dekided crea- tures ! They are '^ without God and without hope ill the world ! ' ' BtidcJIiisin. Buddhism owes its origin to Gauta- ma Buddha, its founder, a native prince of North India. He was born Founder. about 620 B. C. at Kapilavastu, a town about 100 miles north of Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus. This town was the capital of his father's kingdom. Gautama was married at the age of sixteen and enjoyed all the pleasures of state life up to the age of twenty-nine. One day when driving in his car- riage outside the town he met an old man passing by, leaning upon his stick. His early life, bent and decrepit. Astonished at such a miserable sight, something he had never seen before, he asked his charioteer what that was, and when he found out that it was a man like the rest of them, only he had been BUDDHISM. 131 GAUTAMA BUDDHA. overtaken by old age and weakness, and also that it was the common lot of ever7;^ one to pass through that state, he became much grieved at the vanity of human strength and youthful beau- ty. Afterwards he saw another man shaking with fever and groaning. By ^^^j^^ ^^^^^ inquiry he found out that it was the world. effect of sickness, which was also human suffering. The last scene was 132 a dead body carried by four men to the funeral pile. When he found out by inquiry what that was, his love for the world was completely destroyed. Life, he said to himself, was nothing but misery; old age, infirmity, sick- ness and death are inevitable. ''Vani- ty of vanities, all is vanity ! ^ ' So he de- termined to leave his palace, father, mother, wife and new-born babe, to go to the forest and become an ascetic, with the hope of discovering a remedy for all these human miseries. The same night he left Kapilavastu, Leaves ^^^ g^^ ^^^ ^^^ j^j^g wonderful search after deliverance from human misery, he cut his hair with his own sword, and then changed his stately garments with a peasant. He then went to a famous Brahmin and became his dis- Given to study. ciple, learned all that he could teach him during several years, but did not find what he was seeking for. He left him in disappointment and went to another and likewise was dissatisfied after several years' study. Then he left everybody and went into the forest and sat under a tree meditating for seven years. Here he found what he BUDDHIST BOOKS AND DOCTRINES. 133 was looking for. He discovered that Meditation. salvation was freedom from desire, and lie assumed tlie title Buddha (the wise). He then began to preach his doc- trine, to make disciples, and they prop- agated his new faith in India. It P''eaching. spread like wild-fire in spite of bitter persecution. He died at the age of eighty. This religion is the famous Bud- dhism, which at one time was the re- ligion of one-third of the population of the whole world. Buddhist Books. The teachings of Buddha are sup- posed to be preserved in three books called Tri Pitaha (the three baskets), sacred These are the most ancient of Bud- ^^<*''«- dhist books. Buddhist Doctrine* Buddhist doctrine can be culled from the first sermon of Buddha which begins by saying: ''Birth is suffering. Decay is suf- fering. Illness is suffering. Death is I. 134 INDIA S MILLIONS. Doctrine. suffering. Presence of objects we hate is suffering. Separation from all tiiings we love is suffering. Not to obtain what we desire is suffering. Clinging to existence is suffering. Complete cessation of thirst or of craving for existence is cessation from suff'ering; and the eightfold path which leads to cessation from suffer- ing is right belief, right aspiration, right speech, right conduct, right means of livelihood, right endeavor, right memory, right meditation. This is the noble truth of suffering." Professor Childers says : ' ' A creed, which begins by saying that 'existence is suffering/ must end by saying that release from suffering is the high- est good, and accordingly we find that annihila- tion is the goal of Buddhism, the supreme reward held out to the faithful observers of its precepts." Buddhist Precepts. Five commands binding upon all: 1. Not to take life. Precepts. 2. Not to kill. 3. Not to commit adultery. 4. Not to tell lies. 5. Not to drink intoxicating liq- uors. Three others less binding: BUDDHIST PRECEPTS. 135 6. Not to eat after noon. 7. Not to attend dancing, state plays, etc. 8. Not to use perfumes. Two more binding on priests: 9. Not to use high beds or couches. 10. Not to receive gold or silver. Hinduism attempts to deify every- thing, making everything God— hu- man souls are gods also. Buddhism on the contrary is altogether silent |^a„ j^ ^js about God, making self or soul, of man own savior. everything. Hence these precepts are not mandatory as the decalogue of the Bible, commencing with, Thou shalt, or, Thou shalt not; for in Buddhism there is no higher being— no god— to give you the commandments. You take a commandment upon yourself, and try to observe it, '^ working out your own perfection" as best you can. Buddha, shortly before his death, left instruction to his disciples, ' ' hold FAST to the truth AS A LAMP. LOOK NOT FOE EEFUGE TO ANY ONE BESIDE YOUR- SELVES. ' ' Buddha did not recognize any high- er spirit than his own. He said: ^'I perceive no person in heaven or in 136 India's millions. earth, . . . whom I should reverently iMoGod. salute.'' ^'In the world, including the heavens, there is no one like unto me. I am the supreme master. " ^ ^ I am all knowing. By my own power I pos- sess knowledge. Whom should I call my master ? I have no teacher. ' ' '^ ' Buddhism, " as Professor Olden- burg, of Berlin says, ^^is indeed a PROUD ATTEMPT TO CREATE A FAITH WITH- OUT A G0D_, TO CONCEIVE A DELIVERANCE IN WHICH MAN DELIVERS HIMSELF. ' ' ^^ Hinduism is God without morality; Buddhism is morality without God.'^ Although Buddha did not give his followers a god to worship, they made him their god all the same. Stone im- ages of Buddha are kept in every Buddhist shrine, and incense is burned and worship is paid to the same every ReHcwor- morning and evening. In some tem- ship. pies they have the supposed tooth of Buddha, which they also worship. There are Buddhist temples all over the country, and in these temples there are hundreds of priests. They gener- ally live by begging. They have a yellow flowing dress tied round their neck. They shave their head, and of- BUDDHIST PHECEPTS. 137 A BUDDHIST PRIEST BEGGING RICE. ten go barefooted. Tlieir favorite doctrine is, not to kill, and therefore tliey abstain from all animal food, like the Hindus in South India, who do not even go to the market where meat is sold. They can not bear the 138 INDIA S MILLIONS. Differeirt forms of Buddhism. Origin. Saints. sight of meat or fish, as it were. They have separate markets for such ar- ticles. Buddhism in all parts of the coun- try is not exactly the same. For in- stance, the religion of the Tibetan Buddhist is very different indeed from that of the India and Singhalese Buddhists. Tibetan Buddhism will be noticed hereafter in its place. There are upwards of 20,000 Tibetan Bud- dhists within the Indian boundary, near the foot of the Himalayas in the North. Jainism. Jainism very much resembles Bud- dhism. It is an older offshoot of the same old Hinduism which gave birth to Buddhism. The system has taken its name from Jina — to conquer, meaning the twenty-four saints who are supposed to have conquered the evil passions and constructed a bridge across the troubled river ^ of constant births and deaths to the unfading bliss of Mr -y an a— entire cessation of exis- tence. They do not teach much about God, but hold these saints in great JAIITISM. 139 1^ \i 140 India's millions. reverence. They are noted as temple builders. Parasanath, about 200 miles northwest of Calcutta, is a famous Jain mountain, containing numerous tem- ples. It is a great sacred place oi the J ains. They have a magnificent tem- ple in Calcutta. Most of the mer- chants in Bengal are Jains. ' ' Not to kiir' is their favorite doctrine, and is more strictly adhered to than the other Buddhist precepts. ' ' A Jain may not hurt or drive away Not to kin. ii^Q insects that torment him. To lie naked bitten by vermin is very mer- itorious. The eJains are the chief sup- porters of beast hospitals in some parts of India. In such a hospital in Kutch, 5,000 rats were supported by a city tax. ' ' Many of the Jains would not eat after dark for fear of swallowing an insect or fly with food. Others strain their drinking water. They are very particular in walking about, that they do not tread upon any insect. Some of them always sweep the place before Extreme cau- ^ . ^ , < i -it tion against they Sit down to prevent killmg any killing ani- small insect. Some walk about with a piece of cloth over their nose so that ZOEOASTKIANISM. 141 they may not inhale any invisible in- sect with the air ; but their kindness is much limited to the lower creatures. To their fellow beings they are not half so kind. They are the money-lenders in India, and oppress and harass poor people to death in order to exact the last cent they owe them. They strong- ly oppose killing of cows, but are al- together silent on the barbarous 4jus- tom of female infanticide. Truly the words of Christ are applicable to them: "Ye blind guides, which strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel.'' Mat. 23: 24. Zoroastrianism. Zoroaster, or Zerduscht, the famous ancient teacher of the East, is sup- posed to be the founder of this relig- ion. It was the religion of Ancient Jf«9'«ft»^e ^ Bible. Parsees and the Magi of the Bible. It is one of the most ancient religions of the East. One of the distinctive characteristics of this religion is that it is dualistic in principle. Ahura Mazda is the chief deity, the good one, and Ahriman, the hurtful spirit, is the evil principle. Both of these are eter- nal beings and a perpetual warfare 142 INDIA'S MILLIONS. Dualistic. Fire-worship- ers. Tower of silence. Urine of the cow. between the light and darkness, good and evil, is supposed to exist between the two. Fire is their sacred emblem of pu- lity, and from their extreme reverence for it thev are often called ' ' Fire-Wor- shipers/' Fire is kept always burn- ing in their temples day and night, by the sweet-scented sandal wood. Ead-th, water and air are also believed to be sacred elements, consequently they never allow these to be tainted with their dead bodies. They have towers built outside the city called the ^'towers of silence," where dead bod- ies are laid to be devoured by vultures. Each tower has several vultures sit- ting around the top, and as soon as the dead body is laid on the tower, they swoop down, and in a few minutes nothing is left but the bones. They attach purifying virtue to the urine of the cow. Every morning they bring it to the house, apply a small quantity to the face, hands and feet. Sometimes the liquid is sipped when they need a greater purification. Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the Parsees, containing the sayings of ZOKOASTRIANISM. 143 144 INDIA S MILLIONS. their founder with commentaries and notes on the same. They number about 100,000 and are mostly found in Bombay. M o Hammed a nisin. Mohainined, the founder of the re- ligion, was born in Arabia in 570 A. D. rounder. For forty years he lived a quiet life. While he was working as a shepherd for one of the rich ladies of Mecca, whom he afterward married, he claimed to have received 'a revelation from God through the angel Gabriel. This he began to teach as divine, and it was received by his followers as the Word of God. His revelations were Prophetic all Collected and compiled in book rail form after his death, and it is called the Koran. This book together with the tradition— called ITafe— contain- ing the supposed sayings of Moham- med are the guide books of the Moham- medans to-day. Mohammed was greatly persecuted Persecution, in Mecca, his birthplace, and had to , flee for refuge to Medina, another city of Arabia. Here he was received MOHAMMEDANISM. 145 with open arms, enthroned as a prince, and his teachings were accepted. He then waged war against his country- men with the help of his new allies, and defeated and killed many of themi, took possession of Mecca and became master of the situation. He led sever- al expeditions, defeated his enemies, carried away much booty, selling the Retaliation. boys and girls whom he captured as slaves, while the beautiful women were divided among his soldiers as wives. He had about fourteen wives, many of these were widows them- selves. He died at the age of sixty- two. Soon after his death his warlike fol- lowers began to wage war against the surrounding nations, enforcing upon them this new faith, which consisted ^<*"**"®*** in— "There is no God but one, and Mohammed is his prophet. ' ' In course of time they invaded India, conquered a great part of the land and became the rulers of the country, and remained paramount lords of the land from the close of the twelfth century until 1765. To-day there are 57,000,000 people 10 146 Mohammed- in India who profess this faith. Their an duties. chief religioiis dnties are five : 1. CREED. The creed in general is, '^ There is no God but one, and Mohammed is his prophet,'^ and also in particular, faith in ^^God, his books, (the revela- tions), his prophets, the angels, heav- en and hell, the day of judgment, the resurrection of the dead, the throne of God, the heavenly pen and the book of life, ''etc. 2. PRAYER. Prayer is to be offered ^ve times a day, (1) before sunrise, (2) at about 1 P. M., (3) at about 4 P. M., (4) im- mediately after sunset, (5) before go- ing to bed. Prayer is not accepted on three occasions ; namely, just when the sun is half risen above the horizon, when the sun is half set below the hori- zon, and when it is at its zenith. No Mohammedan must pray at these three times. The prayer is mostly in Arabic and consists of set forms. For each omission of prayer the Moham- medan must suffer 6,400 years in hell. 3. FASTING. One entire month during the year, MOHAMMEDANISM. 147 known as the sacred months Ram j an, must be devoted to fasting. During the day they must abstain from all food, drink or smell ; at night they can eat. There are other fast days also. PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. ' Once at least during life a pilgrim- age to Mecca is enjoined upon a Mo- ' hammedan, no matter how far dis- tant his home. This consists in sacri- I ficing some goats or camels in Mecca, and going round the ^' House of God" (the temple of Mecca) in procession a, I certain number of times. I 'ALMS. Every Mohammedan must give one- fortieth part of all his income and his property to the poor every year. 1 Besides these there are numerous I duties of a Mohammedan. Purdah P"''^^^* I is only one of them, which, however, i has been noticed in a previous chap- I ter. Polygamy and slavery are allowed. A man may have four married wives „ , Polygamy. I at the same time, besides he may have as many slave girls for concubines as j he chooses. I To drink wine or to take usury on Fighting. 148 iot>ta's millions. any money lent is strictly forbidden. Their temple is called Masjid or Mosqne. There are many sects among them, bnt all mnst turn towards the temple of Mecca when they pray. Most of their rites are exactly like the Jew- ish ceremonies. . Fighting for their faith is one of their sacred duties, and if one dies in the battle he is counted a martyr and goes to heaven without passing through judgment. Mohammedan heaven is something like a pleasure palace of an Indian Mohammed- monarch. There are gardens of deli- an heaven, cjous fruits, rivers of sweet wine, be- sides seventy nymphs allotted to each person as wives. The Old and New Testaments are believed to be abrogated; the Koran being the last revelation is alone in force. There are three great festivals a- mong Mohammedans. 1. ID-UL-FETK. After the fasting month is over they assemble together in a mosque or in the open air for public worship. This is called Id-ul-Fetr. MOHAMMEDANISM. 149 150 India's millions. 2. id-uj-joha. The same day that the Pilgrimage is made in Mecca, all over the Moham- medan world they have another as- sembly like the one just mentioned. That day they sacrifice cows, kids or camels in commemoration of the sac- rifice of Isaac by Abraham. 3. MUHAKKAM. This is the celebration of the anni- versary of the death of Mohammed's grandchildren and their family at the hands of their enemy. The story is a sad and ]3athetic one. During this time pious Mohammedans feed the poor and give alms. One sect of Mohammed- ans, called ''Shiahs," go through the streets in sad procession, beating their breasts with sorrow, carrying a rep- lesentation of the supposed tomb of the grandsons of Mohammed. Mohammedans believe that their Visit to heav- P^^P^^^^ went Up to heaven, visited the en. departed saints, and saw the suffer- ings of sinners in hell. He had an in- terview with God, who honored the prophet by making him to sit down up- on his throne. Mohammed is believed to be the friend of God, whereas other SIKHISM. 151 prophets are only the servants of God. They also believe that at the day of judgment none but Mohammed will be able to intercede for the people. God will hear what Mohammed says and send people to heaven at his request. Mohammed Christians will be ashamed that day, intercedes. because they call Jesus the Son of God, which according to the Mohammedan idea is rank blasphemy. They also believe in a purgatory, Purgatory. where Mohammedans will be for a while for the purging of their sins un- til the term of their punishment is over. Then they mil also go to heaven. They believe the Christians are all de- luded by the devil, little knowing that ( Q they themselves are forsaking the only i? . ^ way to heaven and the only means of l-^^< salvation, which is by Jesus Christ our Lord. ' SiKliism. Sikhism is an attempt to unite Hin- duism with Mohammedanism, but has proved a failure. It is fast falling ^ rounder. back on old Hinduism. Its founder, Nanak, was born near Lahore in 1469 Book. 152 A. D. There have been several other leaders following after his death. All their sayings are recorded in a book called Granth Sahib (the book), which is considered to be their only teacher at present. They number about 2,000,000, and are found mostly in the Punjab. The following interesting conversa- tion of Sir Monier Williams with a KSikh gives an insight into their relig- ion. "Only the other day I met an intelligent Sikh from the Punjab, and asked him about his relig- ion. He replied, 'I am no idolater; I believe in Idea of Qj-j^g QqJ^ ^^^^ J repeat my prayers, called Japjee, sanctity. every morning and evening. These prayers occupy six pages of print, but I can get through them in little more than ten minutes.' He seemed to pride himself on this rapid recitation as a work of in- creased merit." ' ' T said, * What else does your religion require of you?' He replied, *I have made one pilgrimage to a holy well near Amritsar. Eighty-five steps lead down to it. I descended and bathed in the sacred pool. Then I ascended one step and re- peated my Japjee with great rapidity. Then 1 descended again to the pool, and bathed again, and ascended to the second step and repeated my prayers a second time. Then I descended a third time, and ascended to the third step and repeated my Japjee a third time, and so on for the whole eighty-five steps, eighty-five bathings and eighty- five repetitions of the same prayer. It took me SIKHISM. 153 exactly fourteen hours, from 5 P. M. one evening to 7 A. M. the next morning, and I fasted all the time, ' ' ' r asked, ' What good did you expect to get by going through this task?' He replied, 'I hope i have laid up an abundant store of merit, which will last me for a long time. ' ' ' This is only one of many such sto- ries that can be narrated to show the ill directed earnestness of the people to please God and to escape judgment. What will not people do to get salva- tion? HINDU ASCETICS. 15^ INDIA S MILLIONS. A HINDU ASCETIC WITH ONE STIFF HAND AND ARM. Christianity in India. Pantaenus. From a very earlj^ period Indian merchants began to carry on trade with Arabia, Persia and Europe. It is supposed that an Indian merchant, j^^^j^ ^^^ having learned about Christ at Alex- chants. andria in Eg^^pt, requested the bishop at that place to send them a Christian teacher, and accordingly, it is believed, Pantspnus was sent to India in A. D. 180. About the third century a Chris- tian missionary named Theophilus visited India and found Christianity planted in some parts of the country. Besides there is a tradition that Thomas, one of the twelve, came to In- dia in his missionary tours. There is a hill in Madras where he is said to have been impaled by a Hindu king, and the place is called Mt. *St. Thomas even to-day. Be that as it may, there is no doubt that Syrian fT*.^" -^ ' "^ Christians. Christians came to India at an early 155 St. Thomas. 156 INDIA S MlioLlOKS. Roman Cath- olics. Protestants. Statistics. date and settled on the southwest coast, where their descendants are still liv- ing. They number over 600,000 in the Malabar coast. Next came the Roman Catholics. Francis Xavier was their first mission- ary in 1542 A. D. Protestant missions began to work from 1706 A. D., but it was not until 1813 that the country was thrown open to the gospel. To-day there are ninety-three for- eign missionary societies in India, with 3,736 missionaries, and 23,000 native workers, in 1,256 stations and 5,367 out-stations. The native com- municants number 376,617, and the other native adherents, 591,310. Ac- cording to another authority the Piotestant Christians number 1,100, 804, while the total number of persons professing Christianity in that land, Protestants, Eoman Catholics, and all others, is 2,923,349. Evang'elization of India. A worshiping being. * ' The duty of all Christians towards missions has been summed up in these words : ' GO. let go. HELP GO.' " Man by nature is a worshiping be- ing. Human history, both ancient and modern, sacred and profane, emphat- ically proves beyond all controversy that however degraded and degener- ated a nation may be, however crude and uncultivated their manners and customs may be, and to whatever coun- try or nationality they may belong, they possess a universal instinct, which shows itself in religious forms and ceremonies. Plutarch, the famous „ ' Plutarch. Greek biographer, says: ''You may see states without walls, without laws, without coins, without writings; but a people without a god, without prayer, without religious exercises and sacri- fices, has no man seen." Cicero, the cicero. distinguished Roman orator, says, "Among men there is no people so 157 158 India's millions. wild and savage as not to know that tliey must have a god, even if they do not know which one/' The past dark history of the Pagan world clearly shows that they did not Pagan world, really know which one of the gods to worship. So they began to worship anything that struck them as extra- ordinary in nature, until there could hardly be found, either in heaven a- bove, or in earth below, any object, animate or inanimate, which they did not worship as god. In India the number of gods began to swell from day to day until they reached the overwhelming number of Gods in India. 330^000,000, while the entire popula- tion of the country is only 300,000, 000; so the number of their gods ex- ceeded the number of the people. Think of it ! In India there are more gods than there are people. Only a few years ago a man lived in the north- ern suburb of Calcutta, a Hindu ascet- ic, who is now worshiped by thousands as the incarnation of God. They can not help it. They must worship some- thing, somebody ! The question comes to us who have EVANGELIZATIOK OF INDIA. 159 the light of life, the true knowledge of the living Grod— What will they wor- what will ship ? Shall we give them a knowledge *hey wor- of the true God and give them a chance ^^'''^ to worship him, or shall we let them go on in their ignorance and darkness, to live and die in abominable superstition and despair? John Stewart Mill, the distin- guished English atheist, used to say that he was an atheist, not because he j. s. Mill. had a god and rejected him because he did not like him, but because he had never had a god. They never gave him one to worship. His father, James Mill, the famous historian, wanted to train his child according to his own way. So at an early age he was introduced to the Greek and Ro- man philosophers, and before twelve, he mastered them all. He was not al- lowed to mix with the other boys of the neighborhood, lest they should charge his mind with noxious ideas. He lived among books and communed with phi- losophers from his tender years. He did not get to see an English Bible un- til he was twenty. All religious teach- ing and Christian ideas were careful- 160 INDIA S MILLIONS. Why an atheist? Question of questions. ly kept back from him. Is it any won- der that he became what he did? He became a skeptic and an atheist. Probably he would never have denied the existence of God if he had been given a god to worship. But alas ! he had never had a God to worship, until his mind was all distorted out of shape with dry philosophy and vain rhetoric of the old world, like the feet of a Chi- nese lady, placed in an iron shoe when she is a mere baby, so that when she grows up to be a woman, her feet re- main as small as ever, and she can scarcely walk upright. Who was to blame for it? He or his father? India 's millions are groping in dark- ness, crying for light, searching for God; but what shall they worship? Wood, stone or animals? or shall they have a knowledge of the living God? is the question of questions to 3^ou and to me to-day. What shall they wor- ship ? Krishna of myth, or the Christ of God ? ' ^ How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preach- EVAIfGELIZATIOlT OF INDIA. 161 er*? and how shall they preach, except they be sentr' Rom. 10: 14, 15. Dear readers, that means you and me. Our blessed Redeemer made a complete plan of salvation for all man- kind, ^^for the grace of God hath ap- Salvation peared, bringing salvation to all men. ' ' *** ^"* Titus 2 : 11. He has employed you and me to carry this gospel to the utter- most parts of the world. He has left that command with us. The last words of our parting friends make the great- est impressions upon our minds, and we remember them the longest. Know- ing this, our blessed Savior reserved the most important of his commands for the last. He left this most impor- tant injunction with his loving disci- ples at the last scene when he was about to leave them. Do you remem- ber that command yet, or have you forgotten? Do you realize it is bind- ing upon you still? It is a command as much binding as any other in the volume of the Book. ''Go ye there- fore, and make disciples of all the na- tions, . . . teaching them to observe all *'^'**|"9 com- ' ^ mand. things whatsoever I commanded you. ' ' ''He that believeth and is baptized Test of love. 162 India's millions. shall be saved; but he that disbeliev- eth shall be condemned.'' Mat. 28: 19; Mark 16:16. ^^If ye love me,'' says Christ, ^'keep my commandments." Do we love him? are we keeping his commands 1 ^ ^ Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ?' ' Lnke 6 : 46. The greatest of the apostles, who had the most of Christ 's mind, realized his duty so well, that he exclaimed with fervor: *'Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" '^I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians." Do we feel that way? I fear some of us do not, and perhaps the only reason is we do not feel our obligation the same. Tlie Necessity of Evan- gelization. The worw rj.]^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ Christ. There is needs Christ. no other name under heaven given among men whereby we may be saved. There is salvation in none other. **I am the way, the truth and the life," says Jesus ; ''No man cometh unto the Father but by me." If we study hu- man cravings and the a^^pirations of human souls we clearly find they all NECESSITY OF EVANGELIZATION. 163 want to go to the Father, and yet we know from the words of Jesus that they can not go there eixcept through him. Therefore if they are going to he saved and go there, it must be through Jesus. He alone can deliver them from the power and penalty of sin. Hundreds of millions are living in gross darkness to-day, steeped in sin, idolatry and superstition. Christ has made their salvation possible through his own death. He is able to save them to the uttermost. His plan of salva- tion is wonderfully adapted to all hu- manity, and all are capable of appro- jhey are ca priating it by faith and of being de- pabie of re livered from sin and corruption. Now the important question to ask is, ^ * Shall hundreds of millions now liv- ing, who need Christ and are capable of receiving help from him, pass away without having even the opportunity to know him 1 ' ' To prove the great need of Christ for the salvation of the heathen we need hardly go outside of our own ex- perience. We know very well how we need Christ, how we can not do without ceiving Him. Our own ex- perience. 164 INDIANS MILLIONS. him. Do not these sin-benighted heathen need him much more"? Does not this very fact emphatically plead for the evangelization of the heathen and make the duty of preaching the gospel to every creature the im- perative dnty of saved men and women who profess to have received the grace of God in their hearts ? "Freely ye have received, freely give." At the birth of our Lord, angels came from heaven to announce the glorious gospel to the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem, and it was good tidings of great joy to all the for all the" people. Did the shepherds think they people. were the sole proprietors of the mes- sage! No; they hastened to the city and ''made known concerning the say- ing which was spoken to them about this child." Luke 2:17. They knew that they were only entrusted with the message as stewards (1 Cor. 4:1), and they owed to others, who had just as much right to it as they had. What a wrong it would be to keep this pearl of great price hidden from millions of men and women who have equal right Good tidings KECESSITY OF EVANGELIZATION. 165 with US to this heavenly treasure! What selfishness would it be to de- prive more than half the human race We are stew- of this wonderful blessing, which we enjoy to-day! God has given us this talent, he has committed unto us the ' ' word of reconciliation, ' ' not to tie in the napkin and hide in the earth, but to proclaim it to others, to whom we are debtors in this respect. We should put ourselves in their po- sition, and realize their need, and our duty. We were once in darkness, with- Golden rule. out God a'hd without hope in the world. if others who had the gospel had not preached to us, where would we be to-day? ' 'As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Luke 6: 31. A plaintive cry came over the briny deep from distant Macedonia to the Asiatic shore, calling for gospel help, and the great heart of Paul was Macedonian touched with compassion. He came cry. across and preached the word of life unto them, and as a result Europe and America are what they are to-day. Had not that cry been heard and at- 166 India's miiiLions. tended to, had Asia been careless about dark benighted Europe, there would have been no Christian missions in the West to-day ; probably England would have been still in ignorance and su- perstition, and America would never have been discovered —there would have been no United States. Now since Asia has given the gos- pel to Europe, and through Europe to America, is it too much for them to ask for light and truth in return, when she has lost her primitive light and forgotten what first belonged to her? Since their abundance became quality. ^ supply to your wants in the past, is it too much that your abundance may be a supply at this present time (while they are in gross darkness) for their want of truth and the gospel of sal- vation? Does not the law of equality require the same, so that there may be equality, as it is written, ^'He thai had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack"? 2 Cor. 8:14, 15. True piety should stir all earnest Christians to real activity, for, ^'If our religion is not true," to use the expression of NECESSITY OP EVANGETjIZATIOK. 167 another, "we ought to change it; if it is true, we are bound to propagate what we believe to be the truth." Tl^is duty is not only incumbent upon a favored few, nor is it a self- imposed obligation upon ourselves, but it is the duty of the whole church, imposed upon her by our blessed Sa- Labor of love. vior, as a labor of love and not an irksome bondage. It would never do to excuse ourselves from this individ- ual obligation by thinking that others will do it all right; I need not do it, I am only one, and it does not matter if one does not take part in it. As every member of the body has some function to perform in order to keep health and strength, so every mem- ber of the body of Christ has a part Every one in this all-important matter of preach- **«* ^ p^"^ *® ing the gospel to the unevangelized nations. There was a king who dug a tank and desired it filled with milk. He or- dered all the milkmen of his kingdom to bring a pound of milk on a certain night and pour it into the tank— a pound from each one would fill the tank according to his calculation. 168 INDIA'S MniTJONS. The disap- pointed king. More heath- en at his coming? Neglect of known duty is sin. The next morning he rose early and came to see his tank filled with milk, but, alas ! to his great surprise it was filled with water. The astonjlshed king, having a curiosity to know how it happened, summoned the milkmen, each of whom was supposed to have poured a pound of milk into the tank. Each and all replied, saying that he thought that all the others would do their duty all right, and as he was only one it would not make much dif- ference if one should pour in a pound of water instead of milk. So all poured in water instead of milk. Our King has left us with the in- junction to evangelize the world, and is gone to prepare a place for us. When he comes back shall he find the heathen converted and become his followers 1 or will they have increased a hundredfold, so that he will find a 1 undred times more heathen upon his return than when he left? Again, if the evangelization of the heathen nations is our duty, neglect of duty is disobedience, and continued disobedience is sin. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin NECESSITY OF EVANGEUZATION. 169 that grace may abound'? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any- longer live therein r' Rom. 6:1, 2. Is there not a danger of our losing the grace of God if we continue in in- difference as to this important work? Who knows how much of our spiritual stagnation and want of progress is to be attributed to this sad neglect? May we not forget that the glorious prom- ise of our Lord's abiding presence was granted us directly in connection with this command (see Mat. 28:19, Promises and 20), and also that the promise of the conditions. baptism of the Holy Ghost was in connection with our witnessing for our Lord to the uttermost parts of the earth? How often do we desire his glorious blessings, forgetting altogeth- er the conditions upon which they are given ! If then it is our duty to evangelize the world, it is our duty to do it at once. The need is great, the demand is urgent. Souls are dying every hour —every second going down to the bot- tomless abyss, doomed to everlasting destruction; if we mean to do any- thing to save them, we have to do it Urgent need. 170 now. The house is on fire, danger is imminent, and if we onght to stretch forth our energy we must of necessity do it at once. We can hardly afford to neglect our present duty in this matter and hope that the coming generation will take Can not be {f^ ^p^ ' ' It is not possible for the com- next genera- ^^S generation to discharge the duties tion. of the present, whether it respects their repentance, faith or works; and to commit to them our share of preach- ing Christ to the heathen, is like com- mitting to them the love due from us to God and our neighbor. The Lord will require of us that which is com- mitted to us." Yet the devil with all his agents is The devil is ^^^y at work. They are not commit- busy. ting their soul-destroying, infernal work to the next generation. Thou- sands of gallons of poisonous drinks are being annually imported from Europe, and hundreds of tons of to- bacco from America; ship-loads of fancy goods and perfumes are carried over from Germany and France; teachers of Hinduism and Buddhism are being recruited from Europe and NECESSITY OF EVANGELIZATION. 171 America to teach idolatry and super- stition in India!* The rising gener- ation of India is hopelessly drifting ^^^J"j^„^^"" fast along the perilous stream of lux- ury and vice introduced by West- ern civilization. Besides there are 4,500,000 students in the primary schools, 151,000 educational institu- tions, with 16,000 college students; 7,000 volumes pouring every year from 2,200 Indian presses, v^ith 700 newspapers and 500 periodicals scat- tering the superstitious and erroneous teachings among 14,000,000 readers in India. Western education is knocking people's old faiths and prejudices, but what shall take the place of the old abandoned notions 1 Educated people railing into are fast falling into indifference and '"difference. apathy to all religious thoughts, and superstition and bigotry are yielding place to rank materialism and avowed skepticism for want of proper Chris- tian teaching and Holy Grhost demon- stration. This vast host of young scholars * Mrs. Annie Besant, of France; Miss Nlvedita, of Amer- ica, and others. Dreadful influence. 172 will soon have passed through their academical career and become the leaders of the rising generation, hold- ing leading positions in society. As a matter of fact only a very limited number (two out of a hundred) is ac- cessible after they enter life. Hence it is absolutely certain, that if they are to be won for Christ, they ought to be won at once. If not, their skeptic influence will contaminate the great host of younger folks, 117,000,000 boys and girls in India ! How can we ever hope to stem the progress of this dreadful influence and save this ris- ing generation in our day, unless we be in dead earnest about the evangel- ization of India, and make it the busi- ness of our lives and set to work with all our might at once? Criminal Silence. ''And it came to pass after this, that Ben- hadad, king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they be- sieged it, until an ass's head was sold for four- score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my CKIMINAL SILENCE. 173 lord, O king. And lie said, If Jehovah do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? Out of the threshing-floor, or out of the wine-press? And the king said unto her. What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will eat my son to-morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; (now he was passing by upon the wall;) and the people looked, and behold he had sackcloth within upon his flesh." ''Now there were four leprous men at the en- tering in of the gate: and they said one to an- other. Why sit we here untU we die? If we say. We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they were come to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host : . . . wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment and went and hid it; and they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. ' ' Then they said one to another. We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we 174 INDIA S MIIXIONS. Famine in Samaria. Abundance of food. The lepers stop and think. hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, punishment will overtake us [or our iniquity will find us out] ; now therefore come, let us go and tell the king's household.'' 2 Kings 6:24-30; 7 : 3-9. There was a great famine in Sa- maria and a terrible suffering with- in the city walls. People were dying for want of food, and in their hunger, condescended to eat abominable things that were not food at all. The king of the country could not help the fam- ishing multitude. Behold the salvation of God! Noth- ing to be done, everything prepared and ready, simply to take possession and eat. These lepers found the secret and began to enjoy it to their hearts' content, and giving way to natural avarice and selfishness, they began to get hold of gold, silver and raiment and to hide them. Their conscience smote them, and convicted them of their wrong-doing. One of them ex- claimed, ^^We do not well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace : if we tarry till the morning light, punishment will overtake us [or cur iniquity will find us out].'' They could not hold their peace and keep CKIMINAL. SILENCE. 175 silent about the wonderful glad tidings witliont being guilty of selfishness and wrong. Beloved, this is the day of good tid- ings—the glorious dispensation of the tj^Lgs?'** grace of God, that bringeth salvation to all men. There is a terrible famine raging within the walled city of India, steeped in idolatry and sin, sur- rounded by impervious superstition and thick prejudice— a famine not so much of bread and water, but of the Word of God and a true knowledge of the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. And yet we are enjoying the full blessings of salvation, heavenly peace, celestial joy, and divinest com- fort, to our fullest content. What shall we do now? Shall we gather all these, so richly prepared for all, and hide them in our land? This salva- tion was not prepared for us alone, no more than those spoils were meant . for the four lepers alone; they were fortunate enough to find it out first, but that did not lessen their duty at all. The Lord meant that a ^^ measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in Our trust. Punishment will overtake us. 176 India's millions. the gate of Samaria'' (2 Kings 7:1); but how could it come to pass, if these men had not gone and told ^^the king's household ' ' f Certainly the Lord meant that they should. Now, what about our trust? ^'The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Hab. 2:14. '^This gospel [Grreek, good tidings, see Ee- vised Version— margin] of the king- dom shall be preached in the whole world [inhabited earth] for a testi- mony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come." Mat. 24: 14. How shall the whole earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord like the water of the sea, if we who have heard it do not run to and fro to proclaim the same'? This is the day of good tidings, and if we hold our peace we do not well. If we tarry in our indifference and in- activity until the day of the Lord ap- pears with blazing light, at the dawn of the judgment-day, at his coming in glory, surely punishment will over- take us. Do we not remember the ter- rible fate of the wicked servant, who DARK INDIA. 177 hid his talent in the earth (confining the blessing in the land), without thinking of the '^regions beyond/' suffering with extreme hunger and thirst for God? May we not be over- taken with punishment at his coming'? caution. for ''it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." May God give us wisdom and guidance un- to a proper realization of our respon- sibility and a faithful perfoi*mance of our portion of this all-important duty. ' ' They that turn many to righteousness [shall shine] as the stars forever and ever. . . . Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. ' ' Dan. 12 : 3, 4. DARK INDIA. Written by Mildred E. Howard of Payne. O.. while lis- tening to a discourse on India's needs— July 26, 1903. Across Atlantic's waters, And India's ocean passed; There lives in India's country A people great and vast, Who need to hear the story Of Jesus' dying love, Of heaven's gain and glory. And Christian's home above. 12 178 India's millions. Oh, could you hear the story Of India's mighty host, Without your heart o'erswelling With pity for the lost? If God should call us over To rescue some dear soul. Would you or I be willing To tell how Christ makes whole? Oh, when I think of India, With precious souls in sin, My heart is stirred within me. That they might hear of Him Who died on Calvary's mountain, That they and we be free By washing in the fountain — India, 'twas too for thee. O God! My heart is bleeding! I think of thy great love, Then why should I not gently Lead them to Christ above? *0 God, save ''India's Millions" From darkest, blackest night! Oh, save their precious souls, And bring them into light! ''With gospel truth unshaken. Their souls we seek to reach; Our native land forsaken. Precious truths to ever teach. " From Darkness into I^i^Kt. Born and bronght up as I was in a Mohammedan family— a race of peo- ple noted for tlieir stern prejudice and ^ ^ '^ Born a Mo- blind bigotry— I had very little oppor- hammedan. tunity to learn the truth as it is in Jesus, and my conversion has been a wonderful miracle of the grace of God, which drew, as it were, a sinner like me out of the dire darkness of heathenism and worldliness, into the marvelous light of our Lord Jesus Christ— the Light of the world. The earliest recollection of any Word of God that I can think of is the Early impres- preaching of a Christian evangelist in a market-place to the effect that a man could not get to heaven simply by say- ing his prayers, or observing his fast ; neither by performing ceremonial ab- lutions, such as a Mohammedan is very punctilious about; but that pu- rity of heart was an indispensable ne- cessity, and an inseparable requisite 179 sions. Pure heart. 180 INDIA S MILLIONS, to an entrance into that eternal bliss. Though I was very young at this time, this new thought struck me consider- ably, and made an impression in my tender heart and teachable mind. Parable of the sower. A BENGALI HOME. About four years later I met an English missionary, who spoke to us the parable of the sower. I was at that time in a country town, attending school. The parable made an impres- FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 181 sion on my mind whicli could not be easily effaced. I bought several Christian books from him, among which there was a copy of the New Testament in English. Soon after this there came a Mo- hammedan priest from Arabia, who claimed to be a descendant of their a Moham- Prophet. He was highly esteemed teacher. and honored by the Mohammedans, and people flocked to him from all quarters. I also went to him, listened to his preaching, and after a ceremo- nial repentance, became his disciple. At this time there came a change in the ^ bigoted ^ T p -r 1 Mohammed- course 01 my liie. 1 became a very ^^ bigoted and zealous follower of Mo- hammed, the Prophet of Arabia. I began to obey the details of the Mo- hammedan law and tradition with re- gard to all the religious ceremonies and rites in spite of repeated remon- strances of indifferent and worldly Mohammedan friends, who thought I was going a little too far in religion. Earnestness was in my nature, and, ^ ' What is worth doing, is worth doing well, ' ' was my favorite motto. A short time afterward there came k 182 INDIA S MILLIONS. Interview with Chris- tian evange- lists. High school. Tired of Mohammed- anism. some other Christian evangelists of the Australian Baptist denomination, to which the previous ones also be- longed; and having some interviews with them some of my superstitious notions were removed, though I was a staunch follower of Mohammed even then. The next year I left that town for the county-seat of the district to at- tend high school, as my course in the country school was over. Though a faithful and tenacious follower of Mo- hammedan law, and a zealous observ- er of the duties enjoined by their system— praying five times a day at stated hours, fasting during the entire month of Ram j an (of the Moham^ medan year), and the rest of the whole paraphernalia of Pharisaic ecclesiasti- cism and self-righteous worship— I soon got tired of these vain cere^ monies and meaningless mummeries, which could not give me any peace or happiness. Unconsciously, as it were, I gradually lost a great deal of my zeal and earnestness— I had almost said, faith not according to knowl- edge. I became a moralist in fact^ FEOM DARKNESS INTO MGHT. 183 thougli remaining a Mohammedan in theory. I had never dreamed of be- coming a Christian. I believed that Pi'ejud'ced the Christians were all deluded and deceived by the devil, and there was no nse of searching the Bible for trnth. I went so far as to publicly and pri- vately instruct and admonish people not to read any Christian literature, or to go to the missionaries ; but it was Conquered hard for me to ^ ' kick against the ^* '^*** pricks." Soon I had to exclaim like the apostate Julian, the emperor of Home, ^'Thou Nazarene hast con- quered at last." My attention was attracted to the words of Jesus Christ upon hearing a part of the Sermon on the Mount, sermon on and a faint desire to read the Bible the mount. was awakened in me. Not long after this, one Sunday afternoon as I was studying in my room, a friend of mine came to me and in course of conversa- tion proposed the study of the Bible. It did not take me long to decide, for my heart was just prepared to receive the light. I was quite tired of myself. I had tried all possible means of salvation 184 INDIA S MILLIONS. Battle with sin. A turning- point. Mission House. from sin without success. I had adopted a habit of writing a diary of my daily life and conduct, in order to check vice and avoid bad habits; but alas ! when one sin would be checked, ten others would raise their heads. I was indeed trying by works to bring about my own salvation, and was heav^^-laden with myself and my sin. So the suggestion to go to the Ohris- tian missionaries and to study the Bible recommended itself to me by holding a faint hope in a glimmering light. I at once fell in with the proposal, and we both started for the Mission House, saying, ^' Never leave till to-morrow what you can do to-day." This was August 6, 1893. There was a Bible class conducted by a Miss Ehrenburg in the mission house belonging to the Australian Baptist Mission, and I became a student in this class. But not being satisfied with only one lesson in the week I asked if we could have a lesson every evening, to which she readily assented. We went but twice together, when my friend had to stop his Bible study, as his uncle became very much FE-OM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 185 jpposed to it, fearing lest he should become a Christian; but I continued my study alone, never missing a les- son, no matter what happened. I had Bible study. a zeal for the sacred study, and I was driven to it, as it were, by an unseen force. The more I read the Word of God, the more fond I became of read- ing; and began to see such wonderful light and truth in the Bible, by which all my prejudice and ignorance was dispelled and driven away like a dark cloud before the strong wind. In three months I read the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles through, and learned the wonderful story of Jesus Christ and his love to me. I learned that he died for my sins and after- wards rose from the dead, which I never knew before (for although the Mohammedans believe Jesus to be a proxjhet, yet they deny his crucifix- ion and resurrection). It was at this time that my father died, and I had to go home, fifty miles Father's from this county-seat of Mymensing, **®®*^' East Bengal, where I was at school. God in his infinite wisdom and love thus gave me a foretaste of heavenly 186 INDIA S MILLIONS. bliss before this severe trial came, and I was sustained through it all. Had it not been for this I would have wan- dered far from God and plunged head- long into the world. Back to study. Persecution begins. A COUNTRY ROAD. After a month I went to Mymensing again and resumed my Bible study. This now became known among the Mohammedan community of the city, and they began persecution on ac- count of my frequent visits to the Mission House. My Mohammedan friends began to call, and by their ar- guments tried to prove the falsity of Bible truth. But instead of destroy- FEOM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 187 ing my faith in Christ they rather con- ^^^^ finned it. In their discussions they strength- only exposed their own ignorance and ®"®*'* mistaken notions about the economy ox the grace of God. At last they warned me with threat- ening not to go to the Mission House, or to study the Bible. But it was too late, I could not now comply with their foolish request. I continued my study. One Sunday, after the class, the class-leader asked me to stay be- hind. She knew something about the Memorable persecution I was undergoing, and Sunday. was praying for me. She knew I loved Jesus and loved the truth. So she asked me what I thought of accepting Christ. I replied, ^^I will receive him when I grow up an independent man of some position after I leave school." ''Don't you believe in Christ?" she said. ''Yes, indeed," I replied. "Do you believe he died for your sins and rose again?" she asked again. I replied in the alBfirm- ative. ' ' Do you believe you are a sin- ner," she asked again. I said I was. Then she said that if I knelt down and confessed my sins to Jesus, aban- 188 INDIA S MILLIONS. Led to decision. Terrible struggle. Awful burden. Entire surrender. doning myself as a sinner, and ac- cepted him as my Lord and Savior by faith, I would be a Christian. ''Is it so easy and simpler' I exclaimed in surprise. I was expecting some elab- orate initiatory ceremonies to intro- duce me to Christ. It was almost too good to believe. She then asked me if I was ready to kneel down and make the confession to tiesus and accept him as my Savior. I consented, and we both knelt down in that little class-room, and she began to pray that I might make the proper decision and have faith in God. As she was praying the heavens seemed to have fallen on my head, and the awful burden of sin almost crushed me to death. The whole power of hell, and the entire diabolical force seemed to be let loose to keep me from praying. I was feeling awfully burdened, and al- most choked. Anything but a decision and a complete separation unto Grod. It was indeed a death struggle, in which I had to grapple with the very power of the infernal region. But the victory came at last, and when the time came to pray, I opened my mouth, and Victory. FEOM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 189 my heart, too, and cried nnto my Savior, ^^Have mercy upon me— a sin- ner. " Oh, the divine comfort and heavenly peace that came into my heart! Oh, the joy unspeakable and full of glory that filled and thrilled my entire soul! All heaviness, all burden disappeared in a moment, and I rose up from my knees a new crea- ture—happy and glad— singing and praising the Lord. I could scarcely find expression to give vent to the outbursts of joy within my soul. This was the 3d of December, 1893, Happy day. and it was a memorable day indeed— a remarkable crisis in my life. When- ever I think of it now, with joy and gladness I sing to myself : ''Happy clay! happy day When Jesus washed my sins away; He taught me how to watch and pray, And live rejoicing every day, Happy day! happy day When Jesus washed my sins away," From this time there was a wonder- ful change in my life. My affections and desires were all changed, and my manner of life was renewed. I began to read the Word of God every morn- ing and evening and spend time in Christian life. 190 INDIA S MIIXIONS. A secret believer. A scientific impossibility. prayer, also go to worship on Sun- days. But one thing was lacking yet. I was not bold enough to make a pub- lic confession. I would testify in my class at the school, but did not con- fess the Lord before society. In fact, I became, what is often to be found in India, a secret believer. I did not think much of baptism, and thought T would put it off until I finished my academic career and entered inde- pendent life. As a light can never be hidden un- der a bushel, and even if one attemp- ted such a scientific impossibility, either the light will go out for want of oxygen gas, which is indispensable to any combustion, or it will burn the bushel and come out in a greater blaze. A Christian can never hold his peace, ^ ' for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.'' Eom. 10 : 10. So it came to pass that I had to confess him openly. In January, 1894, there was an an- nual meeting of the Australian Bap- tist Mission in Mymensing, aud sever- al ministers and evangelists came to FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 191 attend the same. Special gospel ad- spedar dresses were delivered for the stn- meetings. dents and the educated native gentle- men. They were a great help to me, and stimulated my faith to a great ex- tent. It was during these meetings that I had an interview with Mr. B. A. Nag, interview. a Baptist evangelist of Dacca, East Bengal, who presented to me the need of baptism. I saw it clearly as a com-' mandment of the New Testament, and yet was not quite ready for it. Bap- tism for an Indian convert means a What bap- complete separation from his own *'**",'" '"^''^ ^ ^ involves. father and mother, brothers and sis- ters—yea, all that are near and dear to him after the flesh; he has to die to reputation and good name, popu- larity and public opinion ; he must be utterly forsaken by his own friends, who almost invariably become his bit- terest enemies as soon as he is bap- tized. I looked confused at my friend's question regarding the subject, and I told him I was not clear as to my duty concerning the same. I presented to him the difficulty of the position, and he assured me that God was well 192 INDIA S MILLIONS. Perplexed Definite Prayer. able to counter act all possible evil, and when my father and my mother forsook me, the Lord would takeme up. ''Believest thou this!" he asked. I saw it clearly in my head, but did not feel like saying, ^'Yea," from my heart. After prayer I left him with a promise to answer his question in the affirmative the next day after having had prayer at home. I shall never forget the state of my mind that day and the night follow- ing. I was altogether restless with the thought that T was not wholly for God, and the thought of the tremen- dous loss from a worldly standpoint was also a great perplexity to me. 1 spent the night in much prayer, but was no better. In the morning I be- came more earnest and fervently prayed for grace. I begged God to reveal his will concerning the matter. At last in my extreme embarrassment I asked a sign of the Lord. I said, ''Lord, after prayer I shall open the Bible, and wherever it opens, I desire that thou shalt speak to me thy mind from there. ' ' I got up from my knees and opened the Bible, and the message FKOM DAKKNESS IKTO LIGHT. 193 the Lord gave me was 2 Chr. 16 : 9. It reads: ^'Tlie eyes of the Lord run Remarkable to and fro throughont the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.'' Though I had never read the pas- sage before, the whole thing was clear as daylight to me. I saw how my heart was not perfect toward him. I saw how anxious the Lord was to tind such as are wholly for himself, and how he is anxious to show forth his almighty power in their behalf. The whole . Difficulty problem was clear to me. I exclaimed, cleared. ' ' Yea, Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief. ' ' The struggle was all over, and the unrest and confusion all gave way to the heavenly joy and divine peace that filled my entire being. I was at rest. I was very anxious to go to the Mission House to tell my friend about my experience, but I had to go to school. As soon as the school was over I ran to the Mission House, and told my friend that I was able to re- Ready for ply to his question in the affirmative, baptism, and that I was also willing to be bap- 13 194 INDIA S MIUilONS. The Lord's voice. Examination at school. tized. I need scarcely add that they were as glad as I was. The next question to' settle now was, '^WhenV^ I was not ready to give an immediate reply, but I knew how to get it, which Miss Ehrenburg at once suggested. She said it would be bet- ter if we asked the Lord to reveal this matter to us. We began to pray, and after a while as we were praying I heard a voice saying, ^^Now is the ac- cepted time; now is the day of salva- tion.'' I perceived it was the Lord speaking to my soul, though I had never read that in the Bible. (I had read no more than the four Gospels, Acts, and B.omans at that time.) The whole question was settled, and I was ready for baptism ; but as it was too late for that day, it was decided that I should be baptized the next morning, which was the first opportu- . nity for observing the ordinance,. Now, our annual examination was to commence the next day, which ought to keep every student busy in the morning; but I thought I must first obey the Lord, and then go in for the examination in his strength. FKOM DAEKNESS INTO LIGHT. 195 Early in the moming the next day I came to the Mission House, and as I was waiting for the minister I re- ceived a letter from a Christian friend, . , ^ A remark- a missionary, expressing her surprise able (etter. that I was not yet baptized, and hoped that I would be in a position to say when replying to her letter that I was already baptized. She gave me much encouraging counsel on following Christ and taking up the cross. This was indeed a remarkable in- cident, for the Lord caused her to write this letter to encourage my heart while waiting for baptism. The letter was written before it was decided that I should be baptized that morning. Soon after I was baptized, and as I was coming up out of the water, oh, the joy unspeakable and full of glory that filled my soul in obeying my Lord, and being conformed to his death by burial! I could scarcely refrain from exclaiming for joy like the Queen of sheba. Sheba at Solomon's palace: "Even the half of it was not told me before. ' ' After my baptism I went to my friends ' in the city where I was living, and told them the whole story. They 196 INDIA S MILLIONS. Change of home. Consolation from an un- expected source. . News reach- es home. were unwilling tliat I should stay witli them any longer. So I had to remove to a Christian home, where the Lord directed me in answer to prayer. As soon as I was baptized the news spread through the city, and my friends turned against me, and the teachers and students in the school be- came my enemies. But the Lord pre- pares a table for his beloved in the presence of his enemies; so when I went to school, one of the teachers came near me, as I was sitting in the examination room, and wrote on a piece of paper words of encourage- ment and comfort, congratulating me upon my baptism. It was a great sur- prise to me to find that Hindu teacher expressing his mind in that way. He giveth water even from the rock. Persecution went on as the days passed by, and in the meantime my own people at home got to hear about my baptism. Nothing could be more unwelcome and unpleasant to them than this news. It was worse than the news of my death would have been to them ; but my uncle was not altogether disheartened; he would by no means FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 197 keep quiet without trying once for ail to persuade me from the faith. So he came to the city with several men, ^"^le lying in and lay in wait for me. As I was going to school, they suddenly appeared from behind the banyan trees and took hold of me, and putting me into - T . , ^ Captured on a closed carriage, drove away irom ^^^ ^^y ^^ the city towards home. As they got school. hold of me I had only time to breathe a prayer, asking God to be with me as he was with Joseph when he was sold to the Ishmaelitish merchants and car- ried away into Egypt. They told me my grandmother was seriously ill, and they must therefore take me home. There was no other al- ternative but to yield. My Christian carried friends did not know anything about *'<""®* it. They thought I was in school. By evening we had gone about twenty- five miles from the city, and the rest of the way we had to walk. We reached home the next night, and found my grandmother sick, but there was nothing serious about it. It was simply a fabrication of my uncle's; all Indian parents have recourse to this kind of tricks when trying to persuade 198 INDIA S MILLIONS. Pathetic appeal to feelings. a convert. To lie on sucli occasions Religious lie. for the Sake of winning one to their faith or reclaiming an apostate is not sinfnl, according to their standard of morality; nay, such teachings are a part of their religion. The first weapon they used in order to dissuade me from the truth was a pathetic appeal to my feelings. They began to cry and weep and break my heart by working on my sympathy, and I began to weep with them (Rom. 12: 15) ; but the words of Jesus suddenly came to my mind, saying, ''He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me." Mat. 10: 37. It acted like a powerful stimulant upon my sinking heart, and gave me fresh strength and courage. I remembered then the heroic words of a boy of seven, who said: "Jesus, and shall it ever be, A mortal man ashamed of thee? Ashamed of thee whom angels praise, Whose glories shine through endless days?" My heart was fortified against all such devices of the devil, whose fiery darts were all quenched at every one of his subsequent attacks. From Renewed Strength. FROM DAEKNESS INTO LIGHT. 199 this time, these trials could not move me. Failing in this, they had recourse to sorcery and witchcraft. They used to charm my room, and bed, that I might gn^j^charm. not go out any more. They used to charm my food and drink to make me forget all about my Lord, and em- ployed various other follies to accom- plish their wicked object; but to their great disappointment and utter con- fusion, every one of them became noth- ing but failures. Sorcery could have no power, of course, when the mighty power of God was at work. Then they attempted to poison my attempt to food, trying to affect my head, so that poison. they might nullify all my testimonies for Christ, telling people that I was simply mad. The first day they failed in the attempt, when they offered me milk mixed with the juice of some poisonous leaves, which in suspicion I refused to take, though I did not know what the mixture was. But they mixed some of the seeds of the same plant the second time with another preparation, and I took it in igno- rance; but, praise the Lord, I did not 200 India's millions. know of it until a year had passed! The Lord fulfilled his own promise (Mark 16:18) and I was shielded, from the evil consequences of the deadly poison. A plan which they carried on all the time I was at home, practically a prisoner in their hands, was drawing me before the priests and professors Controversy with heathen ^^ have discussious With them. I had priests. not acquainted myself with the art of controversy or the science of apology to maintain a polemic discourse, but I was acquainted with Him whom I had believed, and was persuaded that he was able to keep me unspotted from the world. For himself hath said, '^When they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what you shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you." Mat. 10:19, 20. Almost every day, one or another of these priests would come to have con- troversy with me, with a view to dis- suade me from the faith, but the Lord gave me wisdom and power which none of my adversaries were able to with- stand or gainsay. Glory be to his FROM DARKNEBS INTO LIGHT. 201 name ! All their arguments and soph- istries were utterly confused, and the Lord confounded every one of them. He showed himself strong in my be- half, according to his infallible prom- t^g Lords. ise. After the enemy was routed, I often wondered how I could have gained such a wonderful victory. It was not by power, nor by might, but by the Spirit of the Lord, that all this was accomplished. All glory to God! One day my uncle invited a man of high position and influence to meet ^ J"^" ®^ . . . T 111 influence me, thinking his words would have invited to more effect upon me than those oppose. of others. "When I heard he was come, I was a little nervous, and lifted up my heart to Grod in prayer and asked for grace to help me. The Lord so wonderfully turned the table against the enemy that after half an hour's conversation the man turned quite „ . ^ ^ He IS chang- friendly to me. He confessed that I ©d and was of God, and that the rest of them speaks in were all wrong. He reproved them all for persecuting me ; he found noth- ing in me, he said, that was worthy of censure; so the Lord was glorified, and the devil was defeated. 202 INDIA S MILLIONS. Old school- master in favor. A Christian renegade called. Another day my uncle took me to my old schoolmaster, expecting he would admonish me for becoming a Christian. He thought his words would carry more weight than those of others. I prayed to God that for his glory he might stop the mouth of this Hindu schoolmaster. The Lord answered prayer in a remarkable way, and the schoolmaster instead of blam- ing me for my faith, rather expressed his pleasure at my religious zeal that had even led me to change my old faith when I found it defective. I came home rejoicing, and my uncle disappointed. On another occasion my uncle sent for a Mohammedan preacher, a noted controversialist, to come and have con- troversy with me. I knew that he was a Christian renegade, and was an ef- ficient instrument in the hands of the devil in turning many from the faith. He lived about 300 miles from our home. My uncle sent for him and made all arrangements, but I did not know anything about it until the noon of the day when he was expected. Horses were sent for him to the steam- FROM DiOlKNESS INTO LIGHT. 203 er station, twenty-five miles from our home, and he was to arrive on the same evening. A STEAMER STATION IN BENGAL. When I heard this, I began to pray that if it was possible the Lord would p^^y^j.^ hinder his coming; if not, strengthen me to meet him, for his glory. He heard my prayer and answered it. When he came to this place, twenty- five miles from our home, he received a message from home, to the effect sad news that his brother was seriously ill, and fro"" home that his presence was urgently re- ^^^^ "" quired at home. So he went back at once, and could not come to our home. 204 INDIA S MILLIONS* Salvation of God. Uncle changes his mind. My uncle was again disappointed, and the Lord got the victory. In these battles I did not have to fight at all ; I stood still and saw the salvation of God.* By this time my uncle got sick, and I told him that he would not get off unpunished if he continued his rebel- lion against God and his cause. He got perplexed and proposed to let me go to school. Before this he said that he would never let me leave home or meet any Christian. If I did not obey him, he would chain me to my bed and break my leg to keep me in doors. He would starve me and put me in strait places, if I persisted in my faith. I was a prisoner in their hands. I could not go where I wanted ; vigilant watch was kept over me and all my movements, both night and day. All outward communication was stopped, and my letters and all mail were inter- cepted. I had no one to look to for help but God. I did not have even a copy of the Bible with me. Among the old * These are only a few of God's wonderful dealings, too numerous to mention here. THE NEW LIGHT. 205 books I searched and found a copy of the English Testament and some other Christian books that I had bought be- fore my conversion. They became a great help and comfort to me. How wonderfully the Lord arranged for all these things before I knew any- thing about them. He prepared the way before me, knowing all this should come to pass. '' God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." Now, my uncle consented to my coming out, and not only that, but he Set at supplied my passage money and nee- ^*^^'^^' essar}^ clothing also, and set me for- ward on my journey in a goodly man- ner. ^^ When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. ' ' Prov. 16 : 7. THe New I^iglit. At the end of twenty-five days I was set at liberty and came back to Mymen- sing. I need hardly tell you that T g^^.^ ^^ was glad to be free again. I came to school. the school and went on with my stud- ies, though from thenceforth I spent 206 INDIA S MILLIONS. Sad discov- ery. Leprosy of the soul. more time in the stndv of the Word of God. Everything went on all right, and I was passing my days in peace and joy in believing, when all of a sudden to my surprise I felt the stirrings of something within ; at first I did not know what it was, until it was told me that it was the residue of the old man— the root and principle of all sinful actions. It was indeed a sad discovery to me. I never expected fhp>f p.nY such unclean thing should re- main in my heart even after my con- version; but whatever my expecta- tions were, the old man was there all the same. I was very anxious to get rid of this root of bitterness, but they told me my disease was incurable, and there was no remedy for it this side of the grave. But somehow that did not satisfy me. T did not like this loathsome leprosy of the soul. If Christ can not save me any further than this, T said to myself, the gospel is a failure alike with the law. All other religions had the same plea to make for the continuance of the human depravity. I was confused, and yet I was not disheartened. I was THE NEW LIGHT. 207 confident of the trath of the Old Book, and I began to search its pages with great diligence to find out if there was tj^^o^ul"^ any remedy for this. I did not have to search for it long. I saw in the Word of God there was provision for the removal of this cor- ^?^^ J^^^ roding human disease. It held before me a life higher than that I possessed, an experience better by far than what I had. There was a perfection after the divine pattern, a holiness founded upon his spotless purity. T began to enquire of every one I had any respect for about this pearl Earnest of great price — about this wonderful experience— like the love-sick Shula- mite anxious for her beloved; but I did not receive any substantial hope from any one ; each one had to tell the same sad story. Then I began to read books on this Reading subject, and read all that I could get books. hold of. At last I got tired of it. I wanted something more than an intel- lectual comprehension of the matter. I wanted an experience that would sat- Knowledge isfy. I prayed and fasted and shut my- ^f' ^^^^' •^ ^ -^ -^ rience. self in a room for seasonsbut the work 208 INDIA S MILLIONS. Coming to Calcutta. Multiplicity of creeds. was not done. This went on for a year. At this time, about the middle of 1895, I came to Calcutta to enter col- lege, as my course in Mymensing was THE Maidan of eort william^ Cal- cutta— a LAEGE PUBLIC GROUND. finished. At this flourishing metrop- olis of India, I was more embarrassed than before. Another important ques- tion confronted me right here. In the country there was only one church, one meeting-house, but in this city there are dozens, and scores of stee- pled houses, and I was at a loss to ac- count for their multiplicity and vari- THE NEW LIGHT. 209 ance of creed and discipline. I did not know whicli of them was more Scrip- tural, and which of them to go to. Finding that the Salvation Army preached and believed abont ** holi- ness of heart, ' ' I was specially attract- Salvation ed towards them. I began to attend '^'"^' their meetings regularly and mix with them freely. It was at this time I learned the long-sought-for secret of entering into the blessed experience of heart-purity. The Lord sanctified my heart by a second and definite work of grace, subsequent to regeneration. I entered into the blessed promised Enters land flowing with milk and honey, ^«"««"- after such a long wandering in the wilderness of human opinions and man-made creeds. My joy was then full, and my heart saturated with the peace of God that passeth all under- standing. After this blessed experience I re- ceived a fresh zeal and love for lost souls, such as I did not have before. I began to visit young men in their ., ^ . More ac- homes and lend them Scriptures and tivity. distribute tracts among them. I began to feel more and more the leadings 210 INDIA S MILLIONS. Sunday after- noon visits. A strange question. Plans over- thrown. of the dear Lord in this kind of work. I used to spend Sunday afternoons in visiting the students in their board- ing-houses. One day I went to see one of my cousins, who was also studying in the city. I gave him a Bible, and he read some parts of it. He marked some passages which he wished ex- plained. In course of conversation he asked me if I was a believer. ' ' Indeed I am," said I. He said, "Can you do any of those miracles that are recorded in Mark 16: 17, 18?" I said they were to be spiritually understood, they were not literal (for so I was taught to be- lieve). He said, ''Then what about the other miracles related in the same book attributed to Jesus Christ? are they also spiritual?" I saw my posi- tron in a moment, and after further conversation I took leave of him for the day, but his question did not leave me. I began to think and pray about it. It seemed to have overthrown all my plans, for I was thinking of becoming a doctor and preaching the gospel to my countrymen at the same time. I felt a special call to work for God. I THE NEW LJGHT. 211 felt the burden heavily, and yet I was not prepared to take a salary from the mission societies. If I disliked any- thing, I disliked a hireling ministry. '^Freely ye have received, freely give,'' was my Master's command; called to and ^^to make the gospel with- work for God. out charge" was Paul's example, and so I decided not to *go beyond what was written.' Consequently to be- come a medical missionary was my only alternative. But the more I prayed, the more I felt that I was not planning aright. "How much more to the glory of God it would be," I said to myself, "if I could heal the sick without having recourse to medi- cal science and poisonous drugs." I began to search the Scriptures again, and found the twofold ministry all a- long the line— the forgiveness of sins qj^j^^ ^^Q^_ and the healing of diseases— in the ing. glorious plan of salvation. Though not a single soul whom I knew was of the same mind with me in this matter, yet standing upon the Word of God I decided to accept the Lord for my physician. The next question was about the 212 INDIA S MILLIONS. The church question. Plymouth Brethren. "To the law and to the testimony." Resultant conclusions. cliurch. I was still attending the Sal- vation Army meetings, and took a great interest in their movement. Two things in them attracted me, their self-sacrifice and simple living, and their teaching of holiness. At this time one of my Baptist friends came in contact with the Plymonth Breth- ren, and urged me to study their doctrines and organization. I read some of their books and pamphlets^ but finding they did not believe in holiness of heart as a second work of grace, which I had already found in the Word of God and in my practical experience, I was not very much drawn to them. However, I decided to search the Word of God again on this important matter and stop reading anything un- til I had read the Old Book through. I began to study the New Testament on my knees, and in course of six months I finished the whole New Tes- tament, and came to the following con- clusions on the matter: 1. God has but one church. 2. God's church is named by God. 3. Christ is the head of the church. THE NEW LIGHT. 213 4. The Holy Ghost is the adminis- trator of the church. 5. He organizes the church, and ap- points his ministers. 6. There must be unity in the church in all matters of doctrine and practise pertaining unto life and god- liness. 7. There are no sinners in the church of God. 8. A hireling ministry and program worship is foreign to the church of God. 9. The love of God is the only tie that binds believers together. 10. The Word of God is the only guide in all matters, doctrinal and spir- itual. When I came to these conclusions from the Word of God, I found my- self in an isolated place ; I could not join any of the denominations then. I became ''peculiar" in every way. I used to spend the greater portion of my time in reading the Word of God with other students in the college, and some of them became favorably im- pressed with these views. One of these younger students was Bro. Isolation. 214 IKDIA S MILLIONS. Prayer- meeting in the college. An advertise- ment. Samples of American holiness papers. Gospel Trumpet catalogue. Books. M. Moses. We used to come together often in the college rooms and sing and pray together. These prayer- meetings were indeed blessed hours spent in sweet communion with God and fellowship with each other. We went on in this way for some- time, in spite of the reproaches and persecutions of our Christian friends. About this time I saw an advertise- ment in a paper, to the effect that a man in Texas was offering to send samples of holiness papers published in America, on receipt of a silver dime. I was very anxious to know what was going on in America about this doc- trine of holiness, and so sent my name with remittance to the party. Soon after, I began to receive all sorts of papers from America, some of which I liked more than the others. Among these samples there came a copy of the Gospel Trumpet catalogue of books. Being fond of study, I was eager to find out what books they were ; and when I read the names and con- tents of those books, such as ^^ Divine Healing of Soul and Body,'' *^ Sal- vation, Present, Perfect, Now or Nev- CALLED TO WORK. 215 er, " ' ' Chnrcli of God, '''' What Church Should I Jom?" etc., etc., I was very eager to get these books. I sent for them at once, and I need not tell you that I was more than satisfied. I found in these books just the things s^^gt that the Lord was teaching me all those fellowship. days. I saw how the Lord leadeth all his children by his own Holy Spirit, no matter where they may be, irre- spective of their color and creed. Called To WorR. At this time I met R. N. Mundul, who was grieved at the corruption and depravity in the so-called churches of God, and patiently ^ booking for the consolation of Israel, ' ' like Simeon of old. He had been praying for a bet- ter order of things for a long time, and was indeed delighted to find us of the same mind. We agreed upon Meetings meeting together at least once in the begun. week for divine worship. From this time our regular public meetings be- gan. Others began to come, and there was considerable stir among the peo- ple. ® (B MA 218 India's millions. BEO. N. N. MUNDUL AND WIFE, CALCUTTA. CALLED TO WORK. 219 We decided to publish these truths for others of our countrymen whom we Publishing could not reach in any other way. We began to pray about the matter very much, and the Lord led us to launch out. We started to publish a paper both in English and Bengali, ^'The Fire Brand"— a monthly magazine— exclusively of religious matter. The Lord began to bless us wonder- fully in supplying all our needs, both temporal and spiritual. Both in our meetings and outside, he confirmed his ^ ,. \ . . ^^^ '* faith- Word with the signs following. At this fui. time we received two printing-presses for our publishing work, but having no type and other materials we could not make any use of them until some time afterwards. It was in 1898 that 1 left college and began to devote my whole time to the Lord's work. For one year I labored in Calcutta, in both publishing pure literature and preach- ing the Word of God, and thoughts out of many hearts began to be revealed upon the publication of the truth. Some burnt and destroyed the paper, others solicited its discontinuance under ec- clesiastical obligation, while a few ex- 220 INDIA S MILLIONS. Called to the country. Leaves for Bogra. Never heard the gospel. pressed their joy and pleasure in ap- preciation of the truth. Many hunger- ing and thirsting for righteousness cheerfully responded in words of con- gratulation and thanksgiving unto the Lord. About this time I felt called to go out in the country to preach the gospel to the heathen. I found that within 200 miles of Calcutta there was the entire district of Bogra, with a popu- lation of 1,000,000, altogether with- out the gospel. No missionaries were stationed there, and the Lord laid this place on my heart. We left for this district in the beginning of 1899, leav- ing other brethren in Calcutta to man- age the publishing work, while we did the editorial work from this place. Bogra is 209 miles northeast of Calcutta, a district with over a million inhabitants, four-fifths of whom are Mohammedans; there are over 4,200 villages, most of which have never seen a follower of Christ, or heard the sound of the gospel. They do not even know that a Savior died for them and that salvation is possible in this life. The entire population is steeped in sin, CALLED TO WORK. 221 superstition and idolatry. We began to herald tlie glad tidings of great joy to them, both in public and private. We opened Bible classes for young people, and Sunday-schools for boys, and a great interest was evinced in these efforts. Private and public dis- cussions followed, and the people be- gan to be stirred on the vital ques- tions pertaining to sin, the soul and salvation. At work. A VILLAGE MARKET. Besides these we used to go to the lyia^ket market-places, where people gather places. regularly twice every week for mer- cantile purposes, and preach to the Places of 222 India's millions. gathering crowd, who never heard anything of the kind before. We used to sell gospels and Scripture portions to them, and distribute tracts to follow the spoken words. At the periodical feasts and wor- ship there are also such gatherings as- sembled, which last for one or two weeks : we visited them also. At times there are pilgrimages made in some pilgrimage. a i parts of the country to the nvers, where they come from all quarters to wash away their sins. Hundreds of thousands gather on these occasions from all parts of the country; these seasons afford a grand opportunity to preach the gospel and to spread the truth far and wide. During this year our first book on Publishing of c.^^^^^^ Backsliding, Its Cause and books, etc. ^' Cure'' was published. ''The Church of God" followed soon after, which is V free translation of Brother Warner's tract of the same name. Then came two pamphlets, ''Carnality" and "Seven Aspects of Divine Healing," and after that a book on "The Ideal Church" was published, setting forth the present truth on the church ques- CALLED TO WORK. 223 tion, and the ordinances of tlie New Testament. It has over 200 pages. Then was published a book on ''The Old Man'' of about 120 pages. These are all Bengali publications. Be- sides our English paper, a tract on ''Schism'' was published in 1899. After the first year the size of our paper was changed, and after the sec- ond it appeared in two separate cov- ers, one English, the other Bengali. All our work is conducted on faith principles, and the Lord answered our prayers remarkably on that line, as well as on others. We can testify for the glory of God that we have never „g supplies lacked a thing that we needed, and aii our need. never went without one single meal. Our Grod supplieth all our need ac- cording to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. True, we have our trials ^^.^^^ ^^^ and tests of faith, but he has never triumphs. left us nor forsaken us. Bless his name ! Even in that heathen land of Bogri sometimes help came from unbeliev- ers, Hindus and Mohammedans, which could not be refused because of their earnestness and importunity. People 224 INDIA S MILLIONS. Fed by a raven. Visit to Bombay. Bro. Moses' sickness. nowadays do not believe in the ravens feeding the old prophet in the wilder- ness, and the only cause of their nnhe- lief and skepticism is that they do not believe in the God of Elijah. Only recently we were fed by a raven, when money was dropped in onr yard by a crow flying overhead. God has not changed ; he is the same yesterday, to- day, and forever. ^*They that seek him shall not lack any good thing,'' is as trne to-day as it was in the days of David. Besides working in Bogra, in preaching the gospel to the heathen, and working in editing and publishing literature, we went out in distant parts of the country to hold meetings in an- swer to repeated calls. I will give a brief account of only two such tours. In August, 1900, Bro. Moses and myself went to Bombay, over 1,400 miles from Calcutta. We had a suc- cessful series of meetings, in which we set forth the whole counsel of God. Soon after we set forth the glorious truth on divine healing Bro. Moses fell ill. He was brought well-nigh to death; the neighbors and friends be- CALLED TO WORK. 225 came terrified and advised us to seek medical aid. We held on to God, and the next morning they were all sur- prised to see him walk out of doors. It was a remarkable corroboration of the truth preached in that city. We had to pass through some trials, but the Lord was with us, and brought us through with victory. Praise God! BOATS FOE CARIIYI:NG GOODS FROM THE COUNTRY TO IMPORTANT PORTS. In January, 1902, we went again to East Bengal, and held meetings almost Tour in East all day for one week, and the Spirit ^®"9«'- of the Lord wrought mightily in peo- ple's hearts. We saw sinners falling 226 INDIA S MILLIONS. One day for healing. Back to Calcutta. upon their faces from their seats, and crying for mercy as the Word went forth. We preached the whole truth. When the Word of God was preached to them about the ordinance of feet- washing they all raised their hands approving of the truth, and asked for an ordinance meeting, in which all joined, and the Lord was glorified. So many came forward for healing that we had to set aside one whole day for going from house to house, pray- ing for the sick; and to the glory of God we can testify that we received letters even after six months, saying that they were all healed and enjoyed healtli till then. One of these was a blind boy of ten, the only child of a poor widow. At the close of the meet- ings sixty persons came forward to re- ceive benefits of the Lord. There was great joy in that place. Many were saved, and some were sanctified. In November, 1901, the condition of the work and other peculiar circum- stances made it necessary for me to come to Calcutta and take charge of the work in the city. We had to pass through a peculiar and severe trial CALLED TO WORK. 227 for some time, but the Lord gave us glorious victories. We resumed our Resuming work in May, 1902, with renewed zeal ^^^ ' and perseverance. The publishing work was pushed with more activity, and we changed the name and size of our paper. Though at this time there was a falling away on the part of some of ^^^^ abided our brothers, the Lord added others to to the Lord. help his cause. By means of pure lit- erature the Holy Spirit gathered a church in the Khasi Hills of Assam. We knew some of the brethren before. Last year we came in contact with Bro. J. M. Eoy of the Khasi Hills, now ^^^; ^' ^' studying in Calcutta. He is a great help in the work, and is being used of the Lord in writing literature in his own language. One of his works is in , ^ . Books in the press now. A short account will Khasi. be given of the Khasi Hills hereafter. There are four brothers working at present in Bogra. Bro. Moses is with them. They are pushing the battle work in strenuously to the very gates, and the ^"^^a. Lord is blessing them. 228 INDIA S MILLIONS. Otir Home. helpless. Outcast and forsaken. Young minds are generally sus- ceptible to change and pliable in re ceiving the truth before they enter Converts are life 's stern battle-field. Hence the con- verts in India are generally such as are young and inexperienced in world- ly affairs, and consequently unfit and unable to maintain themselves until they are trained for one or another of the many occupations. But as soon as a young man ac- cepts Christ, he is an outcast; his fa- ther and mother forsake him, his own ])eople disown him. He is a curse to their society, and wherever he goes persecution and hatred follow his steps. For such helpless youths, as soon as they are converted from their old ways, the first thing needed is a ' ^ hom^e, ' ' where they can have sympa- thy and care, instruction and training, until they grow to be men capable of taking care of themselves. Again, there are others who are not free to lollow the Lord fully, because they are not independent. No sooner do they Need a home and training. OUE HOME. 229 230 INDIANS MILLIONS. begin to act according to their con- victions, than they, too, are cast out. They also need a '^home,'' where they can be instructed and builded upon the Word of God, that they may be strengthened and established in the truth. Therefore a "training home^' is an Indispensable necessity to successful started in evangelization and substantial edifi- Caicutta. cation. Our home was started on this plan, and with this object, because passing through the various stages of a convert's life we have well realized the necessity of the same. At present there are only a few young men in the home; among the inmates are two from our new field— Bogra. One of these is the son of one of the bitterest opposers of the gospel in that place. The Lord so worked that his son has come out to confess Christ. KHASI HILLS. 231 KHasi Hills. "^ The Khasi Hills form a part of As- sam, and lie on the south of the Brah- maputra valley. The country is noted The country. as having the heaviest rainfall in the world. The hills contain fine lime- stone, and it is exported in large quan- tities to the cities in the plains. The people are very simple and hardy. Most of them are laborers. The people. and they live by agriculture. Oranges grow in abundance, and are exported to the neighboring cities. They live in huts, usually made of wood and bamboo, covered with leaves. They speak a language peculiar to Inemselves, which is of monosyllabic nature, and has no synonyms, each word signifying only one thing. They have no characters, but the Roman *-«"9uage. is used in both printing and writing. Before coming in contact with Western civilization they did not have any lit- erature in their language. Though they believe in one supreme God, yet demonolatry seems to be their * Mostly taken from the account written by Bros. W. M. and J. M. Roy for the author. 232 INDIA S MILLIONS. A VILLAGE MARKET IN KHASI HILLS. Fear of demons. practical religion. They are always afraid of the demons or evil spirits. They believe that all their sicknesses and other calamities come from evil spirits. So when they are sick, they never take any medicine, but they of- KHASI HILLS. 233 f er sacrifice to the demons, which con- sists in breaking eggs on a piece of wood prepared for that purpose. Among some tribes or clans of these people, there is a peculiar custom of keeping a snake, called thlem, which serpent they believe keeps them from evil and mystery. sends them prosperity and wealth. The serpent is kept in a dark room at one corner of the house. They say that this serpent can make itself as big as the largest serpent, and as small as a needle, and that it can sometimes make itself invisible to the naked eye. During the winter it remains quiet, but in summer it wants human blood. Wants human and therefore the keepers have to hire men whose profession is to kill men. They go about in the solitary walks and mountain passes in the dead of night and fall upon some unfortunate traveler. They take the blood of their victim in a tube and leave his dead body without touching any money, jew- els, or any treasures he may have had on his person. This blood is offered to the serpent; tor if it does not get any blood, it attempts to kill somebody in the fam- 234 INDIA S MILLIONS. Dead bodies in the streets. Everlasting bondage. ily. So they are obliged to follow the inhuman practise of killing their fel- low men for blood. Often dead bodies are found even in the streets of the cities, and no trace can be found of the murderers. Generally the influen- tial and wealthy persons keep such serpents, and so nobody dares to wit- ness against them or to expose them to the law; hence they escape their proper punishment at the hands of the government. It is also believed that when once a family or clan keep a thlem they are bound to keep it always. The serpent would by no means leave the house unless all the property gained during the time the serpent has been in the house be thrown away— even their last cent, as well as the last piece of cloth they may possess. Then again, who- ever will take the articles thrown away must take the serpent also. So they are bound by an everlasting chain of bondage to the devil. The population of the Hills is about 200,000. There are only a few towns of any importance; the following are noteworthy. KHASI HILLS. 235 Shillong. — Is the capital of Assam, and the resi- dence of the chief commissioner. Cherapunji. — Is a sanitarium. It has an annual rainfall of 521 inches. There are many petty native chiefs, governing several small states, though all are subject to British rule. Peculiar There are no railways in the coun- conveyance. try. Horse carriages are very few. There is a peculiar form of convey- ance in these Hills, and that is, being carried by men. They carry travelers seated on a chair which is tied on their back, at the rate of 30 miles per day. They charge from $1.50 to $2.00 for every 30 miles or so. There are Protestant missionaries working among these people with great success. Their adherents num- Church of ber 16,640. There are a few who have received the full light and are walking in it and have to undergo great perse- cution, but are standing true. They number about fifteen, both male and female. The work of the Lord is started in this place, and he is prospering it, adding daily such as are being saved to the number of the faithful. 236 INDIA S MILLIONS. Tibet. Bro. Moses called to Tibet. Tibetans in India. Boundary. In 1899, when I was called to preach the gospel in Bogra, Bro. Moses was called of God to go to the great closed land of Tibet. As it was closed to the gospel and all foreigners he could only go as far as the frontier, and stay near the boundary line. He lived there for over a year, and the Lord wonderfully helped him to learn the language. He is waiting upon the Lord for other workers, so that they may go to the borders and work among the people he loves with all his heart. Since there are many Tibetans liv- ing within the British territory and coming in contact with the people of India, and since the Lord is moving our hearts to work in that field, a short account of this people and their coun- try will not be out of place here. The country is bounded on the north by Mongolia and the Kuenlun moun- tains ; on the south by the Himalayan ranges and India; on the east by Chi- na, and on the west by Kashmir, and Chinese Turkistan. TIBET. 237 The estimated area of Tibet is 652, 000 square miles ; and consists of rug- '^''««- ged mountains and arid tablelands. The plateau of Tibet is the highest in the world, having an elevation of 16,000 feet above the sea level. The length from east to west is over 1,600 miles, and the maximum breadth is 700 miles in the east. The great rivers of India, Burma and China— including the Indus, the Brahmaputra, Irawadi, the Yellow river and the Yangtse- kiang— owe their origin to this lofty tableland. The climate is dry and cold. Win- ter is excessively cold. The atmos- Climate. phere being void of moisture prevents putrefaction ; therefore instead of rot- ting, things exposed to the wind be- come dry and can be ground to a powder. Tibet is rich in minerals. Gold is found in the river-beds, and in the „. ^ Minerals. rocks, but mining is not allowed. There is a superstitious belief that if nug- gets of gold are taken out of the earth no more gold-dust will be found in the river-beds— those being the roots and these the fruits. Other metals, such 238 India's millions. A TIBETAN PRIEST CASTING OUT EVIL. TIBET. 239 as silver^ copper, and tin are also to be found. Politically, Tibet is under the Chi- nese government, of which it is a trib- Goernment. utary. Lassa is the capital. The peo- ple belong to the Mongolian race. The language of Tibet is of the monosyllabic or Chinese class. It has a copious literature, chiefly religious. The religion of Tibet is a form of Buddhism, mixed up with demon wor- ship and magic. They believe in de- Religion. mons, and evil spirits, and often the evil spirit is cast out by the priests. Every priest has a metallic instrument called dorje, which he holds between the fingers and the thumb, and waves backward and forward to drive away evil spirits. There are other elaborate ways of casting out devils, one of which is shown in the picture. There is another custom which re- calls to mind the story of the scape- goat of the Bible, and it consists in tak- ing the evil out of the land. A priest sc^'a^pe.goat. offers to carry all evil out of the coun- try, or a province, if each family will make up a bundle of money, supposed to contain all the evil of that family, 240 INDIA S MIU^IONS. A TIBETAN PKIEST TAKING THE EVIL OUT OF THE LAND. TIBET. 241 and give it to tlie priest. He takes all these bundles, supposed to contain the evil of the land (while in reality they contain a large sum of money), and leaves that part of the country to go elsewhere. The head of the religion is called the Cxrand Lama (Dalai Lama), who ^;",^'Jt^r is supposed to be an incarnation of Pope. Buddha. There are other priests who are commonly designated Lamas. There are 32,000 priests in the city of Lassa alone, living in thirty monas- teries, kept up by an annual expense of $25,000. Besides, the sum of $45,000 is required for other religious ser- vices in the capital. The land is full of monasteries and jg^pies and lamas or priests. "At Litang, with a priests. population of 1,000 families, there is a monastery containing 3,000 lamas; another just outside the town contains nearly as many. At Betang, where there are only 300 families, there are 1,300 lamas in the monastery There are from 25,000 to 30,000 lamas in the monasterv of Amdo.''* 16 * The Great Closed Land. 242 INDIA S MILLIONS. Sacred books. tiection of Grand Lama. His office. Their sacred, books, like their priests, are numerous, and consist of 225 volumes. Great importance is at- tached to the reading of these books. "~V\n:ien these are to be read, the forty thousand loose leaves into which they are divided, are distributed among the lamas of the monastery, who are seated at tables or on carpets on the floor, and all proceed to chant or read them as fast as possible, stopping now and then to drink tea. Each lama reads about forty leaves in a day"* ' ' When the Grand Lama dies, or, as it is thought, when his sonl passes into another body, the names of all the male children born at the time have to be sent to Lassa, the capital. Three children are selected; their names are written and placed in a golden urn. The child Avhose name is drawn out is proclaimed Grand Lama. He is carried through the city with great pomp, and placed in the golden temple, which he never leaves. The Grand Lama often dies young, supposed to be secretly murdered by those who wish to rule in his name."t The Dalai Lama is not only a spirit- ual head of the whole religious system of Tibet, but he is also the acknowl- edged political head and the nominal ruler of the country. His chief duty * The Great Closed Land. t The Nations of India. Madras. TIBET. 243 is ^'to sit cross-legged in the temple, and hold out his hand in the attitude of benediction. He is supposed to be always in a state of abstract medita- tion for the good of mankind. ' ' ''On an equality with the Dalai Lama in rank, sanctity, and spiritual dignity, is the PancJienBin- pocJic (i. e., most excellent jewel) of Trashilumpo, His viceroy. southwest of Lassa, who acts as viceroy of the Dalai Lama when he becomes of age; and the highest honor any Buddhist priest can aspire to, is to receive ordination at his hands. People come in great numbers to the Fanchen Binpoche to seek his blessings, all bringing offerings with them. Laymen of high rank are blessed by the direct imposition of hands; nuns and inferior laymen have a cloth interposed between their heads and the sacred hand; a still lower class are touched as they pass with a tassel which he holds in his hand. Boys and girls of seven and eight years of age are brought to him to be devoted to the mon- astic order, which he does by cutting off a lock of hair from the crown of the head with a knife. As many as three thousand people are admitted for blessing at one time."* This great host of lamas— blind leaders as they are— with their gross Blind deception and awful delusion, are '®«**®'**- blinding and deceiving hundreds of thousands of the simple-hearted peo- ple of the land, whose ill-directed re- ligious zeal is manifested in their superstitious practises. *The Great Closed Land 244 INDIA S MILLIONS. TIBET. 245 The brightest hope of a Buddhist is to be divested of all desire, which is the source of sorrow and pain. Those seeking this olessed ultimatum are recommended to fix their eyes upon a small image of Buddha, or on a reli^. of a saint, or the last letter of the Tib- etan alphabet placed before them, and gaze upon it until every other idea is lost. Another custom to be met with everywhere in Tibet is the constant breathing or humming of a set form of pra^^er, composed of a six syllable sentence: ^^Om mani padme Hum/' '^Om, the Jewel in the Lotus, Hum.'' Every Tibetan believes this to be a cure for all evil, a compendium of all knowledge, a summary of all relig'on. It is supposed that the oftener this formula is repeated, the shorter will be the person's course of transmigra- tion. These six syllables are mur- mered morning, noon, and night by every man, woman, and child in Tibet. "The words are written or printed on rolls and inscribed on revolving cylinders, which is said to have the same efficacy as to have them repeated. Practise of asceticism. Tibetan prayer. 246 INDIA S MILLIONS. Prayer- wheels. II the words are printed a million times, to turn round the cylinder once is equal to repeating them a million times ! There are little prayer-wheels, which the more devout carry with A TIBETAN WOMAN TURNING HER PRAYER-WHEEL. TIBET. 247 them, turning them round with the hand or a string*. ... A favorite plan .s to set a prayer-wheel where it will be turned day and night by a stream of water. Thus the Tibetan, asleep or . ii X 1 • 1 • Virragepray- awake, supposes that he is laying up i„g machine. a stock of prayer for merit. In some cases there are large wheels supplying merit for a whole village."* Not only do they have prayer- wheels and prayer-cylinders at their homes or in public places, but at all the cross-roads and mountain passes hundreds of prayer-flags can be seen '^^^^^' ^^s. hanging from the trees, attached to long strings. The magic formula ''Om mani padme Hum'/ is printed ot in- scribed on bits of rags and flags, sus- pended from these ropes. As they are blown by the wind, merit is counted on their account, and amounts to re- peating the hol}^ ( I ) words. These magic words are also in- scribed on pieces of rocks, trees, mon- uments, strips of paper, and every ^''^v®''" place where they could be written. The whole atmosphere seems to be * The Nations of India. 248 India's millions. pervaded with these prayers. So a Tibetan prays, not only with his lips, but also with his hands, by turning the wheels and machinery by water, or smoke, and with flapping yards of cal- ico upon which thousands of prayers are printed, and attached to tall poles, that by the action of the wind these prayers may be wafted to their god. Yet the great majority of them, while they manifest an indefatigable zeal ill repeating their prayer hun- Praying to dreds and thousands of times, do not "Nobody" for know the meaning of it. Dr. Pente- "Nothingi" ^^g^ ^^^^ ^g^^^ ^ Buddhist devotee who was turning his prayer-wheel with great zeal, to whom he was praying. He replied, ^'To nobody." Being asked what was the object of his prayer, he said, ^'Nothing." Oh, the miserable condition of these helpless creatures ! They are praying without ceasing, day and night, to nobody, for nothing. Can there be darkness greater than this? In Athens there was an altar dedi- cated to the Unknown God, and when TIBET. 249 the apostle saw it his heart was grieved, and he could not refrain from declaring to them the God whom they ignorantly worshiped. Now in Tibet there are thousands of temples dedi- cated, and millions of prayers offered to the unknown God. Who will go and declare the everlasting gospel of joy and peace to these millions of deluded creatures, groping in the thickest of darkness, feeling after God, if haply they may find him? ' 'Oh, who will go for Jesus across the stormy wave, And o' er the rugged mountains some precious soul to save? Oh, who will go in highways, and in the haunts of sin. With messages from heaven, and gently lead them in?" Unknown God. Trumpet call. A BULLOCK CABT. 250 INDIA S MILLIONS. Plenteous harvest. Gospel unheard. Otir Prospect. ''The harvest truly is plenteous, But the laborers are few." Mat. 9: 37. India's immense field with an a- bnndant crop is 'white already to har- vest.' Sin-sick sonls are chafing un- der the heavy and unbearable burden of slavery; and the clanking of their heavy chains forged by the devil to bondage are almost audible to sympa- thetic ears. They are laboring and are hea\^-laden with man-made creeds and spurious doctrines, striving to ob- serve the traditions of men imposed upon them by the devil and his agents, in preference to the pure and simple Word of God. But who will go and proclaim the glorious gospel of eman- cipation, the message of love and blessed freedom to them that are in heathen darkness? In India to-da}^ there are hundreds and thousands of places where even the faintest ray of gospel light has not shone ; the people are sitting in awful darkness. They do not even know that a Savior came into the world to die for them. They have had no chance OUB PROSPECT. 251 to hear of Mm, and far less to accept him as their Savior. Our blessed Lord, when he was on earth, was not forgetful of the need of the Gentiles, ^""^""^^^ **^ for ''leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and ■'■■ ■ ® • ir\^-- ■' AN ASCETIC BURYING HIS HEAD. 252 INDIA'S MILLIONS. Example of Paur. Important questions. Naphtali: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prohet, saying, ''The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, Toward the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, The people that sat in darkness Saw a great light. And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, To them did light spring up." Mat. 4: 15, 16. Paul, the apostolic missionary, in whom the spirit of Christ dwelt, felt the same burden for the heathen, and therefore he made it his aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, but as it is writ- ten, "They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came, And they who have not haird shall midarstan d. " Eom. 15: 21. Are there no Pauls to-day in the church of God, who would think as Christ thought, and make it their aim to preach the gospel where it has not been preached? Jesus was always anxious that the prophecies should be fulfilled, for the Scripture can not be broken. Are we as anxious for the same? How shall dark India see a great light if we who are the light of OUE PROSPECT. 253 the world do not shine as luminaries in the midst of a pervferse and crooked generation 1 There was a time when India was not open to the gospel, and evangel- ization involved personal danger and Better day? great difficulty ; the journey was long and tedious, and often dangerous; but that time is over; brighter days have come, for which we must thank the Lord. Fast steam vessels have made the Difficulties reirioved* journey short and pleasant, and the spread of Western civilization has made evangelization safe and easy ; but where are the laborers! Prosperous and successful missions can now be opened in almost all im- B^jg,,^ portant centers of the country with prospect. great results, and the truth of the o-os- pel can be spread from shore to shore in a very short time ; but where are the workers I The closed land of Tibet is waiting for the gospel, and we are anxiously waiting for helpers to open work at the frontier, where Bro. Moses hopes to go as soon as the Lord will send some other workers to go with him. 254 INDIA S MILLIONS. OUR PROSPECT. 255 A great work can be carried on there ; a great harvest of souls ; but again I ask, Where are the laborers? In the South there is a crving need of the gospel, and there is more than enough work there for several work- ers. Nearly everywhere a great and glorious prospect exists for a success- ful opening if there were enough messengers to open the work. Where are the laborers? L_. . . S" ■iiiillipillifi ^^^^^ ^b^^ ^^^^^^i ^^^ W^m^'^W ^i ' '''^P^i^f^^BSfi^HB t-'- ■' '' ' " "tr'° ^•. .-j^^mSt H^igi:' -■■^^^^fe FEMALE BATHING PLACE IN THE GANGES, CALCUTTA. Above all there is need of lady work- ers. Men can only reach men, work 256 INDIA S MILLIONS. Appeal to our sisters. Their co- operation a necessity. among men, and nnless there are enough female workers, almost half the number of India's millions are not reached at all. Women are not allowed to come to the public meetings. They do not know whether there are Christians in the land or not, unless some lady missionaries go to visit tnem in their inner apartments with- in the four walls, and speak to them of their Lord. This is not only necessary for the salvation of India's women, but also for the boys and young men. For often do we hear young men who have studied the Bible, and are convinced of its truth, and are convicted of their sins, sighing when asked to accept Christ, and saying: "Oh, it will break my mother's heart if I do not worship the idols ! It is so hard to convince her of its folly and wickedness." In hundreds of cases a public confession in India becomes all the more difficult on account of the gross darkness and awful ignorance prevailing among women. As man is not complete without the woman, so in India man's preaching OUR PROSPECT. 257 is not complete without the woman's visiting of the homes. Woman's work often helps in breaking away the fetters in many cases. As soon as a man confesses his faith in Christ he is not only cast out from his home, but he is deprived of ^ ^^^^ all family connections and all the nat- hinderance. ural ties of aifection are also severed. His young children are not allowed , to go with him, his wife is not al- lowed to talk to him or see him. Hence a man with natural affection for his wife and children would often hesi- tate to step out in faith. So often he waits for happier days when his wife also will be persuaded to the truth, that they may both come out together. But, alas! the opportune hour often does not come, and though the sum- mer is ended, and the harvest is over, they are not saved! and all this ver- haps owing to the utter ignorance of women ! This is the work of the women of Christian ]ands, this is their portion of this blessed work. Who will go to ^^^^ tell them of the Savior and his cross? I think I hear some say, ** There is plenty to do right here in this so-called J7 258 INDIA S MILLIONS. Home missions. Pharisees of to-day. Figures and facts. A com- parison. Christian land." But listen! We do not nndervalue the necessity of home- mission work, for it is a work that is needed. But think of the millions abroad who are without any light. The so-called professing Christians, and the avowed skeptics of this land, can be compared to the Pharisees and Sadducees of our Lord's time. But he did not spend his whole time in Jeru- salem and Judea, he came to Galilee of the Gentiles also; and yet heathen lands are not free from professing Christians and avowed skeptics by any means. Then again, think of the number! There are hundreds and thousands of children of God among 76,000,000 peo- ple of the United States, whereas there are only a few among the 300, 000,000 of dark India. Which country needs you most— 76,000,000 with all the light and help they need, if they simply will have it- or 300,000,000, groping in utter darkness, feeling their way after God, if perchance they may find himf Who needs you most? OUR PROSPECT. 259 May God help yon to see the awful need, and also yonr binding respon- sibility ! THE EVENING CALL. I Words and air by J. C. Blaney. ^-t- Harmonized by A. L. B. S3 m «i i=^ r=5 1. Far a- way in foreign regions, Hound by strong Satanic chains. 2. See them in their blind devotion Bowing down to wood and stone: 3. Mill-ions of our fellow creatures Steeped in sin on India's shore; 4. Oh, dear broth-er! oh, mv sis-ter!Give \ our talents, time and store 2: t ♦: £ ^^^^^^ ■^-^- -f*— ^ ■s?- ^^— W- ->— V— y- r- — PS — I — oi — W~^—0 — a( — H- i J^: Blood-bought, sin-sick souls are dying In a land where darkness reigns. Nev- er heard the death of Je-sus Was for sin-ners to a - tone. Shrouded in the grossest darkness Af-ri - ca has millions more. Free-ly for to save the heathen Ere they're lost for-ev-er-more. ^irtz^zzEfEttti e^3ip ->^— i^— V- 53^ SEtE • w^ • l=t -b'— t'— t'- 3=i=s^ 1/ u None to tell the love of Je-sus To those poor, benighted souls, Will you leave them still in darkness. With their hearts so full of sin? Popish priests and carnal prophets Hid the truth in gloom of night; Be in haste, for time is flv-ing; Oh, be-hold their awful plightl ^— P-r^ P— P ->— ^- :fc:t v-^ CB.o.-Brother. will you go and save them? Sister, hear their plaintive cry: EES: &zz:?=i_||: -N-^--^ 3 Per-ish-ing in hea-then blindness While the Judgment nearer rolls While the cleansing fount is open, Oh, my brother, help thorn in. But the Lord now saves his people In the precious eveniniz light. Je-sus weeps o'er sinners dv-ing: Send them now the gospel light. g \J \J ^ ^ ^ 'i^ ' Des-ti- tute of hope they're dying While you're idly standing by. 260 POPULATION OF GLOBE AND INDIA. AREA OF GLOBE AND INDIA. AREA DF GLOBE ^^Q^^^P POP. OF INDIA 299,126,618. POP. OF U. S. A. INCL. ALASKA & HAWAII 7B.3D3.3B7 AREA OF UNITED STATES 3.085.500 SO. MILES AREA OF INDIA. AREA OF INDIA I.559G03SD MILES EDUCATION IN INIA. By 1891 Census. (- -I —1 — 1 n — 1 r- 1 — -] -T — ] r n r-T — p -I -l n — - ~ ~ ~ "I - ~ ■ ■~ ~ " ■ 1 _ _ - — - — — - -- — — ~" ~ t- "~" ■ "" A _ _ _ - _ _ - - — — — — '^ r ~ ~ ■■ _ _^ - "" — ~" . .. h I h - - -- -- - — r — — ~ "" ---, "■ ■ ; !- _ _ _ ^ , _ _ _ _ ^ _ _ - - ~ "" - ^ ~ ^ ~ "■ 1 _ ^ _ _ ] ' ~ ~" ■ -^ _^ _ \ -A _ _ J _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 II _ _ - — — ' — - ~ ■ ■ ■ 1 _ _, _ _ _ - — — - ■" 1 j - ~ ~ -__ ~ " 1 _ _ _ _ ~ ~ ■ r 1 1 r _ _ _ _ _ ~ ~ -4- 1 1 _ _J _ _ _ - — - — 1 - - - - — — — - ~ ~ ^- "" I _^ _ _ ■ ' m k).^ _^ - - "~ H 3^ ": 1" t^ ~ _ _ _J _ -J _ " ~ ~ "T ^r" . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ " ~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Sh ' i - - - -, - - - - - - •^ - - - J -- - - - - - - - - - - - 1 1 ■ ■ — |- I I " ~ "" ;^ ~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - -_ _ -- - - - - - - - m - - - - - - - - - - — ~ - — — — — — — — — ~ ~ _ — — ~ "" — ~" ■~ _ - - "~ """ ~ ~ ~~ I I 1 _ lI _ _ _ _ _ - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -- -- -- - - ^ - - - - - - - - ^m 1 m I z _ _ ._ _ _ _ - - ^ - - - - I :: :- - - I I Z z _ - - - Z 1 P i ■" ~" = = - - = _ =J - - - - - -_ _ - "' "~ I = - - - I = - - - - - - i i m i ^ y - - - - - - v - - - - - — — — . _ _ _ _ — "" "" ~ z _ — — — — — — — — ~ ■ _ _ — — — — — ~ ~ ~ "^ ■~ ~ "■ ■ _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ - ^ _ _ _ _ _ z _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 1 n _^ _j _ Each square represents 100,000 persons in India. White space represents vast mass of il- literate persons. Dark lined space represents those who can read and write. Dark dotted space represents those who are under instruction. Black portion represents Christians in each section. RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 2 OZ 700. 000 HINDDDB MAHDMMEDANS 57,QQG.DQQ < a y —1 u DC ABORIGINALS BUDDHISTS CHRISTIANS I I 3.300,000 7100.000 j 2,300,000 SIKHS,JA1NB. PARBEES. ETC. I 3.4D0.00D i4S>ooo,ooo Women and Girls of India. 1 5,000,000 PDP. DF CANADA | Each square represents 5,000,000 women and girls of India. The five shaded squares represent 25,000, 000 Indian widows. INDIA'S BOYS AND GIRLS. O O O O O O O o *************** *************** *************** *************** *************** *************** ******QQ******* 00000000 C O O o i 10 . ooooocooooooooo oooocoooooooooo * Eacli o rerpesents one million grown-up people in India. ; Each * represents one million Indian boys and girls (117 millions). j The whole diagram represents everybody in India (300 millions). I The little dot in the middle represents all the Indian boys and iirls that go to Sunday-school of any description (250, 000). i 'There are so many boys and girls in India, that if they all stood U a line, shoulder to shoulder and great tremendous bridges were lade across the sea for them to stand on, they would keach IGHT EOUND THE WOBLD! j "They would make a huge ring, 25,000 miles long. • And only jo children in each mile of that big ring would ever have been in- iide of a Sunday-school! Just think!" THE POSSIBILITIES of Personal WorR. If there were only one Christian in the world, and he worked for a year and won a friend to Christ, and those two continued to win each year another, and every man thus brought into the kingdom led an- other every year, in thirty-one years every person in the world would be won for Christ. of 1st year. . . Christians 2 2d u li 4 3d (< 11 8 4th <( li 16 5th (( li 32 6th 11 li 64 7th a ii 128 8th ii li 256 9th a i( 512 10th i( ii 1,024 11th li li 2,048 12th a 11 4,096 13th u li 8,192 14th a ii 16,384 15th a 11 32,768 16th n a 65,536 17th a 11 131,072 18th a 11 262,144 19th iC ii 524,288 20th (C ii 1,048,576 21st u 11 2,097,152 22d a 11 4,194,304 23d u ti 8,388,608 24th u li 16,777,216 25th i( ii 33,554,432 26th ii 11 67,108,864 27th u a 134,2J7,728 28th n ii 268,435,456 29th " ... ii 536,870,912 30th li ii 1,073,741,824 31st 11 11 2,147,483,648 )in "T he Studen t and the Missionary Problem:' I \\r^_ Vhen he saw the multitudes, he was moved with com- ission for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd* Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly Is plenteous, but the laborers s^v^ few." BOOKS. Books That Will Aid in the Development of a Deeper Spiritual Life, Faith, and a Better Under- standing of the Scriptures* -Bible Readings for Bible Students and for the Home and Fireside. Cloth .$1.50 'i'he Cleansing of the Sanctuary. " 1.50 Nineteen Hundred Years of Church History, ' ' 1.50 The Secret of Salvation. " 1.00 Divine Healing of Soul and Body. " 1.00 The Kingdom of God, and the One Thousand Years' Reign. " 1.00 L(Mters of Love and Counsel for Our Girls. " 1.00 Mothers' Counsel to Their Sons. " 1.00 Familiar Names and Faces. " 1.35 Is the Negro a Beast? '' .60 The Great Physician and His Power to Heal. " .50 Behind the Prison Bars. " .50 Salvation, Present, Perfect, Now or Never. " .35 What Shall I Do To Be Saved '^ " .50 ^Todern Spiritualism Exposed. " .50 Christian Conduct. '' .25 Salvation Echoes, Song-book. " .35 Life Sketches of Mother Smith. Paper .10 Sanctitieation. , " .10 Boys' Companion. " .15 Two Works of Grace. ' " .10 T(»hacco and Its Effects. " .10 Address, GOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY, Motindsville, W. Va, ■MlG » \ \mA "^^r$l'^^^'- "^'r- Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date; Feb. 2003 PreservationTechnoiogies A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive , Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724) 779-21 1 1