Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXII. Heathenism and Christianity—The Religion of the Hindoos—Caste—The Brahmins—Their Tyranny—Superstition—The Influence of Christianity—Keshub-Chunder-Sen, the Indian Reformer—His faith and Influence
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
CHAPTER XXII.
Heathenism and Christianity—The Religion of the Hindoos — Caste — The
Brahmins — Their Tyranny — Superstition — The Influence of Chris
tianity — Kesbub-Chunder-Sen, the Indian Reformer — His faith and
Influence.
Having given a sketch of the divine worship, religious
rites and sacrificial feasts of the Hindoos, I shall now call
the attention of the reader to a brief description of their
religion and spiritual culture in general.
"In the hoary past India had mighty religious leaders and
authors who laid claim to divine authority. Religious
systems were announced, and voluminous, erudite verses were
published for the guidance of the people, or rather the
Brahmins or priests, which writings are still the Bibles of the
Hindoos. The most important of these books are called
’Vedas,’ ’Shastras,’ and ’Puranas.’ The lively
imagination of the authors and the religious enthusiasm of the
people were not content with a few deities, therefore their
number has been increased from time to time, until they now
amount to thirty-three million gods and goddesses. The
most important of the former are Brahma, Yisnu and Shiva,
and of the latter Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. The
former are worshiped as the creating, preserving and
destroying powers, and from these three all the others have
originated; at first considered as representatives of certain
attributes and principals of th^ three chief deities, but later
21G
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
