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RELIGION MODERNINDIA IN

ARVIND SHARMA Professor Religion,McGill University of ERIC J. SHARPE Professor Religious of Studies, University Sydney of DONALD R. TUCK Professor Religion,Western of Kentucky University GEORGE M. WILLIAMS Professor Religious of studies, cariforniaStateUniversity, chico BOYD H. WILSON Professor Religion,HopeCollege of

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ: INDIA'S FIRST MODERN MOVEMENT FOR RELIGIOUS REFORM

Spencer Lavan

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Charismatic leadership appears clearly to be a hallmark of modern religious reform movements in India. The focus of renewal around one person-Dayananda Saraswati in the Arya Samaj, Sri Ramakrishna in the Ramakrishnamovement,Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in the Ahmadiyah Islamic reform movement - who stands over and above both the leading disciples and the later organizational expertise, seems to be the rule. The Brahmo Samaj may be the exception among the reform movements under study in this volume, for the Brahmo Samaj may be said to have had two founders and at least four major figures dominating its organization during the nineteenthcentury.r More than the other three reform movements, the Brahmo Samaj spoke in its most effective way to an educatedgenerationof young Bengalis seeking as educatedHindus, to respond religiously to the world in which they were living. In a real sensethe Brahmo Samaj was the first modern religious movement in India reacting to events precipitated by the presenceof the British East India Company and, after 1813, by the increasing activity of evangelical Christian missionaries. The period of Mughal rule in India from 1560 to the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, during which an Islamic presence was dominant throughout the subcontinent,was a period of sharp decline for

INDIA IN 2 / RELIGION MODERN Hinduism. The Rajput princes in western India, and especially the in militant Shivaji, attempted to reassert Hindu devotional values Reformers such as Kabir' face of Islamic politicat supremacy' Ramananda,andGuruNanakattemptedassimilationsofwhatthey pibelievedto be the best in Hindu and Muslim teaching.Nanak's of the Sikh movement' whose ety and reform led to the creation mlmbers' bitter experiencesin the struggle againstthe Mughal emperors turned them away from the broad reforming ideas of Nanak ioward a self-consciouslyorganized new religious movement' A new day of Hindu self-awareness'neither militant nor when the Marbegan during the period 1797-1805, assimilationist, English aristocrat, was sent to India quis Wellesley, a conservative u, gou"rno.-general.Fearing French expansioninto India under Napol-"on, and telieving many of the Company's civil servants to be unp,"pu."dfortheirduties,Wellesleyproclaimedin1800thefor"to fix rnution of Fort William College, whose purpose it would be principlesof religion and governand establishsound and correct mentintheirmindsatanearlyperiodoflife...whichcould... provide for the stability of British power in India."2 wellesley enuisugeda college modeled on Oxford or Cambridge, with a staff of professorsteaching Arabic, Persian (the languageof government at ihe waning Mughal court), Urdu and Sanskrit, as well as courses on Muslim and Hindu law, English jurisprudence,and traditional European studies such as the classics' An interest in and revival of "oriental studies" had started several decadesearlier with a loosely establishedAsiatic society of two Bengal. Following the founding of Fort William College' the together, especially after the death of Sir instiiutions came closer william Jones, founder of the Asiatic Society. Many of the translation projects of Hindu scriptures he began were continued by groupr of scholars at the college. Two kinds of issues emerged irorn the work being done at Fort William: those developed by scholarly interest in India's antiquity and those which would help the East India Company civil servantsgovern more effectively' One particular group of Christian missionaries' those at first a Danish and then a British territory, combined an Serampore-, interest in oriental studies and a renewal of ancient Hindu culture conthrough the study of texts. At the same time they sought to to Christianity. The reason for discussingFort vert iindu Bengalis William College, the Asiatic Society, and the Seramporemissionar-

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / 3 ies is that all three were sourcesproviding an impact on increasing numbersof young Hindu intellectualslearning English and undertaking academicstudies.This was the generationof Bengalis who also served as tutors of the indigenous Indian languagesto the English civil servantsat Fort William College. The educationalencounter did not provide a suddenenlightenment leading to a repudiation of Hinduism or conversion to Christian orthodoxy. It represented instead a developing realization by a new generationof Hindus of the benefits of English education as well as a renewed awarenessof the potential value of long forgotten Hindu roots. The intersection of these forces has been described as the "Bengal Renaissance."It was from this renaissance that Rammohun Roy, "Father of Modern India" and founder of the Brahmo Samaj, emerged. It is significant at this point to note in some detail the impact of Western educationand Rammohun'sinvolvementwith Christian missionariesas a prelude to discussingthe Brahmo Samaj. That Rammohundied in England and was buried in 1833 in a Unitarian Churchyard in Bristol, eulogized by the Rev. Lant Carpenter, was no accident. He came to England in 1830, shortly after he had established the Brahmo Sabha or Brahmo Society, a trust deed for which had been signed on January 23 of that year. The events leading up to that signing begin with Rammohun's diverse and complex education and his early exercises reinterpreting the Upanisads.Rammohun's focus on monotheistic Vedantic Hinduism had already been noticed in Western publications before his controversy with Dr. Marshman, the Christian missionary, began in 1820.r Before beginning his The Precepts of Jesus, Rammohun had been acquaintedwith Christians in Calcutta for at least fbur years. He may have learned some Greek and Hebrew. Thus far he was reforming Hinduism on an academic level. It, therefore, seemedappropriateto him that he should study other religions. Out of a deep concern for ethics and morality, Rammohun began a study of the Gospels in order to separatethe ethical teachings of Jesus from the "accretions" the missionaries were teachins as Christianity. "The simple code of religion, and morality," he wrote, "is so admirably calculatedto elevatemen's ideas to high and liberal notions of one God, who has equally subjectedall living creatures,without distinction of caste, rank or wealth, to change, disappointment,pain and death, and has equally

INDIA IN 4 / RELIGION MODERN admitted all to be partakersof the bountiful mercies which He has lavished over nature, and is also so well fitted to regulatethe conduct of the human race in dischargeof their and to society, that I various duties to God, to themselves, cannot but hope the best effects from its promulgation in the present form."a From his writings about Christianity,it is clear that Rammohun was an Arian, or Unitarian. His writings emphasize the ethical teachings of Jesus extracted from the theology and Christology of Christianity. For his unusualefforts Rammohun received criticism rather than praise from missionaryJoshuaMarshman.This led to a continuing debate between the two men and the publication by Rammohun of three additional "Appeals" to The Precepts to his casefor an "enlightened"Christianity. strengthen While one might think that such a controversywould have intimidated Rammohun,it actually led him to establisha close relathe Revs' William Yates tion with two other Baptist missionaries, and William Adam. Together,the three undertooka translationof the New Testamentinto Bengali, with Yates and Adam rendering the Greek text into English, and then, with Rammohun'sassistance, into Bengali. The work of the translationwent well until the three men reachedthe third verse of the first chapterof the Gospel of John. There a new controversy arose ovr the Greek preposition diq and whether it should be rendered"by" and "through" in the phrase"All things were made through Him." Fearing the tinge of Arianism if "through" rather than "by" were used,and that the position of Christ in the Trinity would thereby be compromised, Yates withdrew from the Project.s As outcasts,Adam and Rammohun Roy becameclose friends. Both decided while finishing the translationthat there was indeed no proof of the Trinity to be found in the New Testament.The impact of Adam's decisionto publicize his changein theologicalorie n t a t i o n w a s h i s e x p u l s i o nf r o m t h e B a p t i s t c h u r c h m i s s i o n ' F o r their outspokenly liberal positions, Rammohun and Adam were now opposedboth by the brahminsand the Christiansin Calcutta' a Togetherthey decidedto establish Unitarian church' This decision coincided, by striking chance,with the founding of organized Unitarian movementsin Boston and London. Journalistsin both countries had already reported to Unitarians Rammohun's cont r o v e r s i a ls t a n d w i t h H i n d u s a n d C h r i s t i a n s .A d a m h a d r e c e i v e d

THE BRAHMOSAMAJ / 5 ..cnnonsby the Rev. William Ellery Channing,father of American l'rririrrianism. By 1823,a correspondence betweenthe two Calcutta ,rr.. u.d both the American and British unitarian organizationshad

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'[he excitement of this new relationship was short-lived. ( .rlr'urta's requestsfor money to supporta mission took months to ( r()\s the ocean. The financial responses were too small to allow l'r itny significant developmentin Calcutta.By far the largest fi_ rrrncial support came from Rammohun himself and from l)rv:rrkanathTagore, a wearthy merchant,father of Debendranath I rrgore, the next major Brahmo leader, and grandfather of R:rhini1sn61h Tagore,the poet. The other pervasiveproblem in the (':rlcutta-England-American axis was the Unitarian desire to de.t ribe Rammohun as a "Christian." This suggesteda level of paterrrrrlisrn work in the rerationship.unitarian services,while. at thev 'rcre held under Adam's leadership,were conducted in Enelisil r.rthcr hanin Bengali. t Ily 1828' Rammohunand his closestfriends fert that a reform *rthin Hinduism would be a far better approach than that of at_ t('rrptingto establisha Unitarian church where Hindus would never role equarto rhat of British members.while wil1'l:rya leadership lr.rrrr Adam was disappointed not to have them as part of his strug_ r'lrrrr:unitarian community, he takes credit in letters written t-o f lrrsr<rn the winter of 1828 for having urged the brahmin readerin 'l'1r .f the unitarian movement to go in the direction of an indigmOVement.T

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Adam also provides us with the earliest description of Brahmo r'rrrhip in a letter he wrote to the Rev. Josephruckerman of Bosr " ' i n 1 8 2 9 ' T h e s e r v i c ei l l u s t r a t e s o w t h e B r a h m o h Samajin its 'rrlrestdays helped upper-caste inteilectualHindus to reform their r r ' r , l r r i . n i t h o u t c l o s i n go f f r e l i g i o u s c u l t u r a l , w , o r c a s t ei d e n t i t y . The service begins with two or three of the pandits singing, or rather, chanting in the cathedral style, some of the spiri_ tual portions of the Ved, which are next explained in the vernacular dialect to the people by another Bengali...and the whole is concluded by hymns both in Sanikrit and llengali, sung with and accompanied by instrumental music, which is also occasionally interposed between other parts of rhe service. The audience generally consists of from fifty to sixty individuals, several pandits, a good many Brahmins

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / 7

6 / RELIGION IN MODERN INDIA

demeanor'E and all decent and attentive in their which could speak to the Finding a senseof religious identity brahmin-botn elite seems needs of a more educated'lntellectual' motivation for establishing the clearly to have U""n if'" earliest understandingof what had hapBrahmo Samaj. Disappointed but William Adam wrote again to Tuckerman: ;"fu, supports this institution Rammohun Roy, I am persuaded' he believes in the divine not b""tu'" [the Brahmo Samaj] for overof the V"i' Uut solely as an instrument authority however' I must add that"' throwing idolatry' To be candid' Christianity in the same in my mind"' he employs Unitarian pure and just notions of way, as un in't'ut"nt for spreading divine authority of the GosGod, without i"iieuing in ihe pel.' had its origins' Rammohun Thus it was that the Brahmo Samaj and intellect a depth of spirit that Roy combined in his fersonality essentiallyconflicting ' in saw new light from th' t*o tiaditions sectarianismwith its practices Calcutta. On the one hand, Vaisnava una hghfy emotional bhakti seemed such as sati (widow Uutningl nt"ai of.the early nineteenth-cento offer nothing to 'p"uL tl'tn" InOn the other hand' the British East tury educatedurban i{il"' institutions and' its new educational dia Compan, p'"'"*"'' *ith evangelicalin its Christian missionary participation, after 1813, a needs of Hindus such as io the orientation, also did not speak Rammohun. Debendranath Tagore From Brahmo Sabha to Samaj: of Brahmo institutional develAlthough a detailed discussion in it would require a study of the opment and the fo,."' ut work by David -Kopf it is here impordepth of that undertakenrecently

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*r-, A product of both Hindu and to the liberal religious tJlt"t"nt' puil Ito attended Calcutta Medical College Christian education, His philosophical orientation was shortly after it opened in 1835' Although he was and scientism'to centeredin rationalism, deism' can certainly be labelled a'secularaccusedof being un utft"l" and rested not on a Christian docist. Dutt's conception oi ift" Oiuint

ut Dutt Kumar (1820-69) :n" ":l:"^i Akkhov least "ri" "t who brought a different perspectlve of DebendranathTagore

trrnc of prayer or a Vedantist experienceof union with brahmin, l)ut rather on an understandingof science and the natural laws rvlrich revealed the harmoniousness and interrelatedness the uniof vt'rsc. Dutt represents one extreme to which the combined presence ol Western and Hindu education could lead a keen mind. The Charter of 1833, which put an end to all restrictionson ('hristian missionaryactivity, led to new kinds of responses among tlrc Calcutta intelligentsia.Renewal movementssuch as the Brahmo Sabha (Samaj) organized to include a broader base of the educated young Bengali generation meant that Dutt, who did not come from rr wealthy family backgroundand who held rather radical views, could find a place in the movement. The new freedom of Christian rnissionaries led also to a considerable amount of anti-missionary propagandaby the vernacular press, as well as rising opposition in thc Hindu community to any attemptsto teach Christianity in either or tr'overnment missionary schools. By 1839, Dutt had discoveredDebendranath Tagore and had his Tattvabodhini Sabha, a reform movement roughly paralioirred lcl to the Brahmo Sabha but more clearly dedicatedto opposing thc Christian expansioninto Bengal. That Tagore, who was very rrruchmore a mystic and theist, should welcome the more theologi. rtlly radical Dutt is a sign that Hindu religious liberalismwas willrrrg,at this stage,to be acceptingand expansive. the mid-I840s, By l)rrtt was a teacherin Tagore's school and editor of the Brahmo S;rrrraj newspaper,the Tatnabodhini Patrika.tl DebendranathTagore stands out as a figure markedly different lrorn others of his generation.This is becausehe was already a ..ct'ondgeneration "Brahmo," the product of a wealthy landowning t.rrrrilysteepedin Western liberalism and eclectic in its life-style. I rrrtt, by contrast, was the first in his family-as were so many ,'thcr young men of the 1840s-to experience break with consera \irlive caste-dominated Hindu culture. Western education,the sci. n ( c s , o p e n n e s s n e x a m i n i n g t h e m e a n i n go f l i f e , w e r e n e w t o i
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Tagore married early in the traditional Hindu style, but was r'\poSCd non-Hindu practicesof meateating to and wine drinking at .'n carly age. The death of his grandmother 1835 seemsto have in l\('cn ir traumatic experiencefor him. His autobiographyalso reprrrrsthot Debendranath turned to religious concernsduring a deep ,l('l)rrrssionand after accidentally finding a passage from the

INDIA IN 8 / RELIGION MODERN to him'12 Upanisadsthat spoke almost mystically Tagore away ftom the This direct experienceof God turned father' He gave up meat and luxurious and sensuousways of his father in other ways' For a *in", und rebelled directly against his Hindu scripturesand theologv' becom;;;i;; he studied traditional house traditional idols contining O""pty aware that in his father's of Brahmo values repuu"i ,o t" pr"r"nt, in direct contradiction of Durga Puja in the Aiu,ing poiytheism. The yearly celebration with Europeans,members of home, and the fact tt,at arter oining by washing in the Ganges'were tne f,our"totd purified themselves both sourcesof distressto Tagore'rl to Rammohun Roy and the Because of his father'' "io'" ties Debendranathstood back for a fouJing of the Brahmo Sabha' the period what was happeningin calcutta' During time to assess or age eighteen'ThomasBabington of his first spiritual crisis in iS:S Lord William Bentinck were adMacauley and Governor-General as a salvation for India vocating secularizedWestern education which had for several decades over against the Orientalist tradition' cultural values' After been attempting the '"'totution of traditional frol Scotland'also played a 1830, Alexander Dutf, a Presbyterian of Christianmissionswith a ra*lo, -f" in combiningthe power Duff turned out to be a major optionalist and modernisi outlook' during the 1840s' Hindu intellectuals ;;;;;, of brahmin needs to see why Debendranath It is in this context that one joining forces the TattvabodhiniSabhabefore tugor" established its name to the Brahmo Samaj' with the Brahmo Sabha,changing in n-ewlyestablished OctoThe explicit purpose of the organization gro*th of Christianity while familber 1839, was to stem the rapid itt own scriptural tradition iarizing the Hindu fopulation *ittt joined the Even when Debendranath through extensive puUtitution'' other organizationalive' The Brahmo Sabha in f A+:, tte kept his work and grew in membership Tattvabodhini Sabha continued-its with the Brahmo Samaj' Tagore's up to 1859, when it merged were a school he founded in main tools against the miisionaries missionaryschool' where all 1840 to oppose the values of Duff's than in English' and the teaching was in Bengali rather newspaper' Tattvobodhini Patrika, an outspoken held weekly meetings to discuss religious The new association members with a chance to and theological matters' This provided some consensusabout their beclarify questions and to come to

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / 9 lrcfs. Debendranath wanted to use the organizationto allow him to ,lclcnd Hindu cultural values over against those of Christianity, *'liile at the same time allowing the rational faith of Brahmoism to r'rrtchhold among the young Bengali intelligentsia. was in such It .rn atmosphere that Tagore and Dutt, coming from different orient,rtion.s and backgrounds, could still work together.ra On December 21, 1843, Tagore and twenty others took an oath lrinding them to the tenets of the Brahmo Sabha. This action ,'pened the way for the Tattvabodhini and Brahmo Sabhas to conrrcct officially. Because the organizing by-laws of the Brahmo Slbha did not contain strong statements ideology, Tagore's act of ot affirmation rvith the Sabha seemsclearly to have been a turning point for both Tagore and the organization which Rammohun had I'cgun in 1828. Becausethe Brahmo Sabha was relatively inactive bctween 1833 and 1843, some scholarsdate the real establishment ol the Brahmo Samaj from the date Debendranath Tagore took his orrth. Tagore quickly developed a new statement of faith for the S;rrnaj,expressingclearly the theologicalposition of the renewed ,' r g a n i z a t i o n . | . God I God l. God '1. God is a personalbeing with sublime attributes. has never become incarnate. hears and answers prayers. is to be worshippedonly in spiritual ways. Hindu asceticism, temples,and fixed forms of worship are unnecessary... all castesand races may worship God acceptably. 5. Repentance and cessationfrom sin are the only ways to forgivenessand salvation. (r. Nature and intuition are sourcesfor the knowledse of God. No book is.rj

Debendranath'sgreat strength seems to have been as an orgarrrzcr of the rejuvenatedorganization. In the year 1845-46, the rrrt'rrrbership rose sharply from 145 to 500. Many college students r,'rnctl.Clearly Tagore's two reform movementswere the most sigr r r l r u u ns u c h o r g a n i z a t i o nis B e n g a lu n t i l w e l l i n t o t h e 1 8 6 0 s . t n lly l850, Debendranathprepared a codification of Brahmo r,',rr lring, emphasizingboth ethics and theology, entitled Brahmo Itlt,trnut.Shortly before this, Debendranath had decided to remove rlrt' Vedantic element of Shankara"from the Brahmo Covenant.16

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RELIGION IN MODERN INDIA

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / II hirnself to western missionaries and also maintaininghis traditional llindu ties. Although married in 1856 at the age of eighteen,it ap_ pears that by 1857 Keshub had made a consciousdecision..not to be overly fond of wife or world."2' During his period of university .studies, his interactions in with such missionaries the social acas tivist Reverend James Long and the unitarian charles Dall, and during his involvement in public organizations such as the Good_ will Fraternity, Keshub had begun a search for religious meaning through devotionalismand a moderatelyasceticlife. Keshub's conversion to Brahmoism took place after he read a pamphlet, "What Is Brahmoism?" written by Raj Narain Bose, a close colleagueof Tagore and Dutt. About that time Keshub and his cousin, Protap Chunder Mazumdar (the fourth major figure in the movement) saw Debendranath Tagore fbr the first time. Sen was impressed."He was tall, princely, in the full glory of his lrealth and manhood; he came attendedby liveried servants,and surrounded by massive stalwart Brahmos, who wore long gold chains and impenetrablecountenances. We who were very young rnen... were highly elatedand encouraged such company,and it by was an inducementto follow with zeal our religious career."2t After reading the Bose tract, Keshub wrote, ..I found rhat it correspondedexactly with the inner conviction of my heart, the voice of God in the soul. I always felt that every outward book rnust be subordinatedto the teachingsof the inner Spirit,_that where God speaks through the Spirit in man all earthly teachers rnust be silent, and every man must bow down and accept in rev_ crence what God thus revealed in the soul. I at once determined that I would join the Brahmo Samaj,or Indian Theistic Church."22 The basis of Keshub'srise to leadershipin the Brahmo movernent was above all religious. Yet, as early as 1860 in.his speech I. "Young Bengal", the fraternal organization of secularizedHinclu \(udents,there were'overtonessuggestingthat social and political 'cforms would also be neededto regenerate India. Keshub's ideas were not highly original. Many views he espoused had been in the rrir since the time of RammohunRoy. Many were similar to those views opposingthe Christian mission movement.Many among the Young Bengal group saw the need for a religious faith, freed from thc l-etters traditionalvaisnava Hinduism, which would raise the of llindu pgrsonality out of the social and religious predicamentin rvhich it found itself. Keshub's skill seems to have been as the

Brahmos with a more rationalist bent than Debendranathwere overjoyed on learning that their leader, finding no way for the Vedas or traditional Vedanta to make sense for modern Hindus, had decided to remove those teachings.The theological part of the Brahmo Dharma was drawn almost entirely from the Upanisads' While texts from traditionsother than Hinduism were not included, there was no diatribe directly againstChristianity.A senseof universalism pervaded the introduction. Here Tagore wrote that "to be a theist or a professor of theism, it is not necessaryto belong to a particular country, age or nationality' The theists of all countries have the right to teach about God."r? In the ethical portion of the book, evidence of the Brahmo "Puritan" ethic appears.While one might get the impressionthat the influence of John Calvin had worked upon Debendranathin this section,it appearsthat as a Hindu modernisthe was rewriting the Code of Manu to meet the needs of the times. Debendranath's m o r a l p r e c e p t si n c l u d e c a r e f u l l y e x p l a i n e d d u t i e s o f h u s b a n d s ' wives. and children, one to the others.The rules are not statedfor their own sake, but are rationalized, offering the basis for family harmony.writing that social good was derived from such qualities one as "sincerity, devotion, purity, forgivenessand gentleness,"rs of Confucius at work in Debendramight almost see the influence nath's writings. As well, he developedsectionsfrom Manu on the nature of work reminiscentof Benjamin Franklin: "Acquire knowledge, religion and the habit on industry early in life" or "Do not be enchanted with earthly things in forgetfulness of the transitory characterof life."'e Such Puritan ethics were soon to become the basis for the Brahmo doctrine of Keshub Chunder Sen' Keshub Chunder Sen: Prophet of Harmony Where some have declared Rammohun Roy to be founder of Brahmo Samaj and others held DebendranathTagore to be the force for the movement,still other scholars moving organizational and observerswould insist that it was Keshub Chunder Sen who truly turned the Samaj to a nationalreligious reform' Born in 1838 to a Vaisnava family, Keshub was educatedat Hindu College and exposedat an early age to the pervasiveinfluencesof British and Christian culture in Bengal. Already religious, and even bordering on the ascetic as a young man, he lived in two worlds, exposing

INDIA IN 12 / RELICION MODERN reshaperof ideas already in the air. It was not long before he discovered that, through his speaking and vigorous organizational skills, he could make a significant impact on the Bengali Hindu community. His biographer has written that "from the moment he had en'a tered the Brahmo Samaj, he had taken the vow of finding in it Religion of Life', as opposedto a religion of theories.Every principle that he developed, every reform that he undertook, was the result of that vow."2l Within a few years after the time the young Keshub had joined the Samaj in the shadow of the awesomeDebendranathTagore, he was lecturing and leading a dynamic new missionarythrust for the movement well beyond the borders of Bengal. Social concerns were first and foremost on his mind in the early years' In an 1863 lecture, "social Transformation in India," he assertedthat once all people came under one church and one God, all caste distinctions ..naturallyperish in the uncongenialatmosphere religious of would from both Brahmo It brotherhood."2a was this kind of idea, drawn and Western ideas of social reform, that was the basis of the Goodwill Fraternity, an organization whose members, in 1861' voted to end caste distinctions within that group while pledging to educate their wives and to abstain from alcohol already taking its toll among the younger secular generation.Keshub was part of this movement. Throughout the 1860s, young Brahmos, under the influence of Keshub's personalityand his teachingson social and religious reform, began publication of The Indian Mirror, the earliest English language newspaperpublished by Indians' They convened as well public meetings to draw government attention to the need for educational reform and programs to alleviate poverty' What was unusual about Keshub's religious leadership was the model he offered Young Bengal. It was not one normally to be expected in Calcutta. Keshub's exemplar was Jesus, the center of Christian salvation. Keshub's Jesus,however' was adapted to an Asiatic context, the reformer who was "meek" like an Indian and not "rough, stern, imPulsive and fiery as Europeanswere'"25Jesus, the Asiatic. was the force of creative civilization West and East. It was not the English, but the spirit of christ ultimately at the root of English rule, that was responsible for the progressive changes that had occurred in India. Jesus' life was the ultimate symbol of which, when consideredin the Indian context, meant selflessness

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / 13 .rrrcnd to castedistinctionsand willingnessto work for the greater lootl of all humankind.26 But for Keshub, Brahmoism was to be sharply differentiated lr.rn christian sectarianism. position soundedmuch like that of His l,rrc nineteenth-century British and American Unitarianism,despite rhc lact that Keshub claimed that even Unitarian Christianity was no "3[5elu1s religion." The essence Brahmoism, as Keshub arof ticulated it in his 1860 essay "Religion of Love," was ..Love God ,rs thy Father and man as thy brother."27 Keshub seemsclearly to luve been fully motivated by the concept of Christ, revering him ;rboveall prophets and teachers,even above so major a figure to Itcngalisas Chaitanya. But for Keshub,Jesus,Iike Chaitanya, could not be a mediator between God and man, for Brahmoism out of rts Vedantic tradition was a faith based on belief in God as l,nthnmn, the One without a second."Christianity," Keshub arguecl rn an 1863 lecture,"has preparedthe world for the Brahmo Samaj, lrLrt has not given birth to Brahmoism,"for God, not the Bible, was tlrc sourceand inspirationof Brahmo ideas.2t Throughoutthe 1860s,Keshub and the other Brahmos engaged r r r p o l e m i c s a n d c o n t r o v e r s yw i t h C h r i s t i a nm i s s i o n a r i e sK e s h u b . rlrrcctlyanswered chargeswhen attackedby the ReverendDyson of Krishnagar,by the native preacherLal Behari Day, and also by a \eo(tish Christian merchant who had deliberately insulted the In,iirrncharacter. The impact of Keshub's work was far reaching.In 1 s 6 2 , t e n p e r c e n t o f t h e e n t e r i n gc l a s s o f t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f ( llcutta declared themselves"Universalists,Brahmos, pantheists, . l c i s t s o r a t h e i s t s . "W h i l e K e s h u b w o u l d n o t h a v e a g r e e dw i t h rlrosein the latter category,he was certainly pleasedto see young llcngali students moving away from declaredanti-Hindu secularism rr) nlore sophisticated theologicalpositions. The attacks on or rebuttals against the missionarieswere but ,nc stage in Keshub's quest to articulatea senseof identity for r,rung liberal religious Hindus. A sense of patriotism comes r l r r o u g hi n t h e w o r d s s p o k e n i n 1 8 6 0 w h e n K e s h u b w a s o n l y r \ \ c l l t y - t w oy e a r so l d : Rest assured,my friend, that if in our country intellectual progress went hand in hand with religious development,if our educatedcountrymenhad initiated themselves the livin ing truths of religion, patriotism would not have been a mere matter of oration and essay,but a reality in practice;and na-

INDIA IN 14 / RELIGION MODERN tive society would have grown in health and prosperity'.' and effectually surmountedmany of those difficulties in the way of social reforms which are not constituted insuperable.2e In "JesusChrist: Europe and Asia," Keshub exhortedthe new he of generation Indians to reject the selfishness believedto be the o principal negativecharacteristic f Indians, so long a "subject race." We have too long been under foreign sway to be able to feel in anything like independence our hearts.Socially and religiously we are little better than slaves.From infancy up we have been trained to believe that we are Hindoos only as far to as we offer slavishobedience the authorityof the Shasters would be and the priests,and that any want of disobedience so much a want of our nationality.rt) Although Debendranath Tagore had defended the Brahmo o m o v e m e n ta g a i n s tt h e i n c u r s i o n s f C h r i s t i a n i t y ,K e s h u b ' s w o r d s and call for a new religious and national identity were far louder an<Iclearer.Perhapsthe time was now more ripe for such a call. In 1866, Keshub ChunderSen stood at the turning point of his career' He hacl taken a stand for Christ, but for Christ in a universal sense;he had called out for neededsocial reform, which also implied political reform. All this would require a major changein att i t u d e a n d a r e l i g i o u sr e v o l u t i o na m o n g t h e H i n d u s . I t w o u l d n o t be enoughto speakof reform; significantaction was required. K e s h u b ' s s t a n c e a g a i n s t c a s t e w a s e s p e c i a l l yc o n t r o v e r s i a l ' DebendranathTagore was not preparedto give up the sacred thread o f b r a h m i n i s mi n f a v o r o f a t r u e d e m o c r a c yf o r B r a h m o i s m .I n had taken control of the Brahmo 1865, Keshub and his supporters The Indian Mirror, while also beginninga far more dynewspaper, f n a m i c p r o g r a m o f m i s s i o n a r ye x p a n s i o n o r t h e B r a h m o S a m a j ' r ' More than anything else, it was Keshub's two strongly articulated l e c t u r e s ," J e s u s C h r i s t : E u r o p e a n d A s i a , " a n d " G r e a t M e n , " i n which he quoted from Christian history almost directly, that demonstratedhis sharp refutationof the historical stanceof most Hinduism. The time was ripe. Keshub led a split in the Samaj in Novemthe Brahmo Samaj of India' Debendranath's ber 1866, establishing 'Adi or Original Brahmo faction was now to be known as the Samaj. The split between the two groups also had its roots in

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ I 15 Keshub's 1864 decision to carry out a major missionaryjourney throughoutIndia. By this time, the Brahmo Samaj and its opposilion to the efforts of Christian missionaries was well enough known for him to want to pursue a more broadly based religious rcfbrm movement beyond the borders of Bengal. Well received in Madras, Bombay, and Poona, it was only a matter of time before rrctive chapterswould exist there. Debendranath, while concerned with social service in needy areasof India, did not have a vision through which the Samaj would be carried into non-Bengaliareas. Neither could he accept the kind of social reform which would rneanstrong advocacyof legal statusfor Brahmos to conduct their own inter-religious marriages, widow remarriage, and intercaste nrarriage.Perhaps the greatestdifference and that which eventually split the two men was Keshub's "Christian training" and his desire t() integratethe best of Christ into the Brahmo religious movement. Although Keshub's lecture "Jesus Christ: Europe and Asia" lrad as its fundamental statementthe concept that Christ was an Asiatic and not a European, his secondmajor 1866 lecture, "Great N,len,"had the basic purpose of using Christ as one example of lrow God sends great men to serve and save humanity. Here K c s h u b ' s f a m i l i a r i t y w i t h b i b l i c a l l i t e r a t u r e a n d t e a c h i n gs t a n d s t r u t . I n t h e l e c t u r e s" R e g e n e r a t i n g a i t h " ( 1 8 6 8 ) , " T h e F u t u r e F ( ' h u r c h " ( 1 8 6 9 ) ,a n d " t h e K i n g d o m o f H e a v e n "( 1 8 7 4 ) K e s h u bw a s r r t i l i z i n gC h r i s t ' s c o n c e p to f a n i d e a l r e l i g i o u ss i t u a t i o nt o s e t a n rrlcalbefore his Indian audience.32 was describing"an invisible He rcllity which must be sought in the domain of the spirit, and not in tlrc world of matter."3l The contrast between Keshub's approach to Christ and l(rrrnmohun's approachto Jesus is clear. Where the latter came to It'sus becauseof a senseof the inadequacy the Hindu spiritual of lrlc of his time (the 1820s),the former came to Christ (not the hurrrrr)Jesus) for the oppositereasons: spiritualizea generation to of \r)ung Bengal which had fallen from faith, albeit a corrupted \';risnavism. In reachingout to a new audience,Keshub tried to synthesize ,r'.1)ccts Hindu devotionalismand f'estivals an attempt to forof in rrrrrlut non-Westernbut also anti-traditional, a anti-castereligious , , , r n r n u n i t y .D e b e n d r a n a t h a g o r e h a d t u r n e d R a m m o h u n R o y ' s T ',1,'rrls around by limiting the Samaj to brahmin membership. By , , n t r a s t . e s h u b b e l i e v e dh i s B r a h m o i s mw a s n o t i u s t a v a r i a t i o n K

INDIA IN 16 / RELICTON MODERN or reformationof Hinduism, but a "catholic" religion, a religion in which all the various sectsand people of India could be reconciled to each other and live in Peace. In 18?0, Keshub's impact reachedwell beyond India' He traveled to England, where he met and spoke before Unitarian and soLord cial reform organizations'In meetings with figures such as the Dean of Westminster' and Lawrence, Sir Charles Trevellyan, abiloxford scholarF. Max Miiller, Keshub was well received.His was quickly evident from the ity to communicatewith Westerners passage text of his first sermonin a Unitarian chapel.He chosethe move and have our being"' a from Acts lT, "ln Him, we live and text appropriateenoughfor a Christian,a Unitarian' or a Vedantic Hindu.3a Keshub did not hesitateto sPeakout In his English speeches, forretbrmsinlndia,nordidhehesitatetocriticizefailuresof to christian culture. He made it clear that he was not in England much as he was there to observe"the study christian doctrine as trulyChristianlifeasdisp|ayedandillustrated.'']5Whileimpressin later ing his hosts with kindness towards them' Keshub .p-e"che,attackedChristianswhobeatHindusandenslavedthem, in ,ira.pty criticizing the English propagationof liquor and opium significantroles for educatedInIndia. He called fbr much more and improved educationand life-stylesfor Indians in government, dian women.16 theIn his lecture of May 18, 1870, Keshub spoke as a Hindu Christ for his life and why he did not ist about the significanceof "I christ becomea Christian.He explainedhis Christology: studied I studiedthe Bible also in that spirit ethically, nay spiritually-and candidly and sincerelythat I owe a and must tonigttt acknowledge and to the Gospel of christ";3?"Jesus is not a great deal to christ an outward figure to be seen and iroposition to be believed, nor nce to God a spirit to be loved, a spirit of obedie uOoi"a but simply into our spiritual being'"3t that must be incorporated and K i I f t h e r e i s s i g n i f i c a n c en d i s c u s s i n g e s h u b i n E n g l a n d upon liberal Christiansthere' it is to demhis vibrant impression was a onstratethat in the liberal wing of the Brahmo Samaj there beyond that which Keshub had already carried senseof mission that the from Bengal to outer India' Keshub believed fervently BrahmoSamajhadamissionfortheWesternworldaswell.Until carSvami Dayanandaof the Arya Samaj and Svami Vivekananda

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / 17 rictl the concept of mission outreach much further in their own nrovements, what Keshub was doing was truly radical within Hint l u i s l n - n n a p o l o g e t i ca n d n e w d i m e n s i o no f e c l e c t i c i s mf o r h i s t : rtih . A New Dispensation The Brahmo Samaj reform program that developed during the l a t e 1 8 6 0 sa n d t h e 1 8 7 0 su n d e r K e s h u b ' sl e a d e r s h i p a s i m p r e s w sive. The Brahmo Marriage Act was passed in 1872 after four years of education and lobbying. In spite of opposition from the 'Adi Brahmos the Act reformed the practice of child marriage and allowed Brahmos to ignore the old practices of caste associated with marriage. The liberalization and simplification of other lifeoriented ceremonies accompanied the marriage reforms in the Samaj. Keshub and his followers were also instrumentalin founding the Indian Reform Association,a normal school for girls, and a campaignfor temperance.3e By 1876 and 1877, Keshub Chunder Sen had taken the Brahmo Samaj in a new direction. He felt an increasingpull towards bhakti or traditionalHindu devotionalism. the same time. At he drew his closestfollowers into an increasinglyasceticcommunity which developedmeditativedisciplinesover and above those usually practiced in the Samaj. But a new crisis arose for the rnovementin 1878 when Keshub announced that he had arranged tirr his daughter, very much underage,to marry the youthful Maharajah of Kuch Behar. Loud criticism arose immediately on three counts: (l) that this was a breach of the Brahmo Marriage Act in regard to age, (2) that the marriage could not be performed without idolatrous ceremoniestaking place, and (3) Keshub had arranged the marriage becauseof the material benefits that would !'ome to his family. Keshub, on the other hand, justified the decirion with claims that God had revealedto him the fact that he rvas in the right. While Protap Chunder Mazumdar, Keshub's eousin, and Gour Govind Roy wrote to defend Keshub's actions, ,'pposition continued adamant.Many of Keshub's early followers *'ithdrew to establish the SadharanBrahmo Samaj, the Samaj lrranch active to the present day. Keshub himself continued as lcaderof the Brahmo Samaj of India. By 1881,however,his group , alled itself the Navavidhanor Church of the New Dispensation.

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / 19 18 / RELIGIONINMODERNINDIA The attitude of British and American Unitarians towards in lecKeshub changed markedly after these events' His claims and his increasinglydetures justifying ttre Kuch Behar maniage rational revotion;l theology flew in the face of the clear-headed' in England a decade earlier' A former they had seen in Keshub clearly survey of articles in the western church press indicates of because what he had done'4o compiete oppositionto Keshub with Vaisnavismbein reuruary lgg0, Keshub's reassociation conducted a major procession came clear. He and his followers on his folthrough Calcutta.Stopping at one point, Keshub called of bhakti' The processionwas filled lowers for a religiousievival and Brahmos' some of whom had with flags, musical instruments, seemsto come from as far away as Bombay and Sind' This event identified with the New Dispenhave been one of the first clearly Sation.Itsemotionalandrevivalistcharacterseemstohavefused Some 5'000 HinSalvationArmy and traditional Vaisnavaappeal' prostrated themselves before Keshub' dus are reported to have chanting a krrtan especiallywritten for the occasion' on the ThJ same year Keshub also began a processof seminars great prophets such as Socrates'Moses' teachingsof the world's experience for and Muhammad. It was more than an academic was very much of a pilgrimage in which those who joined in it. It representathe participantswould hold a dialogue with a speaker study' Much in the spirit of Ramakrishna' tive of the prophetunder drawing his who was emerging about the same time, Keshub was strandsfrom many differing faiths' towards followers together' with a universalworld faith. with deWhile many would argue that Keshub's preoccupation the lglOs foreclosedhis involvement in social votional matters in was to provide reform, other supportersclaim that his concern of individuals before attempting new major moral transformation from social changes.For all this he came under severe criticism who wanted to follow his earlier reform and SadharanBrahmos the needs of missionary path for a rationat Hinduism to speak to new periodical' the modein age. Four essaysKeshub wrote in his might have led his readersto the concluThe New Dispensation, had gone mad' sion that he was an honesf mystic, or else that he hauntedby the In these he spoke of his own "madness,"of being had no tongue' Holy Ghost, or hearing speakerseverywherethat death came quickly Serious physical illness was affecting him' His i n J a n u a r y1 8 8 4 . 1 1 Although the leadershipof Keshub Sen spiralled the Brahmo Slrnaj to new prominence, it had also created a three-way split in rhc rnovement.One might think that such a split would cause the rrrovementto lose its effectiveness.In one sense, the Brahmo Slrrraj of the post-1880s gave way to new movementswhose firstenthusiasm stirred Indian minds and hearts in more dylrcrreration nrrrnic and emotional ways. On the other hand, one more figure crncrgedin the movement,making an especiallystrong impact for thc Samaj in England and America-Protap Chunder Mazumdar, Kcshub'scousin and associate throughouthis career. Two years younger than Keshub, Protap remained in the slndow of his cousin during Keshub's lifetime. An heir-apparent, lrc failed to take over the leadershipof the Samaj in 1884 on his rclurn from a trip around the world becauseof the predominance ,rl Keshub's neo-Vaisnavaand bhakti-orientedfollowers who did n()r want the Westernized, well-traveled,urbane Mazumdar to be, rrrre their leader. A second factor involved was the meteoric rise ,rl Svami Vivekananda, once a Brahmo himself, who caught the as 1'rrbliceye despiteMazumdar's presence the official representatrvc of Hinduism to the World Parliamentof Religions in Chicago r r r1 8 9 3 . Some of Keshub'sfollowers, such as Bijoy Krishna Goswami, rvrrrrted propagateBrahmoism among rural and less well-eduto , .rtt'rl peoples, while Protap Mazumdar, himself educated,Western,'ncnted, and deeply influenced by Christian Unitarianism (this is r'rrrlcnt from his numerous writings), preferred to travel throughout lrr,li:rby train, joining Keshub on his missionaryjourneys to Ma,lr,rs, Punjab, and elsewhere.While the Brahmo Samaj might be ' . 1 ' r t ' r r id t h e B e n g a l i l a n g u a g ei n t h e n e n v i r o n s o f C a l c u t t ao r l ).rt ir, tsnglish,rather than Tamil, Urdu, or Marathi could be used t rn {rthcr areas.n2 Throughout his travels in India, Mazumdar appears r,r |v;1vg been a major factor in organizingchapters,keeping them ,lrrc, :rrrdmoving them towards political and social reform. lrr rnany respects,Protap Mazumdar is best known by his wrif ,rr1,.,lf is tlrst book, The Faith and Progress of the Brahmo Samaj, \ , . r r n I 8 8 2 d e f e n s eo f K e s h u b ' s " s p i r i t u a l u n i v e r s a l i s m "p u b .,.lrr'tl irr Calcutta.This volume was dedicatedto Rammohun Roy, rr,,11 1'111, described as "one who first cast on the wild waters of ll,rr,lrr rrciety, the bread,which, in the writer and others,has been

INDIA IN 20 / RELIGION MODERN The image was biblical if the reference returned a hundredfold."a3 to Rammohun was not' indicate Mazumdar's letters to oxford ProfessorF. Max Miiller Mazumdar was.disas early as l88l the extent to which Protap Brahmoism. turbed Ly Keshub's move away from unitarian-oriented in the study of reliImpressedby Miiller's comparative method in the gions, t.otai wanted to see it applied to faith and devotion of God is a meanIon,"*t of the Brahmo Samaj' "The fatherhood and all naingless abstraction unless the unity of truth in all lands of man is impossible if tions is admitted. And the brotherhood great people of there is no recognition of the services which the the earth have renderedunto each other"'4 a favorite Protap's book The Oriental C/rrisr helped make him in a different way the of American Unitarians. Here he developed KeshubitedoctrineofChristtheAsiatic.Hewascarefulnotto that he present Christ in an uncritically universalistmanner' writing -had vacuum' He had been awakcome to Jesus out of a secular ened.hesaid,to..aSenseofdeepinnerunworthiness''and..a environment strong sense of sin."asKeshub and the general Indian with Christianity' were of thJ times, rather than a direct association seemsto the source of his commitment to Christ' His experience and those of Keshub' Protap's have combined views of Rammohun an ideal' encounter was with both the human Jesusand Christ as from two of Keshub's lecProtap drew his specific theology pantheists' he tures. Denying that eiiher he or the Brahmos were of a Vedantist when he wrote neverthelessappearedas something of of the experience of samadhi' This was a direct experience of Christ one would receive Christ rather than the understanding The Spirit tiom the European dogmatic tradition' In his 1893 work' evolutionary principle of God, Mazumdar set forth a comparative the Vedas between Hinduism and Christianity' Here he compared to the Gospels' the Upanisadsto to the Old Testament'the Puralas thelettersofPaul'assertingthatChristianityclearlyofferedadispensationoftheFatherandtheSonbutverylittleoftheSpirit. in which ihe Brahmo Samaj was the one worshipping community of God was drawing all religions toone could see that the Spirit Hebrews' gether. "socrates is for the Greeks, Moses is for the Krishna for the Hindus' But there is a Lonfucius for the Chinese, includes in need for a central figure, a universal model' one who of God's self manifestations'"6 embodiments himself. all these nario-us

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ / 2I Christ was this figure. Although Protap Mazumdar's voyages to England and America rn 1874 and 1884 were major events in his career,his presence at the chicago world Parliamentof Religions in rg93 was surely a high point for him personallyas well as for Brahmo outreachio a .ew generation.The Parliament, organizedas a humanistic adiunct to the technologyof the fair, was conceivedof by American rerigious liberals. one hundred seventy-twoaddresses representaby tives of dozens of religious groups were heard. It was surely the tirst time in human history when representatives all the world's of rcligions were gatheredto hear one another, even if christians prerlominated. Protap'stwo speeches, "The Brahmo Samaj" and ..The World's l(cligious Debt to Asia"aT were both profound, intellectual,and intclligible. The speechon the Brahmosemphasized both history and '.cial reform, while the second and longer lecture stressedthe rcnse of immanence,mysticism, and spiritualism,so much a part .l the Asiatic traditions.Protap made clear his broad knowledgeof ''\sian religiousness, presentingsomethingof universalismbut little , r t n a t i o n a l i s mn h i s t a l k s . i That Protap made such a strong impression on his American l l n i t a r i a n l i s t e n e r sw a s e v i d e n t f r o m t h e i n v i t a t i o n sh e r e c e i v e d . I h c s e i n c l u d e d t h e f o u r L o w e l l l e c t u r e si n C a m b r i d g e ,M a s s a _ , l r u s e t t s , n t h e f a l l o f 1 8 9 3 , a n d t h e r a i s i n g o f a p e n s i o n ,w h i c h i t,rovidedProtap with an annual stipenduntil his death in 1905.Al_ tlr.ugh the traditional historical record makes Svami vivekananda ,rrrt to be the Hindu hero of the World's parliament,protap \ l r r z u m d a r ' si m p a c t w a s f a r r e a c h i n gi n a m o r e s u b t l e w a y . His r,rlc hn5 only recently been uncovered. whatever impression protap Mazumdar made on his American rrr,licnces, was never able to becomethe leader of the Brahmo he 'rr,r'clnentin India that Rammohun,Debendranath, Keshub or had r',t rr. Most likely his defenseof Keshuband his affiliation with the r' I)ispensationmovement had worked against him in the eyes ", 'I rlrosein the'Adi and Sadharan Samajgroups.At the same time, t , r , W e s t r o w a y s d i d n o t e n d e a rh i m t o t h e n e o _ V a i s n a v a s who I r,l l)cen attractedto Keshub's later devotionalism. Sivanath Sastri and Ananda Mohun Bose were prime movers rlrc Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, which consistedof those who re_ ,rrrctlbehind from Keshub's original split with Debendranath but

22 /

RELIGION MODERNINDIA IN

who did not join the Church of the New Dispensation. The Sadharan Samaj maintained the traditional Brahmo practices of faith in a personalGod, belief in practicingcongregational prayer, and condemnationof "mysticism and sentimentalism" which diverted religious enthusiasm away from "channels of practical usefulness." The Sadharangroup also emphasizedbrotherhood,opposed caste distinctions,urged freedom of conscience, and lastly, urged members to use their "moral energy" to promote the "spiritual regenerationof the race."aE These were precepts very much in the spirit of the early Keshub. They remain the backbone of the existing Samaj to the present day. Where the emotionalism of Keshub's Navavidhancould not survive organizationally, the wellordered program of the Sadharandid. The Sadharan,of course, did not speak of the political issues of the twentieth century as Rammohun and the young Keshub had spoken of the social and religious issuesof the nineteenth. The meaning of the Brahmo Samaj and its significancefor religious trends in modern India is several-fold.First, charismatic leadership in at least four major and several minor figures demonstrated that the old Hindu tradition of the guru could be transplanted to a setting in which modern social reform was called for. Second, the Brahmo Samaj demonstratedthat theological reform in responseto Hindu decline could be indigenous and at the same time draw on the best of what foreign, in this case Christian,culture had to offer. Third, the example set by Christian missionaries was first picked up and effectively used as a counterfoil to the What the Brahmo Samaj proved it could missionariesthemselves. do successfullywas soon to be imitated by the Arya Samaj, the Ramakrishnamovement, and the Ahmadiyah movement in Islam. But for a Hindu religious organizationto seek to convert, and to welcome to its membershipthose of varied castes,was to break significant new ground. Finally, the Brahmo movement built its membership on those who had fallen away from traditional Vaisnava bhakti and brahmin caste practices, and who felt a religious vacuum in their lives. The threads of the Brahmo Samaj story are far more complex than have been describedhere. The chronology of events as we have traced them should suffice as an introduction to both the intellectual and organizationaldevelopmntof this first modern [ndian challengeto foreign domination,Christianity,and internal re-

THE BRAHMOSAMAJ /

23

comfortabli; ;;ru;, Iiberatism, unableto rcspond criticaty ro rhecrisis trr" rsb?";tition of B"ngut thc massacre Amritsar. "i o, tf at wr,at"uer;;;;fi"", one may makeof lhe Brahmo Samaj in the context .,venrs,rhe movement,s "il*""r,.rt_century political contribut;on-io-iil' new age of the ninetcenth century withoutparallel. is Notes
l. The definitive work onfhe Brahmo Samaj is, without doubt, David Kop,f's monographs, rn" nrohno i"^i,',

ligious disintegration'.For its time it was an answer to those who coutd find their identity wittr tie ;;;;;,. The Brahmo impact rcached far beyond i,, numbers uut in-ir,"'end faired to speak to rrreneedsof India's masses. Likewise, the third and (rrns of Brahmos, fourth generawithout having iigir;-ri. barrreof first generati.n Brahmos, 1" tived

iljj,"'I"j:#ffi:,,l?lli,"'."j,n,*""0:Jt1:.ff
I"rrq,'ina:rrl, p. 4 of the ..Inrro_ tluction'' rc The precepts of Jesus. . t.lrvdn, Unirarians and India, pp. 4l_42. William Adam and Ram Roy' Corresponde,nce (with the Rev. Henry ware) n"u,iu) lhun

; K:::,'r{; :; I wish to expressmy. appreciation to David Kopf for the inspiration his work as a historian'r'* p."uii"o"i""in urr my studies of the Brlhmo Samaj and its inte.action;;;, and English UniFor the perspecriveoffered on ,h"tll1n tne rnteractionsee spencer 1u1anis1, Lavan, Ilnitarionr' or-i-,-.)ll. ";':::,"" India: A study in Encounter and Response (Boston: Beacon ,and

M dern na*1 il nd rpri o n..ton,"irffi ",J:r:::r,:i

na e i J ::i,X!,',h{uf i "'nf" issance (B rke. ^ r.y, unue,;; ;:; ; ;,:,';:X' ,",, x_rvlsuno ;;;:^':,";;:rr#ii!;r;|,?, o of Ram,nohun part Roy, 5 (Calcuua: Sadharan_Brahrno"
Spencer Lavan, IJnitarit

David Kopf, British Or,

t()62), p.227. lltrd., p. 226. Iltr<l ,. ,rr. .

'';i'!" R:i;,:;;;;;l'.;, and oPJfiii !ij,"j;":t" (Calcutta: SadharanDK Biswas rev. Bruh."
a;;;j;

.\cc also Dilip Kunwar Biswas, fi"Tirr"spondettce of Raia RanmohunRoy,(Calcuua, "ai., Saras*at t;ir*i,'iSSzl

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f.

THE ARYASAMAJIN BRITISH INDIA / 27

2
THE ARYA SAMAJ IN BRITISH INDIA' L875-L947

Kenneth W. Jones

Samaj was a signifiScholars have long agreed that the Arya first overall sketch of this cant force in British inAia, y"t the in Modern Religious movement appearedin 1919 as a chapter Since that time general acMovements ii'tndia by J.N' Farquhar' studies in English'I counts were written in uinal and specialized Arya Samaj existed in English' of but no general assessment the with a sketch of the Arya This chapter will attempt to fill this gap to the-creation of India and Pakiumu; f-rn its foundin! in 1875 the Samaj remainsbeyond istanin 1947.A detailel examinationof can provide an outline of its found,tr" ,.op" of this study, but we and growth through this period, the complex of institutions ing una^ and the major historical forces that created Uy tire Samaj, p."og.urnJ all the socio-religious ii"p"J ,rt" history of tnit movement' Among century colonial India' the Arya movements founded in nineteenth Samajcreatedthemostextensiveinstitutionalstructure,stretching into the world of over much of north and central India and beyond in Africa' SoutheastAsia' the South Indian settlements "rnigrunt pa"ific, and the Caribbean'Beginning as a small sect' the Samaj them in the West' It gr"* ,o resemble denominationi ut *" know or Aryan world' an<lit is this world we created its own Arya Jagat, hope to delineatein the next few pages' Founder and Founding in the personality The origins of the Arya Samaj are embedded

of its founder, Svami DayanandaSaraswati.Born in lg24 in the small town of Tankara located in the Kathiawar peninsula,2young Dayanandademonstrated strong involvement in religion, but he a began to raise numerous questions about the rituals and beliefs accepted by his parents. Unwilling to be married and accept the normal duties of a householder,Dayananda fled his home at the age of twenty-two. He became a wandering sanyasi, joined the Saraswati order with the name of Dayananda,and focused his attention on a personal pursuit for salvation. After searching for an acceptableguru, Dayanandamet Svami Virajanand in November 1860. He studied with the blind Virajanand for three years at Mathura and left him in 1863 to continue his ascetic existence. There was, however, a crucial change in Dayananda,for he no longer sought a personalgoal. After leaving Virajanand, Dayananda turned increasingly toward reforming contemporary Hinduism, which he felt was corrupted with superstition and error. The basic tools needed to comprehendthis reform was the study of grammar. Dayanandabelieved that all truth lay in the Vedas and could be perceived only through a proper reading of these texts. To do so panini and patanjali. one must know the works of the grammarians Then the Vedas could be read correctly and truth revealed. For Dayananda the Vedas were arsha, i.e., derived from .rsis, inspired sages of antiquity. The Vedas containetl all truth and were the ultimate authority against which other texts were to be compared. Those works, which did not agree u'ith tire Vedas, were considered unarsha,that is, false, illegitimate,and filled with error.3 Dayananda's vision of Vedic Hinduism rejected most of the major elements of the Hindu religion: idolatry, polytheism, the Puranas,priestly privilege, popular rituals, and deities. Dayananda's religion was monotheistic, open to all, rationalistic,and compatible with modern science. For him it was, as well, the one true faith. Not only did he reject popular Hinduism but also all other religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, for these too were false beliefs, since only Vedic Hinduism contained the truth. In his basic ideological treatise, the Satyarth prakash, first publishedin 1875,Dayananda laid out his beliefs and his criticisms of other religions. In his writings he also provided an explanation of the present degeneratestate of Hinduism. He declared that the Mahabharata, that great war of antiquity, had led to the loss of correct Vedic knowledge, which in turn began a lengthy processof

INDIA IN 28 / RELICION MODERN decline among the Hindus. Becauseof their lack of proper knowledge the Hindus were defeated first by Muslims and later the Christian English. To become, as Dayanandasaw them, a subjected people steepedin error and superstition. began to preach his own After leaving Virajanand,Dayananda debateswith orthodox pundits, vision of Hinduism. He entered into visited religious fairs, and travelled extensively throughout northern members of India. He spoke in Sanskit and primarily addressed In 1872 Dayanandavisited calcutta the brahmanical community. where he met with leadersof the Brahmo samaj. This encounter led him to changehis tacticsfor reforming Hinduism' He began to speak in Hindi and to addressthe literate middle classesof the Hindu community. He found the educatedelite far more responsive to his message than the priestly groups' With their support Dayanandafounded schools and published periodicals to express his ideals. He also wrote extensively,publishing two versions of the satyarth Prakash, one in 1875 and a second rewritten edition I i n 1 8 8 3 , p l u s n u m e r o u so t h e r b o o k s a n d p a m p h l e t s ' 1n 1 8 7 5 h e Arya Samaj in Bombay' This new founded the first successful organization prepared a list of principles and regulations, which Dayananda's ideas as well as his program for the reform exf,ressed of Hindu society. Although the Bombay Arya Samaj continued to exist, it was in north India that Dayananda found the greatest of acceptance his message. in lg77 Dayananda travelled to Delhi for the Durbar in honor of Queen Victoria where he met with prominent Hindus from the jourPunjab, who invited him to visit that province' Dayananda Delhi, reaching Lahore on April 19, 1877' He neyld north from stayed in the Punjab until July ll, 1878. Yet in these few months Dayananda either directly or indirectly establishedthe Arya Samaj in Lleven different cities. Many Punjabi Hindus respondedto his ideas with enthusiasmand religious fervor, especially among the men of Lahore' Hindus of the Lahore young college-educated and condensedthe lengthy statementproduced by lrouf t"*tote the nomUay Arya Samaj into ten short, easily grasped principles' On July Z,q, ftll, at its first meeting the Lahore Arya Samaj adopted these principles, which then became the standardcreed for all Arya samajes. Afterwards the Lahore samaj evolved into the center of the fledgling movement'When Dayananda organizational lefl the Punjab, behind him were a growing collection of Samajes

THE ARYA SAMAJIN BRITISHINDIA I 29 throughout the province. Through their militant ideology newly founded Arya Samajes created an arena of religious controversy.s Aryas clashed openly with orthodox Hindus, other Hindu reform groups, and Christian missionaries. After his visit to the Punjab, Dayananda toured the United Provinces, preaching, holding debates,and founding branchesof the Arya Samaj. In spite of two extensivetrips throughout this area he had succeededin adding only six more Arya branchesby 1880.6 Some of these were establishedwhile he was still present in a particular town, others either before or after his arrival. The response he met in the United Provinces proved less enthusiasticthan that of the Punjab, yet in time this would be the province with the largest number of Aryas. Numerically the Arya Samaj had its core in the western districts of the United Provinces and throughout the Punjab. Its leadership,however, was heavily Punjabi and would remain so, although as long as Dayananda lived, he was the spiritual and to a degree practical head of the movement. Yet Dayananda soon turned his attention elsewhere.In May 1881, he arrived in Rajasthan, where he spent the last year and a half of his life. Dayanandahoped to persuadethe ruling Hindu princes to accept his concepts of a reformed Hindu state and thus open the way for a return to previous Hindu greatness.During this period in Rajasthan Dayananda remained in contact with numerous Arya Samajes, but did not provide direction for the young movement. As a result each of the Samajestended to act on its own initiative and according to its own interpretation of Dayananda's ideas. Meanwhile, Dayanandatoured Rajasthan,preached to the ruling princes, and in October 1883, after visiting the state of Jodhpur, fell seriously ill. After returning to Ajmer he died on October 30, l gg3.7 The death of its founder, rather than restricting the progress of the Arya Samaj, acted as a catalyst. The common reaction to Dayananda'sdeath was that the Aryas should create a memorial to him, preferably a school or college in which Vedic Hinduism along with the regular English-orientedcurriculum would be taught.E The l-ahore Arya Samaj provided the leadership for this educational rnovement. In January 1886, after raising funds for the proposed school, they established the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Trust and ManrrgementSociety and approved an educationalschemedrafted under thc leadershipof Lala Lal Chand. The DayanandAnglo-Vedic High

INDIA IN 30 / RELICION MODERN School opened in Lahore on June l, 1886. Lala Hans Raj' a brilliant young graduate,became the principal of this institution on the basis of his agreementto serve in this position without pay and for life. The school quickly proved a success'enrolling 550 students by the end of the month. By 1889, it became a college that was recognized as such by the Punjab University'e For many Aryas this was their first and foremost "cause." They raised funds for it and recruited studentswith great success'The Lahore school provided a model for local Arya Samajes,who soon founded elementary and middle schools upon the lines of the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College. By the end of the century, this single school became the foundation-stonefor a system of schools throughout the Punjab, the United Provinces, and adjacent areas. The Arya Samaj not only won converts and establishednew branch Samajes, but it also began the processof institution building. The successof the Lahore college stimulated increasing ideological strain within the new movement. Each Samaj and each individual Arya could develop his or her own conccpts of what it meant to be an Arya and of the historic tole of its founder. Two differing schools of thought began to emerge' One group, "the moderates", saw Dayananda as a great reformer, a teacher and a guide to religious and social practice- They were heavily involved in the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic College and would, in fact, be called the "College Party". Opposedto them were the "militants" who believed Dayananda to be a rsi or divinely inspired teacher, whose words were infallible. For the militants the Arya Samaj represented 4 new religion that demandeda total commitment from its followers. The differences between these two groups surfaced first over the nature of the education to be provided the new school. The moderates wanted and got a school curriculum that was essentially the same as the government and missionary schools, with the addition of Arya samaj principles. The militants wanted a dramatically different education,one which would be taught primarily in Hindi and Sanskrit with considerabletime devoted to the study of scriptures, Arya writings, and the correct methods needed to interpret Vedic texts.ro Debates over the nature of an Arya education soon fused with other issues that were to divide members of the movement' The militants maintained that all Aryas should be strict vegetalians, while the moderates claimed that diet was a personal matter and

THE ARYA SAMAJ IN BRITISH TNDIA i

3I

not a part of the Arya code. This issue of vegetarianism came to symbolize each party. By the lg90s open struggles for contror had erupted, first in the Dayanand Anglo_Vedic Trust and Manaqement Society and secondly in the Arya pratinidhi Sabha, tunja-b. the Pratinidhi sabha was founded in october lgg6 as the piovinciar representativebody for the punjab. simirar provinciar ,ubhu, *"." created to provide some central point of coordination for the expanding Arya world. By 1893 the punjabi Aryas were bitterly di_ vided. The moderatesretained control over the schoors through the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Management Society, while the miiitants took over the Pratinidhi Sabha and a majority of the rocal Arya Samaj branches.This division createda crisis for both groups. supporting the Lahore college and its associatedschools nao ueen the major task for all Aryas. Now those in charge of the schools re_ tained their "cause" but had lost most of the organizational structure needed to sustain it. Conversely, the militants retained the structureand resources but needednew activities to utilize them.' In contrast the moderatesfaced a financial crisis. The moderatessucceededin maintaining their schools and began to establish their own branch Arya Samajes,with the result that in many Punjab towns there were two Arya Samajes, each allied with a different faction. In 1903 the moderates founded the Arya Pradeshik Pra.tinidhi Sabha, a provinciar body parallel to the power and readershipamong older Arya Pratinidhi Sabha.12 the moderatesremained, however, centered in the Dayanand Anglo_ vedic Trust and Management Society. It contained representatives from all the Samajesallied to the moderateparty, controlled a system of schoolsand the funds raised to support these schoolr. tt" moderates, however, did not rimit themselves educationar to work. As a group they tended to see Hindus as members of a communitv. a group of individuals sharing a simirar religious heritage. As a result the moderates turned to various forms of service, to famine relief, care for orphans, and, in time, "ornrnunity Leading to politics. rnoderates, such as Lala Lal Chand and Lala Laipat Rai, wouli have a deep involvementin both the nationalistpoiiti", of the Indian National congress and later the openry Hindu politics of the Punjab Hindu Conference and the Hindu Mahasabha.13 Support for the Indian National Congressduring the lggOs and | 890s fluctuated from enthusiasm to apathy, depending largely on whether the Congress and punjabi Hindus shared simiiar goats. tn

INDIA IN 32 / RELIGION MODERN 1900 Aryas flocked to the Congressmeeting in Lahore, but shortly afterwards turned away from politics in general and the Congress in particular. The partition of Bengal in 1905 brought a wave of enthusiasm for the Congress, a wave which merged with the Punjabi political unrestof 1907. At this time Lala Lajpat Rai and a number of moderate Aryas became politically active, condemning passion.The the British governmentopenly and with considerable arrest and deportation of Lajpat Rai, followed by the jailing of other prominent Aryas, opened a period of governmentsuspicion of They saw the Samaj as a seditiousorand hostility to the Samaj.ra ganization that must be guarded against and, if necessary,suppressed.The governmentwas particularly hostile to the moderate party becauseof its schools and supply of activist students. Thus Lala Hans Raj and other leaders of the Dayanand schools took a position against political activity by the Samaj. They feared that the schools might be closed by the governmentand sought above all else to maintain the institutions to which they had dedicated their lives. The last major folitical shock prior to World War I when the Sikh stateof Patialaarrestednumercame in 1909-1910, ous Aryas and closed down the local Samajes.Gradually the era of eased,especiallyfor the milipolitics and governmentsuppression tants, as the government made clear its approval of religiouslyoriented Aryas.rs One major result of these governmental actions was the first meeting of the Punjab Hindu Conference.Hindu fears reached a climax in the year 1908-1909as they increasinglysaw themselves faced with a de facto alliance betweenthe British governmentand the Muslim community and the possibility of extinction. A vision of doom was portrayed in a series of letters to the Bengalee writ' ten by Lt. Col. U. N. Mukerji under the title "A Dying Race"' Mukerji focused on the relative decline in numbers of Bengali Hindus in relation to the Muslim community and the possibility of destruction that faced the Hindus of Bengal. Lala Lal Chand expressed another set of concerns in a series of letters to the Punjabee, entitled "Self-Abnegation in Politics." Lal Chand turned of his attention to the uselessness the Congress,calling for the establishment of a new organization that would be openly Hindu in its politics. The Punjab Hindu Conference,which met for the first time on October 2l-22, 1909, in Lahore, becamejust such an organization.It met annually and was transformedin time into the

THE ARYA SAMAJTNBRITISHINDI,A / 33 Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.t6 The evolution of the Mahasabha received Arya Samaj support and leadership,but it also moved be_ yond the limits of the Samaj, which remaineddivided in its political attitudes. Many Aryas were firm advocates of the Indian Na_ tional congress, others of the Hindu Mahasabha,while some remained relatively apolitical. The militants, with their vision of the Arya Samaj as a reli_ gious movement and a religious experience,turned to a concern for Ved prachar, preaching the Vedas. They developed a system of paid missionaries, updEshqks, which aimed to transform popular Hinduism into the ('purer" vedic form of that religion. The militants afso extended and utilized the institution of shuddhi. Dayanandaperformed shuddhi to return a christian convert to Hinduism. Following this example Aryas use of shuddhi to reconvert Hindus from either Christianity or Islam increasedthroughoutthe 1880sand 1890s.A Shuddhi Sabhawas established and conducted by Aryas and Sikhs, since both groups faced the same religious challenges.rT By 1896 the Aryas began to perform shuddhi with groups of people and by 1900 had exrendedshuddhi to a new area, the uplift of untouchableswho were transformed into "pure caste" Hjndus. On June 3, 1900, militant Aryas purified a group of Rahtias, Sikh untouchables, much to rhe horror of the Sikh commu_ n i t y . r sT h i s o p e n e dt h e d o o r t o b o t h w i n n i n g b a c k t h o s e l o s t t o Hinduism as well as ending untouchability. concern for untouchability stemmed in part from the rearization that this segmentof society was the most likely to convert to another religion. The successof christian missionaries among unto'uchable Hindus and Muslims had demonstrated this possibility,as had Islamic conversion prior to the arrival of the British. In the years before World War I shuddhi campaigns were conducted among various untouchable groups in the northwest:Odes, Meghs, Doms, Rajputs,and the Sheikhsof Larkhanain Sind. On June 23, l9ll at Allahabad,the All India (Bharat) Shuddhi Sabha was founded by Ram Bhaj Datta. The Arya Samaj had developed 'shuddhias a weapon of defense from the conversion threat poied by both christianity and Islam.reAnxiety over the future of the Hindu community and Aryan ideology merged to produce radical attacks against caste privilege as well as militant efforts at proselytism,conversion,and reconversion. The aggressivestance of the Arya Samaj heightenedreligious competition as they en_

INDIA IN 34 / RELIGION MODERN gaged in a multi-sided struggle with orthodox Hinduism, reform organizations, and militant groups from other religious communities. certain Aryas, such as Pandit Lekh Ram, specialized in criticism of a particular religion, in his case, against Islam' In tracts, and newspapershe condemnedIslam as a religion speeches, on greed, violence, and ignorance. In 1897 the bitter rifounded valry between Aryas and Muslims peaked in the Punjab with the murder of Pandit Lekh Ram. The resulting religious conflict was a preview of the more extensive violence of Partition'20 The militant Aryas, determined to create the new world of Aryanism as envisionedby Dayananda,engagedin radical social ,"ior*. To do so they performed new Vedic life-cycle rituals of birth, marriage, and death. They entered the field of education for women by founding the Kanya Mahavidyalaya of Jullundur on Junet4,lsg6.TheKanyaMahavidyalayawasagirls'highschool which would in time add college classesas well. Aryas preached widow remarriage and began to practice this within their own families. In addition they sponsorededucation for widows and built homes for them. In order to create a new Hindu, an individual who would not be tainted by contemporarycorruption, the militants, led moved to create by Lala Munshi Ram (later Svami Shraddhanand), dramatically different educationalsystem. In 1902 they opened a the Gurukula Kangri, just outsideof the city of Hardwar' This was a resident educationalinstitution, teaching studentsfrom the elementary through the college level. As at the ancient Hindu institutions, itudents remained at the Gurukula under the direction of religious teachers and separatefrom their families and from society. I truction was in Hindi and Sanskrit, with a heavy emphasis placed on religious training, although much of the standardcurriculu* *ur retained.This institutionsoughtto mold the entire personality of its students into the patterns of life and thought demanded by Arya ideology. Its graduates would be the first truly reformed Vedic Aryas.2r with the creation of the Gurukula Kangri the militants completed their own institutional structure as a rough parallel with the moderates,although both groups would continue to add new institutions for specific purposes. The division between two groups remained a specifically Punjabi phenomenon.only in the Punjab were there two provincial sabhaswith rival branchesallied to each. AII other provinces had a organization.whatever differences of interpresingle representative

THE ARYA SAMAJ BRITISH IN INDIA / 35 tation existed did so within individuals,and were not institutionarized. Also, it must be rememberedthat rivalry between the two parties contained elementsof personalstruggle between two entrenched organizations,as well as opposing interpretations the of Samaj. These differences, howeu"., iid not-mean that either party was prohibited from joining with membersof the opporing grou; to support similar causes,or rhat either group did noi iut" ,ipinae'pendently similar work being carried oui by'th" other. Both would engage in preaching,missionary work, shuddhi, and various pro_ grams of social reconstruction.AIso, the growth of the Arya Samaj tended to make this division ress crucial than it had been during the nineteenthcentury,even though the separate institutionalstructures within the Samaj continuedto exist and still do today. Expansion of the Arya Samaj During the first twenty_five years of its existence the Arya grew steadily.In r89l the censusreport recorded famaj a toral of 39,952 Aryas, and ten years later the total had jumped to 92,419, an increase l3l per cent. This upsurgeindicated of piimarily an in_ tensification of the Samaj in two provinces, the punjab *ittr ZS,OOO Aryas and the new center of the movement in the l-inited provinces with 65,268.22 The Samaj also beganto move outward in all direc_ tions. This expansion led to the establishment of new provincial Qtratinidhi)sabhasin the United provinces,lgg6; Rajasthan,lggg; Bengal/Bihar in 1889; a joint Madhya pradesh/Vidarbha Sabha, also in 1889; and the Bombay provincial sabha in 1902.21 sustained growth of the Samaj createdthe need for a centrar coordinating body, even as expansion at the provinciar level had made th; founding of pratinidhi sabhasa necessity. Dayananda did leave be_ hind one central organization, the partpkarini Sabha. He estab_ l i s h e d t h i s s o c i e r yo n A u g u s t 1 6 , l g g 0 , w i t h the writing of fris will.2aThe Paropkarinisabha was to act, and did so act, as the ex_ of his estare,particularly in regard to his wriften works. :::19. While it could have provided overali leadership for the e.ya Samaj, it failed to do so, largely due to the appointive nature of its membership,who did not necessarily speak for major constitu_ encies of Aryas. Instead there was a growing consensusthat the Samaj needed to found a new coordinating organization that would be able to act on behalf of all Arvas.

INDIA IN 36 / RELICION MODERN the Bharat Dharam A number of Aryas, who attended pettri during 1900' began discussingthe Mahamandal meeting in was done' howneed for such an organization'Nothing concrete celebration of the untit 1908, when at the anniversary to draft the regula"u",, Gurukula Kangri a subcommittee was chosen (All-India) Sabha' rions and srruclure of the proposed Sarvadeshik in Agra with repremet On i"pt".Uer 15, 1908, a full committee 31' 1909' of the various provincial sabhasand on August sentatives praiiniani Sabhaconvened its first meeting in the SarvadeshikArya to the Sarvadeshik Delhi. Twenty-seven delegates were elected All provincial socieSabha from six provincial pratinidhi sabhas' Pradeshik Pratinidhi ties were represented'uu" on", the Arya by the moderateparty Sabha of the Punjab, which had been created t"Ol1-::l-"^O Sarvades,n'U in tf,at province. The organizers of the to the new organlzathe Punjabi moderatesto send representatives if the Pradeshik Sabha tion, but were told they would do so only Aryas' This w.as would be the sole reprlsentative body of Punjabi PradeshikPratinid.hi Arya to unacceptable the organizersand so the group outside the Punjab, remained the sole provincial Sabha, Over the years efforts were newly instiruted SarvadeshikSabha'25 body' representative made to incorporate this group into the overall separation,the Punjabi but without success.In sfite of tn"i. formal Sabha on numerous moderatesdid cooperate with the Sarvadeshik occasions.26 steadily expanding The new SarvadeshikSabha presidedover a beyond those movement as the Arya Samaj gradually extended It also added members areas in which it was originally located' into the Muslim state within those areas.The Samaj had penetrated but significant of Hyderabad during the late nineteenth.century' forces brought the Samaj movement south wo;d wait until historic Arya Samaj began to In ti"tt in the 1920s.2? the meantime the In 1896 the Saryarth follow the flow of Indian immigrants abroad. of the Bengal InPrakash was carried to Mauritius by members Arya Samaj branches-were Within the next two decades fantry.28 center of the- samaj founded there in what became the first major Arya leaders,Dr' lvlaniklal outside of British India. ln 1911 two in publishing the M,auritius and Dr. Chiranjiv Bhardwaj, succeeded The Samaj traveled further Patrika, an Arya Samaj newspaper'2e panait Purnanandjiwent to Nairobi' He was west in 1904, when who reachedDurban followed in the next year by Bhai Parmanand'

THE ARYA SAMAJIN BRITISHINDIA / 37 and then went on an extensive tour of South Africa. South and liast Africa became centers of successfulSamaj missionary activities, as branch Samajeswere opened throughout the area and were supported by the local Indian communities.30 the 1920s the By Samaj had also reached the Fiji Islands, and by l92l had become sufficiently settled there to open a girls' school.3tDiffusion abroad nroved in a pattern of waves as the Samaj penetrated new areas settled by Indian immigrants. In 1933 another period of overseasexpansion began with the departure of Pandit Ayodhya Prasad for the World Fellowship of I.'aith Congress held that year in Chicago. The Pandit visited this conference and then spent a year preaching in the United States. 'Ihe next wave of Arya expansion began, however, when he left the United States. Pandit Ayodhya Prasad first visited Trinidad, where he preached and performed shuddhi ceremonies to reclaim l{indus who had converted to Islam and Christianity.32 Next the l'andit travelled to Dutch Guyana and British Guyana. Arya Samajeswere founded in all these areas and grew steadily through local efforts, as well as through continual visits of Arya missionarrcs. During the 1920s and 1930s overseasAryas organized their own provincial sabhas which became affiliated with the SarvadeshikPratinidhi Sabha: British East Africa, 1922; South Africa, 19271, Fiji, 1928; Mauritius, 1930; and Dutch Guyana, 1937.13 ('ontinued growth within India brought additional provincial sabhas rnto the central'organization.Bihar joined a separatebody in 1930 rrnd in 1935 a provincial sabha was establishedfor the Muslimrkrminatedstate of Hyderabad.3a Continued growth of the Arya Samaj was recorded by the detcnnial censusreports in British India. Even without the figures for tlrc widely spread Arya movement outside of India, there still was ,rrrimpressivegrowth. By l91l the total given for the Samaj was .'.11,000, increaseof over 163 per cent from 1901. A decade an lrrtcr the Aryas had doubled again to 467,578 and in 193I reached tlrc total of 990.233.15 The census of l94l and all censusesthere.rltcr no longer carried figures for the Arya Samaj, but it is safe to ,r\\urfrethat growth did not end. In 1947 the Samaj must have been ,,'nrcwherebetween one and a half to two million members, both rnsrrlcBritish India and throughoutthe world. This growth in numl'.'rs carried with it the addition of provincial and local Samajes. llr Arya Dairectori of l94l indicatesover 2,000 Arya Samajesaf-

INDIA IN 38 / RELICION MODERN The creation of new local filiated with the provincial sabhas'36 developmentof specializedorganizaSamajesled to a continual tions, particularlYin education' with a single The Dayanand Anglo-Vedic movement began grew rapidly as elementary' middle' and. school in Lahore and th-en province' The picture of ligrt ,.toot, were foundedlhroughout the is complex' A number of schools educational institutions, however, Trust and Managewere controlled by the Dayanand Anglo-Vedic also were under the administration of local ment Society, but many It was a fluid situation erya Sama;esor various provincial sabhasoccasionally closed' and at times taken wiih schools being opened, they might not survive' over by other groups when it appearedthat *-ta of the Samaj stretchedthroughey tfre 1940s the educational and the state of ou, tndiu, as far south as Sholapur in Maharashtra and l0 colleges in InHyderabad. By then there were 179 schools schools' industrial traindia and Burma. These included regular art schools, Sanskrit Pathshalas'and religious ing institutions, girls' Kangri had become the trining centers.3iln addition the Gurukula Schools patterned after model for an alternatesystem of education' were founded at all levels' Some of these the Gurukula Kangri Punjab' and others were affiliated with the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha' In 1921 the original Gurukula became a were administeredlocally' other major instituuniversity and by the 1940s there were seven system' The Arya Directory listed a total of tions in the Gurukula "Gurukulas"'rE One of these thirty-three establishmentslabelled as the Kanya Gurukula' located in Dehra *ur'u women's college, Kangri this was a naDun, founded in 1923. Like the Gurukula India'3eAs with tional school' drawing students from throughout became the basis of the Lahore high schoJl, the Gurukula Kangri an entire educational system' independentthe Arya ln 1947 when-India and Pakistan became an "Arya Jagat"' of asSamaj had evolved into a complex world' level' These associasociationsat the local, provincial, and central and maintained numerous institutionstions in turn managed homes' reading schools, orphanagei student hostels' widows' journals' missionary rooms, libraries, tract societies,newspapers, to social reform' parsocieties,and various organizationsdedicated the most fundamental ticularly among the uniouchables' Clearly financially supporting task of the Samaj lay in administering and in differing socio-relithese organizations.i co*pl"^ of programs

THE ARYA SAMAJ BRITISH IN INDIA / 39 gious areas was maintainedby the Samaj, providing an organizational impact that is difficult to examine but should not be underestimated. The original messageof Svami Dayananda Saraswati was magnified and molded by the establishment the Arya Samaj of and its growth over the decadesprior to Independence.The original dynamics of Dayananda's ideology were modified by historical forces, particularlyduring the 1920sand 1930s. The Arya Samaj from World War I to Independence The outbreak of World War I had little direct effect on the Arya Samaj, but the intensificationof the nationalistfervor at the close of the war and just afterward drew many Arya Samaj leaders into active involvementwith the Indian National Congress.Svami Shraddhanand, example, becamea major figure in the campaign for against the Rowlatt Bills. He and others then went on to support Mahatma Gandhi's first non-cooperation campaign.aO the height At of this movement, in August 1921 a group of Muslims, the , Moplahs of Kerala, rose againstthe British and their Hindu neighbors. The Aryas were shockedand horrified since the Moplahs not only attacked Hindu property and person, but also conducted a number of forced conversionsto Islam. Lala Hans Raj heard the ncws and at a meeting the next day of the Arya pradeshik I'ratinidhi Sabha in Lahore sponsored resolutionto send help to a the Hindus of Kerala. This they did, as Pandit Rishi Ram, Sriyut Khushal Chand, and Pandit Mastan Chand were dispatched to Kcrala. Others would follow. The prime service the Aryas could ,rrrddid provide was the institutionof shuddhi,which they used to l,ring convertedHindus back into the fold of their religion and so( rcty. In doing so the Aryas won considerable acceptanceof rltuddhiby orthodox Hindus. Originally leadersof Hindu orthodoxy lr;rtlstronfllyopposedthe use of shuddhi,but at this time it was the ,'rrly effective weapon Hindus possessed counter forced converto ,r.11. dls6, Aryas provided financial aid and assistedin rebuilding ,l.rrnaged Hindu temples.The Moplah affair marked a major step in rlrt' introductioninto south India of ideas and institutionsdeveloped rrr tlrc northern areas during times of acute religious conflict. On rlrrs occasion northern attitudesof communal defenseflowed into .rn irrcaalreadythe centerof religious competition.ar Irollowing the cessationof the non-cooperationcampaign in

40 / RELIGIONINMODERNINDTA February 7922, north India sank into a morass of religious conflict and violence. Major riots erupted in many cities: Multan and Saharanpur in 1922, Delhi in 1924 and 1926, Kohat in"1924. ln fact, no city was without its share of religious strife as such inciAlthough dents becameendemic in even small towns and villages.a2 emerging from inherent points many conflicts arose spontaneously, of conflict between Islam and Hinduism, each community grew increasingly aggressive about its rights, particularly in regard to proselytism, conversion, and reconversion. A community of Muslims, the Malkana Rajputs, had requestedre-admission into Hinduism. This group, living in the area where three provinces, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh,converge had been converted to Islam, but still retained much of their Hindu culture. The All-India Kshatriya Mahasabha at its annual meeting in Agra on December 31, 1922, agreed to accept the Malkanas back into the fold of Rajput society. On February 13, 1923, a body of approximately eighty representativesof caste sabhas and various Sikhs and Jains-met in Agra to Hindu groups-Aryas, Sanatanists, atplan this proposed reconversioncampaign. Svami Shraddhanand tended and at his suggestion they organized the Bharatiya Hindu became president and Lala Hans Raj Shuddhi Sabha. Shraddhanand The Shuddhi Sabha raised funds, supported first vice-president.a3 missionaries,and began an extensive campaign to win back the Malkanas. Although this was a broader movement than the Arya Samaj, its leadership was mostly Arya and included individuals from both wings of the Samaj, for this of issue transcendeddivisions within the Hindu community. The work of the Shuddhi Sabha heightenedcommunal competition between Hindus and Muslims. Almost immediately Muslim groups in north India formed counter-movementsto send missionaries to persuade the Malkanas and others to remain within the Islamic community. Among Hindus the twin slogans of shuddhi (conversion) and songathan (unity) expressedtheir heightened religious aggressiveness.Muslims reacted with their parallel movements for tonz.im and tablrgh. The Arya Samaj with its institutional base, resources of money, and manpower, became deeply involved in this religious competition. In turn, the Samaj was diverted its program by other demands of communal defense. Perhaps no issue better typifies this period of history and its atmosphere of strife than does the case of Mahasaya Rajpal, a bookseller

TI{E ARYA SAMAJIN BRITISH INDIA / 4I and devout Arya Samajist. In 1924 he published an urdu tract entitled Rangila Rasal, the Merry prophet. This was a vicious attack on the Prophet Muhammad that offended many Muslims throughout the north. They tried to have it banned by the governmeni and failed, but in the processRajpal becamea bitter symbol for all ag_ gressive Hinduism.e As a result Rajpal was attacked by a Muslim in September 1927, and finally killed on April 3, l93l.ai The Rajpal affair illustrates the tensions and underlying violence of this period' During these years the Arya Samaj reacted to such events, which stimulated Samaj programs, particurarryon the issue of continued caste prejudices within the movement. At the 1922 anniversary celebration of the Lahore Arya Samaj, Bhai parmanand presented a vigorous condemnationof the caste system, particurarly its persistenceamong members of the samaj. Shortly afterward came the establishmentof the Jat-pat Todak Mandal dedicated to the removal of all caste distinctions.The MAndal decided to work first among Aryas, since it was necessary remove caste distinctions to within the Arya Samaj in order to facilitate the incorporation of new members brought in through shuddhi.a'concern for an end to caste distinctions, shuddhi, and communal defense were linked and reinforced each other. within the context of communal tensionsa new Samaj institution began to evolve. In September 1920,at. a meeting of scholars and sannyasi-rheld in Derhi, it was decided to hord a centenarv celebrationof Dayananda's birth at Mathura. A managingcommittee was selected and the celebration scheduledfor February 15-21, 1925. Among the eighty-six members of this committee were rep_ resentativesfrom the SarvadeshikSabha,both pratinidhi Sabhasof the Punjab, the Paropkarini Sabha, and various other groups.aT The two wings of the Samaj, which had cooperatedin the Moplah and Malkana shuddhi campaigns once again worked togethei, as the long-standing division within the samaj tended to close under the pressuresof communal conflict. when this centenary celebration convened, Aryas came from all sectionsof the Samaj. They stayed lnd worked in Arya Nagar, a tent city with fourteen fiu. "u.pr, hazaars,one huge mandal, and four smaller ones. A p.o""rrion *a. held, hymns sung, and rituals conducted, along with speechesand the passing of resolutions.a8 This meeting had two purposes,first the celebration of Dayananda's birth with all the pomp that could he mustered, and, secondly, the passing of resolutions, which pro-

42 / RELIGIONINMODERNINDIA vided direction and goals for the movement. Such a grand meeting offered a new method for gathering opinions of leading Aryas and For while such a gatherexpressingthem in a series of statements. ing could and did advocate various steps for the Samaj to take, it had no machinery to carry out a particular program. That would have to be left to others, such as the SarvadeshikSabha. The centenary celebrationcontained more than one meeting. The planning committee had establisheda Dharm Parishad (religious council) and an Arya Vidvat Parishad (a learned council), which met continuouslyin the smaller mandals.In addition, there were a number of conferenceson different religions, a gathering of individuals who had met Dayananda, and a poetry conference. Following the centenarycelebrationsvarious Arya groups held their own sessions.These included the Arya Swarajya Sammelan, the Arya Kumar Sammelan,the Daliotoddhar Sammelan, the Jat-Pat Todak Sammelan,the PradeshakSammelan,a Gau Conf'erence, a Kshatriya Conference, and Brahman Conference.ae Among the many resolutionspassed,the Arya Vidvat Parishadrecommended This group would act to that a Dharmarya Sabha be established. decide religious issuesand remove doubts within the Samaj.50 The executive committee of the SarvadeshikSabha, at a meeting on January 27, 1928, decided to establish such a sabha and thus carry out the resolution passed in 1925. The Dharmarya Sabha funcThe centenary tioned extensively for the next twenty-five years.sr conferencealso decided to hold a second celebrationat Tankara, Dayananda's birth place. Arya Samajistsgatheredat Tankara on February 12, 1926, conducted a grand nagar kirtan and visited the home of Dayanandaas well as other historic sites in the area.52 This was solely a meeting in honor of Dayananda;no working sessions were held nor resolutions passed.The 1925 gathering had managed to set a precedent that would be followed in 1927, although this next conference would be stimulated by a different set of causes. Religious violence turned bitter in 1926 and 1927 with the Arya Samaj a major target of the Islamic community. At least that of was how the Aryas saw events of this period. The assassination at the close of 1926 was followed in early Svami Shraddhanand 1921 by riots in the Bareilly area on the occasion of Muharram. Arya Samaj individuals and buildings were attacked,allegedly with of the assistance the local police. The SarvadeshikSabha met on

THE ARYA SAMAJTNBRITISHINDI-A / 43 Iuly 24, 192'7,and called for a series of meetings to take place in north India on August 7, 1927. At these meetings,Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, and Jains, as well as the Aryas, were asked to pass resolutions expressing their anger at the apparentpolice hostility toward Hindus and at the violence that resulted. The conferees were then requestedto send copies of these resolutionsto all levels of the a government.In September managingcommitteeewas established to organize the first Arya Mahasammelan,or great conference, to take place early in November in Delhi.5r Unlike the Dayananda centenary conference,this gathering was called specifically to deal with the question of religious violence and of the Hindu becamethe community's reaction to it. The Delhi Mahasammelan first of four such conferencesto be held prior to Independence. followed in organizationand funcThe Delhi Mahasammelan Once again all tion the model of the 1925 centenary celebration. The presidentof the meetings, factions of the Samaj participated. Lala Hans Raj, was joined by both leading membersof the moderate and militant Aryas. During this conferencethey passeda series of eighteen resolutions, beginning with a tribute to Svami Shraddhanandin which the Aryas stated their general view that they recognizedthe hatred and anger of the Muslim leadersfrom these provinces have towards the Hindus in general and the Arya They then went on to pass the remainingsevSamaj in particular.sa which accusedthe governmentof tailing to proenteenresolutions, Muslim violence,called for tect the Hindu community, condemned continuedwork among the demore extensiveshuddhi campaigns, pressedcastes,and asked for an end to caste distinctions among all Aryas. All eighteenresolutionscenteredon communal defenseand solidarity, on shuddhi and sangathan.Two new institutions were created, the Arya Raksha (Defense) Committee, and the Arya Vir Dal.55Branches of the Vir Dal were founded throughout the Samaj, funds raised, and volunteers recruited. This militant arm of the Samaj served on a variety of occasions, from the satyagraha struggle in Hyderabad to the upheavalsof partition in the Punjab.56 The Delhi Mahasammelanclearly grew out of and focused on the issue of religious voilence, while the normal functioning of the Samaj's other institutions and programs drew little attention. A similar set of circumstances lay behind the Bareilly Mahasammelan f 1931. o One of the by-products of the religious tensions during the

IN INDIA 44 / RELICION MODERN 1920s was a number of restrictionsimposed on religious demonstrations at both the local and provincial levels. The Arya Samajists found it necessaryto take out licenses from the local police before they could hold processionsor march singing through the streetsof a particular town. Occasionally permission was not granted and the annual anniversary ceremoniescould not be held in the traditional manner. Both Hindus and Muslims had become increasingly aggressive in demanding their traditional rights as they saw them and in objecting to those rituals employed by the opposing community when they seemed to interfere with their own religious practices. complete with hymn singing were offensive to Hindu processions Muslims, especially when they passeda mosque at prayer time. From the standpoint of the Aryas all attempts to limit, let alone ban, their normal rituals were seen as elements of oppression by the governmentand its de facto allies, the Muslims. By 1929 the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of the United Provinces was engagedin a lengthy quarrel over such limits in that state. Similar difficulties arose in the Punjab, as it seemedto the Aryas that all governments In were acting to curb their activities.sT responseto rising frustration the Sarvadeshik Sabha decided to hold a second Mahasammelanon February 193l, in Bareilly, becausethey had already concluded that Mahasammelanswould be called whenever a major problem faced the Samaj. considered wide range of issues a The Bareilly Mahasammelan The centering on the needsof the community for self-protection. Arya Vir Dal was praised and all Aryas urged to support it, by founding local branches,raising both funds and finding recruits for the Dal. The main task of the Dal was to protect Aryan culture, assist the oppressed,and provide social services.stEducational developments, the system of Arya preachers,and internal social reform among members drew attention and produced new resolutions.Two areas, though, are of special interest. Now that the Samaj saw satyagraha as an important tool for itself and others, it shifted concerns to the rights of Hindu prisoners, particularly Arya prisoners. Consequently, the Samaj they passed a resolution demanding that jail regulations be changed to allow Aryas to practice their own religious rituals while interned. The Mahasammelan also turned its attention to restrictions on various Arya Samaj activities in the major Muslim states, specifically Hyderabad, Bhopal, This last concern would grow rapidly Bahawalpur, and Rampur.se

THE ARYA SAMAJ IN BRITISH INDIA

45

during the 1930s to finally culminate in the Arya Samaj's first .satyagraha campaign. the third one Unlike the Delhi and Bareilly Mahasammelans, was focused on the fiftieth anniversary of Svami Dayananda's death. The idea of holding such a meeting may have been discussed at the Mathura conference,but the first concrete plan came from the Paropkarini Sabha at the suggestion of Sriman Nahar Singh. The Sarvadeshik Sabha agreed to assist in this Mahasammelan,which was planned for October 14-20, 1933, and finally held in Ajmer.m The lack of a major overriding problem behind this conferencemeant that resolutions,nine in all, tended to be relatively general, covering the major themes of the movement.6rBy contrast the important of this celebration stemmed from the wide variety of Arya institutions and organizationsthat participated. Special meetings and programs were presented from throughout the Samaj. An Arya Mahila Sammelan (Ladies Conferof ence) met with representatives women's groups, especiallythe Kanya Gurukulas, to pass twenty-th-ree resolutionson issuesparticularly important to women.62 special conference was held of A those who had met Dayananda, and another group presented a demonstration physical exercisesand training.63 of The Arya Vir Dal and the Arya Kumar Sabha met as did special sessions focused overseasIndians, untouchabilon Hindi, Sanskrit,poetry, sannyasis, ity, and widow marriage.6o This was to be the last Mahasammelan for eleven years. There were no centenariesto celebrate during the next decadeand the intensity of religiousconflict in the north had abated somewhat. Instead Arya Samaj attention began to be increasingly focused on the Muslim-dominated state of Hyderabad. The Arya Samaj had been in the Hyderabad state since the nineteenth century, but only in the late 1920sand early 1930swas there an expansion of its role. New Samajes were founded and Arya missionaries extended their aggressivecampaigns beyond the limits of Hyderabad. By 1932 the first of a series of clashes between the Samaj and the government of Hyderabad took place. An Arya missionary, Pandit Chandra Bhanu, was charged with being a political agitator, and the Samaj a political organization. The Samaj Irttemptedto answer these charges both to the Nizam's government and the British Indian government but did not succeedin doing so.65 Over the next few years incident after incident took place as relations between the Arya Samaj and the Hyderabad government

INDTA IN 46 / RELIGION MODERN steadily deteriorated. Also relations became severely strained between the Hindu majority and the Islamic minority in this state.66 In 1935 the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Hyderabad was organized as the number of Samaj branches and institutions continued to increase.The Nizam's governmentgrew steadily more suspiciousof the Samaj. As they saw it, "The Arya Samaj has been working in the Dominions of his Exalted Highness for several years. It has eighteen organizations in the Capital City while its central organization, known as the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Nizam Rajya, is located in Udaigir with branchesin different parts..'. Ostensibly,its organize principal functions are to hold periodical congregations, processions,establish akhadas (gymnasiums) and employ missionaries for Shuddhi and Sangathanwork. Outside preachersare often Tensions beinvited to deliver lectures and enroll fresh converts'"67 until 1938, when tween the governmentand the Samaj accelerated they resulted in open conflict. The Arya Samaj had been particularly active in the Marathispeaking areas of Hyderabad, and it was here that frustrated Aryas These began to engage in saryagraha against the government.6t were local affairs with some support from Arya Samajesacross the to Sabha,in response border in Bombay Province.The Sarvadeshik requestsfrom the Hyderabad Aryas for support, decided to hold an Arya Conference at Sholapur just beyond the borders of Hyderabad. It met on December 24-26, 1938. By this time the Samaj had begun to rally its support for the coming struggle and had also received offers of aid from other Hindu organizations,especially the Hindu Mahasabha.The Sholapur Conference aired Arya grievances, particularly those against the Nizam's police. "Our chief complaint of very, very long standing is that the unPolice of the Nizam's Governmentfabricatesunfounded scrupulous lies against the Arya Samajists,sheer out of bigotry."6eBy this time the Nizam's governmentpublishedits own view of the Samaj and Samaj activities: Audiences have been exhorted to rise, fight the Muslims, kill them and overthrow them as the country belonged to the Hindus and not the Muslims. In certain areas' they have gone so far as to exhort the ryots not to pay land tax and to boycott Government officials and Muslims' Every act and intention of the Government is deliberately misinterpreted in order to bolster up complaints that they and the Hindu com-

THE ARYA SAMAJ IN BRITISH INDIA

47

munity generally are being "oppressed". ... In addition to written and spoken propaganda,definite acts of lawlessness on the part of Arya Samajistshave now become common. Instancesare the taking out of Arya Samaj processionsin defiance of the orders issued by the local authorities in the interest of public pace, the processionistsbeing armed with deadly weapons,shouting offensive slogans,singing provocative songs and firing guns in crowded localities.To Both sides feared and distrusted each other and both saw the other as motivated primarily by religious fanaticism. As in the north the Aryas felt that their traditional rights and privileges were being taken from them by the Nizam's government, which in this case was an expression of the Muslim community. A struggle proved inevitable. A satyagrahc campaign against the government manned by Arya Samajistswithin the state had started in October, well before the Sholapur Conference.The Aryas found allies in the newlyformed and almost immediately-bannedHyderabad State Congress. The Sholapur Conferencedeclared January 22, 1939, as Hyderabad Day in order to popularize the movement and bring support throughout the country. On January 31, 1939, the Arya Samaj began its satyagraho.TtWiththe backing of the SarvadeshikSabha other Arya groups, such as the Arya Vir Dal, joined this campaign, as did students from the Gurukulas as well as Arya leaders throughout British India. The Hindu Mahasabhaalso sent parties of its followers to perform satyagraha. This campaign continued through spring and into early summer and ended when the Nizam's government announceda set of political reforms on July 17, 1939. By this time approximately 8,000 Hindus had been jailed. 72On August 17, all political prisoners were releasedand the satyagraha campaign was discontinued by the Arya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha.T3 This marked the first successfulsatyagraha campaign for both organizations.It also was another instance, as in the case of the Moplah uprising, of Arya Samaj penetration into an area of the south already caught up in Hindu-Muslim conflict. Only in such an area did thc Arya Samaj find an acceptanceof their ideology and techniques;in the rest of south India barriers of language and culture madc it extremely difficult for the Samaj to gain ndherents. Following the Hyderabad satyagraha the Arya Samaj once

IN INDIA 48 / RELICION MODERN more became involved in Hindu-Muslim conflicts in the north. The constitutional reforms of 1935 opened the way for parliamentary government in the provinces. With the outbreak of World War II the Indian National Congress resigned its elective positions, but the Muslim League did not. Muslim-dominated provincial governments establishedthemselvesin those provinces with a Muslim majority, one of which was Sind. As in the Muslim princely states tensions developed between a Muslim-dominated government and the Arya Samaj. In the case of Sind, however, the majority of the population was also Muslim. The Hindus of this area were a small minority located primarily in the cities and towns. By 1943, the Sind provincial government found itself under pressure from various Muslim grcups to ban the SaryArth Prakash of Svami Dayananda Saraswati. Muslims objected in particular to Chapter 14, in which Dayananda attacked Islam at considerable length, attempting to show that it was a false religion based on ignorance and greed. On June 25, 1943, the Hindustan Times clumed that the Sind government was consideringjust such a ban. This angeredthe Arya Samaj and they saw it as another examplc of Muslim intolerance. The Sarvadeshik Sabha telegraphed its answer to the Sind government: "Shocked learning your ministry's contemplatedmove proscribing Satydrth Prakash, Aryas' indispensablereligious book. If materialised, all Aryas will accept challenge. Ready sacrificing all for religious liberty as in Hyderabad State. Please give up The Sind govunwisest proposed step avoiding bitter struggle."Ta ernment responded that it would not take action, but there was increasing pressure from Muslim groups, particularly the Muslim League to initiate the ban. On August 13, 1943, the League passeda resolution urging all Muslim governments and the government of India to ban the Satydrth Prakash. It reiterated this demand at its annual session The Arya Samaj objected held in Karachi during that December.Ts and stepped up its pressureby calling a Mahasammelan.It met in Delhi on February 20-22, the fourth and last such gathering before Independence.The Delhi Mahasammelanhad as its president Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukerjee, a non-Arya but prominent leader of the Hindu community. Three thousand delegatescame and according to Arya estimates, fifty thousand men and womn attended. Numerous resolutions were passed but the center of focus remained the issues in Sind and relations between Hindus, Muslims, and the

THE ARYA SAMAJIN BRITISHINDIA / 49 British regime. The Delhi Mahasammelan brought together Aryas and also members of the SanatanaDharm Sabhas,who saw ban as a symbol of the Hindu-Muslim struggle.T6 Other units within the Samaj held meetings during the spring and summer. The Sind gov_ ernment vacillated but finally on october 26, 1944, announcedthat "The Government of Sind is pleasedto direct that no copies of the book entitled 'Satyarth Prakash' written by Swami Dayananda Saraswatishall be printed or published unless Chapter XIV (Chap_ ter fourteen) thereof is omitted."77 The Arya Samaj continuedits campaignagainstthis ban and in August 1945, the sind governmentannounced modificationof its a ruling.TtThis was, however, unacceptable the Samaj, but since to the ban had not been effectively enforced and was due to lapse in September 1946, they waited to see what would happen next. Within ten days of its lapse, the Sind government restored the ban.7e This was the last straw, and on January l, lg47 , the AllIndia Satyarth Defense Committee led by Mahatma Narayan Svami announcedthat: The Sind provincial electionsare now over. people of Sind cannot now legitimately ask for further postponementof praktish in Satyagraha on the issue of ban on the Satsnarth Sind. I, accompaniedby Rajguru Pandit Dhurendra Shastri and Lala Khushal Chand Anand, am reaching Karachi on 3rd January, 1947. Satyagrahawill be launched in consultation with the workers of the Sind provincial Arya pratinidhi Sabha. I call upon the Aryas, Arya Samajes and provincial Arya Pratinidhi Sabhasto send to me the names of the persons who may reach Karachi to offer Satyagrahaon a week's notice.'s The saryagraha campaignbegan in ernest on January 14, 1947, and was over by the 20th. The Sind government simply ignored the Satyagrahrsand refused to arrest them even when they publicly defied the ban. The Aryas interpretedthis as a capitulationby the Sind governmentand so terminatedtheir campaignas anothersuccessful struggle for the protection of their rights. Following the Sind campaign the Arya Samaj was soon engulfed by the chaos rrnd confusion of Partition and Independence.The Samaj lost pro-

1 I
INDTA IN 50 / RELIGION MODERN perty and valuable institutions; such as the Lahore Dayananda Anglo-Vedic College in the area of the newly-created state of Pakistan, and thousandsof its members became refugees.In the 1950s and 1960sthe Samaj went through a period of re-establishitself. ing lost institutionsand re-organizing We have seen here only a brief outline of the Arya Samaj, yet that outline is impressive because of the scope and variety of Samaj achievements.The personal vision of Svami Dayananda Saraswatiwas transformedinto an ideology and a movement.This to ideology was sufficiently persuasive attract individuals who, in many cases,made a lifetime commitmentto the Arya Samaj.These ideas provided for numerousindividuals a coherentexplanationof the past and present as well as a method for the creation of a reformed Hinduism and a return to ancient greatness.Converts to Arya ideology gave to this movement their personal abilities and which in turn were used to create,manage,and sustain resources, a large number of organizations and institutions. The Samaj launchedprograms in the areasof education,proselytism,communal defense,social uplift, and social service.As they struggledto defend their own ideology and give substanceto Dayananda's o v i s i o n , t h e y a l s o c o n t r i b u t e dt o t h e h e i g h t e n i n g f r e l i g i o u s t e n sions, first in the north and then into south India. The Arya Samaj also was able to continue to draw new members into the movements and to expand its institutional structurewithin and beyond India. As a result the Samaj played an important role in nineteenthand twentieth century India. Its impact can only be estimatedat this time, since extensive researchwould be needed before we could compile a detailedand verified accountof its history and of the areas of its influence. Scholars have been correct in seeing the Arya Samaj as historicallysignificant,but we must await the future In before this significancecan be clearly delineated. the meantime this article can act as a starting point for studentsof the Arya Samaj and its place in recenthistory. Notes in Movements India (New York: ModernReligious l. J.N. Farquhar, and Lala Lajpat Rai' The Arya Macmillan,l9l9), pp. 102-129; in Green,1915)are both generalized Longmans, Samaj(London: In approach. Hindi the best generalhistory of the Samajis their
THE ARYA SAMAJ IN BRITISHINDIA / 5I the two-volume work by Indra Vidyavachaspati, Arya Samaj ka Itihas (Delhi Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, 1957). For a srudy of the Samaj in the Punjab, see Kenneth W. Jones, Arya Dharm: Hindu Consciousness I9th-Century Punjab (Berkeley: (Jniversity of in California Press, 1976) and his article, "social Change and Religious Movements in Nineteenth-Century Punjab," in Social Movements in India, ed. M.S.A. Rao (Delhi: Manohar, 1979), 2: l-16. The most recent sketch of the Samaj is in Kenneth W. Jones SocioReligious Reform Movements in British India, The New Cambridge History of Inida, Vol. I-III (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), pp. 95-106, 192-199.For additionalbibliographicreferences, see KennethW. Jones,"Sourcesfor Arya Samaj History", in W. Eric Gustafson and Kenneth W. Jones, eds., Sources of Punjab History (Delhi: Manohar, 1975),pp. 130-170. 2. Numerousbiographies Dayananda have been written, but the most of authoritative and scholary work is by M.F. Jordens, Dayananda Saraswati, His Life and Times (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1978).A useful,older biographywas done by Har Bilas Sarda,Lrle of Dayananda Saraswati, World Teacher (Ajmer: Vedic Yantralaya, t946). 3. For a discussion of Dayananda's basic ideology see Jordens, Dayananda Saraswati, pp. 99-126, 245-295: and Jones, Aryur Dharm, pp. 30-36. 4. Sarda, Li.fe of Dayanand, pp. 405-412,and Yudhishthir Mimansak, Risi Dayananda kd Granthon ka ltihas (Ajmer : PrachyavidhyaPrathishthan, 1949),pp. l6-46. 5. Jones,Arya Dharm, pp. 36-50. 6. Sarda, Life of Dayanand, has lengthy lists of those places Dayananda visited with the datesof each visit. see pages337-347. 7. Jones, Arya Dharm, pp. 43-44, and Sarda, Lrk of Dayanand, pp. 324-336. 8. Jones,Arya Dharm, pp. 67-77. 9 . I b i d . ,p . 8 5 . 10. Ibid.,pp. 88-90. l l . I b i d . ,p p . 9 0 - 9 3 . 12. Ibid., pp. 330-331; also see Vidyavachaspati, Ary-a Samaj ka lriha.s, 2:212-213. 13. Jones,Arya Samaj, pp. 235-241. 14. Ibid., pp.24l-219: also see N.C. Barrier,"The Arya Samaj and Congress Politics in Punjab, 1894-1908". Journal of Asian Studies,26. no.3 (May 1967), and by the same aurhor, "The Punjab Covernment and Communal Politics, 1870-1908",Jounnl of Asian Stutlies, 37, no.3 (May 1968). 15. Jones,Arya Dharm, pp. 299-303.

1 i

52 / RELIGIONINMODERNINDIA 16. lbid., pp.280-299. 1877' Relations, "Ham Hindu Nahin:Arya-Sikh W. 17. Kenneth Jones, 32 1905",Journalof AsianStudies, no.3 (May 1973):436' 1 8 . I b i d . ,p . 4 7 1 . of for a study of the aftermath Arya Dharm,pp. 303-312; 19. Jones, see Samajuplift work amonguntouchables' JamesSebring' Arya Casefrom North InA "The Formationof New Castes: Probable June 1972: 48'l-600. dia", AmericanAnthropologisr, 20. Ibid., pp. 193-202. 2 1 . I b i d . ,p p . 2 1 5 - 2 2 3 . Table No' I' pp' of 22. Census India, l90l GeneralReport Subsidiary 289-395. Arya Pratinidhi Sabha ka 23. Radhuvir Singh Shastri, SarvadEshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha' ltltras (New Delhi: Sarvadeshik Sankshipt l. 2018), vikramisamvat P. p.215. Saraswati, Dayananda 24. Jordens, pp. Sarvaddshik, l-6. 25. RadhuvirSinghShastri, 26. Ibid.,p. 8. The Telengana Regime: of M. 27. Carolyn Elliot, "Declines a Patrimonial 34' Journalof Asian Studies, no' I in Rebellion India, 1946-51," (November 1974):P. 56. . Samajkn lihas, 2: 4'1 28. Vidyavachaspati,Arya 29. Ibid.,p. 48. 3 0 . I b i d . ,p p . 4 1 , 4 7 . 3 1 . I b i d . ,p . 4 8 . 3 2 . I b i d . ,p . 1 8 6 . p' SarvadEshik' 5 33. RadhuvirSinghShastri, Samaikz ltihas, p' 5' 34. lbid., p. 5; also seeVidyavachaspati,Arya l, for India, GeneralReports 191 1921'and 1931' of 35. Census and 36. Thesefigures are approximate may be on the low side and ex' dataon the accurate to would be needed establish tensiveresearch SeeArya Dairectartarthat Samvat1997 Vikramikt Arya Samaj. ka Arya Jagatkr Pragatiydn Vivaran(Delhi:Arya PratinidhiSabha' 1978), 43-81. vikramisamvat PP. pp. 3 7 .Arya Datrectarr, 120-133. wasgivenas to exactlywhichinstiNo 3 8 . Ibid.,pp. 86-119. definition and as tutionswereclassed Gurukulas why' An Inlroduction (Hardwar: 39. Gurukula Kangri Vishwayavidyala, 1962)p- 25. GurukulaKangriVishwavidyalaya, (Bombay:PhoenixPublicaInside Congress 40. Svami Shraddhanand, tions,1946), 46'125. PP. 2 A iy 4 1 . V i d y a v a c h a s p a tr , a S a m a jk a l i l h a s , : 1 3 0 - l 3 l ; G R T h u r s b y , in Relations British India (Leiden:E'J' Brill' 1975)' Hindu-Muslim pp.137-145. p. Relations, 161. Hindu-Muslim 42. Thursby,

THE ARYA SAMAJ IN BRITISH INDTA /

53

43. Ibid., see Bharatiya Hinda Shuddhi Sabha ki Pratham Varshik Report (Agra: Shanti Press, vikrami samvat, 1980) and other annual reports through 1927. 44. N. Gerald Barrier, Banned: Controversial Literature and Political Control in British India, 1907-1927 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press,1974),p.99. 45. Vidyavachaspati,Arya Samaj ka hthas, 2: 26't. 46. Iames Reid Graham, "The Arya Samaj as a Reformation in Hinduism with Special Reference to Casre" (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1942) pp. 53?, 563-569. 47. Radhuvir Singh Shastri, Sarvadeshik,pp. l8-47. 48. Ibid. 49. Vidyavachaspati,Arya Samaj ka Inhas, pp. 136-141. 50. Radhuvir Singh Shastri, SanadEshik, p. 19. 5 1 . I b i d . ,p . l : 1 4 1 . 52. Ibid., p.25 53. Vidyavachaspati,Arya Samaj ka hthas, 2:157. 54. Ibid.,p 158. 55. Ibid.,p. 158-164. 56. Radhuvir Singh Shastri, SarvadEshik p. 99; Thursby, Hindu-Muslim Relations, p. 92 and Vidyavachaspati,Arya Samdj ka lihas, 2:162163. Considerablecompetition and animosity developed between the Arya Vir Dal and the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh. See SarvadEshik Pratinidhi Sabha kE Nirnay (Delhi: Sarvadeshik Pratinidhi Sabha,vikrami samvat2018), pp. l5-17. 57. Vidyavachaspati, Ar)d Samaj ka Inhas,2: 169. 58. Ibid., p. 172. 59. Ibid.,pp. 68-71. 60. Radhuvir Singh Shastri,SamadEshik,p. 25. 61. Vidyavachaspati,Arya Samaj kA ll,has, 2: 175. 62. Ibid., p. 116. 63. Ibid., pp. 116-117. 64. Ibid.,p. 180. 65. Radhuvir Singh Shastri,SanadEshik,p.45. 66. Elliot, "Decline of a Patrimonial Regime", pp. 30-35 6'1. The Arya Samaj in Hyderabad (Published by order His Exalted Highness the Nizam's Government, n.d.), p.l. 6 8 . Elliot, "Decline of a Patrimonial Regime", pp. 35-36. 69. The Arya Samaj in Hyilerabad, p.2. 'to. Nizam Defence Exsmined and Exposed, A Rejoinder to the Pamphlet "The Arya Samaj in Hyderabad" (Delhi: International Aryan League,n.d.), p.5. 71. Vidyavachaspati,Arya Samaj kd ltilns, vol.2. 72. Elliot, "Decline of a Patrimonial Regime", p. 36.

54 /

IN RELIGION MODERNINDIA

73. Vidyavachaspati,At]4 Samaj ka lfihas, 2" 209-2lO' (The Light of Truth) in 74. S. ihandra, The Case of the SatyarthPrakash p'20' Sind (Delhi: International Aryan League, 194'l)' 75. lbid., p. 27. ?6. Vidyavachaspati,Arya Samaj ka lihas, 2" 42-43' 60-61' 77. Chandra, The Case of rhe Sarlarth Prakash' pp' 78. Ibid.,p. 71. 79. Ibid., p. 82. 80. Ibid., P. 94.

3
THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT: A STUDY IN R.ELIGIOUSCHANGE

George M. Williams

The pattern of ultimate concern of an organizationor movement can be more complex to portray than that of an individual. Such is indeed the case with the Ramakrishnamovement. This movementhas been credited with championingthe cultural revival or renaissance modern India, defendingthe total religious heriof tage of the Hindu tradition when others were in retreat, and purifying Hindu monasticismso that its menrbershave become exemplars of Indian spirituality. This study will focus on the religious ideals of this movement, seeking to articulatewhat has been of ultimate concern.rInitially, nine descriptors of the pattern of ultimacy of the Ramakrishna rnovementwill be presented. Then, the secondportion of this study will offer a diachronic examination of this general pattern of ultimacy, which has led to three findings: (l) There are variations given different elementsof diachronicallyin the relative emphases the pattern of ultimacy. As in cooking, all the ingredientsmay be the same, but different portions yield cake, bread, or saltine crackcrs. For a mayAvadi, in this case a historian of religions, the differcnce in taste is worth noting.2 (2) There are inner tensions within rhe major elementsof the pattern of ultimacy. None of the central ideals of the movement are without an internal dynamism which prohibits later followers of the realization of Sri Ramakrishna from cnrphasizing aspectof a central ideal. (3) Six periodsof relative an rrnphasis of various ideals emerge over the century of existence t lti80-1980) of the Ramakrishnamovement.Becauseof the limits

INDIA IN 56 / RELIGION MODERN of this study, a full discussionof each period cannot be attempted; rather, a selective discussion will be undertaken to emphasize salient religious changeswithin the movement.The reader will need mentally to relist general ideals which do not change in each period. I Descriptors of the The General Ramakrishna Movement During the history of the Ramakrishnamovement, nine descriptors have been used repeatedly by members and others to describe it. It has been portrayed as monistic, monastic, universal, liberal, humanitarian,progressive,and scientolerant, non-sectarian, tific. These descriptorsare linguistically rooted in the religious ferIndian religion. Yet, all of them conment of nineteenth-century tinue to be used to describe the Ramakrishnamovement today. The descriptorshave a general linguistic history but also serve the special function of carriers of truth claims for the movement's teachings. It is this latter function of the terms which will be briefly presentedin this section. These descriptors reveal the invisible "convictional world view" of Ramakrishna Vedanta. What follows is a general overview of the nine descriptors: Monistic. True Ramakrishnamovement found in the Vedanta a central truth: that truth is one. Unity of life, of mankind, of religion, of the self, of God, is an unequivocal one. The Personal God and the Impersonal are the same. Monastic. True spirituality requires renunciationof the fruits of one's actions. The monastic life promotes spiritual growth through actual renunciation. ILniversal. The Ramakrishna movement, its organizational super-structureof the RamakrishnaMath and Mission, or its message of the sanatana dharma (the eternal principles) are not a religion. Its teachings are the universal foundation of all religions or, more properly, of spirituality itself. Tolerant. The Vedanta of the Ramakrishna movement proclaims that all religions are true. It teacheshumanity the basis for universal tolerance, which is "unity in diversity." Ramakrishna Vedanta teachesthat all faiths-Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist-lead to the Godhead.

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT / 57 Non-sectarian.The Ramakrishnamovement is not a sect within Hinduism, but a defenderof the entire Hindu tradition. It demonstrates that each of the paths (ifiana-marga, bhakti-marga, and karma-marga) and any secr (whether Vaisnava, Saiva, or Sakta) is true. All spiritual tendencies lead to the goal of unity. Liberal. The movement is dedicated to the social uplift of mankind through the goals of liberty, justice, equality. According to the principles of the sanatana dharma, religion and society throughout the world can be reformed. Humanitarian. The Ramakrishnamovement is dedicated to the service of all creatures.Its programs of relief in famine and flood are renowned throughout India. Service to the suffering is service to the Godhead. Progressive. Education aids the progress of humanity. The Ramakrishna movement has emphasizedthe need for mass education, especially for the lower and underprivilegedclasses.That education has as its central purpose to raise the massesto the level at which they may realize the eternal principles. Scientific. As truth is one, so also is true science and true spirituality. Western science and the eternal principles can be taught and practiced together.Both will awaken mankind. This delineatjonof these nine descriptorsof the Ramakrishna movement is necessarilystark. If we now proceed diachronically to study these descriptors,we will see how they are valued within the pattern of ultimacy which the movement perceivesas unified, as unified as the sanatana dharma itself. II The Historical Periods of the Ramakrishna Movement Our interest in the various periods of the ideals of the Ramakrishnamovement leads us to suspendjudgment concerning the validity of its central truth claim (i.e., that the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna are the eternal principles of spirituality). Instead, we will look at each period to see how the descriptors function as elt:ments in the pattern of ultimate concern in each period. l'eriod One. Sri RamakrishnaParamahamsa(c. 1880-86):Birth By 1880 a small movementhad begunto form around the person

INDIA 58 / RELIGION MODERN IN of a Kali priest at the DakshineswarTemple outside Calcutta. They were drawn to a priest of an endowed temple who had deviated significantly from his expected role as pujari or brahman ritualist. Sri Ramakrishna behaved as a sannyasl; even though he was married to SaradamaniDevi, the marriage was never consummated. Years of practice of various siidhaniis (spiritual disciplines) led him to teach that all religions were essentially true. He taught that the God of each, whether Vaisnava,Sakta, Christian, or Muslim, was the same and could be worshipped according to one's inherent preference for the type of religious practice. He demonstratedexceptional spiritual powers (siddhis), being able to go into prolonged trance statessuch as nirvikalpa samadhi or induce altered states of in consciousness others. The messageof Sri Ramakrishnacenteredon God-realization C.T.K. Chari corof and renunciation "women and gold." Professor Vedanta: the derectly observeda unique feature of Ramakrishna nial of the law of the excluded middle.3Brahman, the impersonal absolute,and Sakti, the personal Godhead,were the same.Jfiana and bhakti led to the goal. Ramakrishnarealized that even the phifosophiesof advaita, viiistadvaita, and dvaita (monism, qualified monism, and dualism) were different only becauseof the varying spiritual tendencieswithin the individual, but that they ultimately the same truth. as resolvedthemselves different ways of expressing Ramakrishna taught that he could know this becausehe was an iivarakoti, one who could merge with the Absolute and return. By implication, he taught that he was an avataro, for he was not different than l(1sna or Rama. Sri Ramakrishnaappearsto have instructed his disciples in two he For householders taught the menways regardingrenunciation. tal renunciation "of the Gita," but for those who had never touched women, he taught that they also renounce"in actuality." His requirement to renounce "gold" set them against the world of material goods and left only mendicancy. The monastic order which bears his name did not solely come from his messageor his practice. He initiated no one as a sannyasi in his lifetime. He entitled no one svami nor set a rule for them. He did ask his favorite disciple, NarendranathDatta, the future Vivekananda, to keep his "boys together" and to "teach them." The differences between the teachings and practice of Sri Ramakrishna as noted from direct evidence, and the message

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 59 (saniitana dharma) of the Order (the Ramakrishna Math and Mission) which followed him can be demonstrated briefly reviewing by the nine descriptors. Ramakrishna's monism dissolved advaita, viiis.tadvaita, and dvaita into the experience of truth's unity. Ramakrishna's monasticism was as a brahman pujdri in a Sakta temple, not a monastery.It entailed total abstinencefrom sexual contact and the touchingof money. Ramakrishna's niversalism u was total; at the highest level, there were no distinctions.Liberal religion in the 1880staught that religion basedon reasoncould rid t h e w o r l d o f s u p e r s t i t i o n ,i d o l a t r y , a n d t h e s o c i a l i l l s w h i c h weighted down the men and women. However, Ramakrishnawas not interested in any of these issues. and therefore, cannot be judged a religious liberal. Non-sectarianism was addressed Sri by Ramakrishna when he statedthat he did not want to start any sect. T'his may rvell have been the reasonhe initiated no one and taught that all Hin<Iusects-Vaisnava, Saiva, Sakta,Tantra-wer. "qrully true. He himself did not affiliate with any of the existing monastic orders in India. Yet, he affirmed their worth as,equallycapableof bringing one io God-realization. He practiced Sakti-puja (worship of the Mother Goddess Kali) and taught that the best palh (marga) in this evil age was bhakti (devotionalism). The descriptorof tolerant,as used by the Ramakrishnamovement to stress non-conversionto another faith, becauseall faiths are true does nnt fit Sri Ramakrishna. did believe in reconverHe sion of Indians to Hindu sects.Sri Ramakrishna used all his spiritual powers to bring Narendrato do puja to Kah in her manifestat i o n a t t h e D a k s h i n e s w at e m p l e a s a b a s a l ti m a g e .I n s o d o i n g , r Narendrawas "converted"from his faith and practiceas a Brahmo S a m a j i . o a m a k r i s h n a ' s u m a n i t a r i a n i s m a s t r a d i t i o n a l l yH i n d u . R h w He taught service to all beings (the five danas) and taught nothing of work (karma-yoga) or its dignity for sannS,asis. Ramakrishna was not the sourceof the Ramakrishna movement'steachingabout being progressive, the way in which the term acquiresmeaning in in the Hindu renaissance. was anti- or non-intellectual. did He He not believe that educationaided spiritual growth. In f'act,he often stated that too much study was not helpful. Finally, Ramakrishna was not scientific. He did teach the onenessof truth, but was not scientific,even in the peculiar senseof the Indian renaissance. Sri Ramakrishna's extraordinary achievements were in the area of the human spirit, not in the intellectual realm, for he was almost

60 / RELICIONINMODERNINDIA illiterate. His humility, humanity, and purity are a monument to the heights that few reach, even the most saintly. But Ramakrishnawas not the single source of the Ramakrishnamovement's teachings and practice. Period Two. Svami Vivekananda's 'Militant Hinduism' (18861902): Infancy The death of Sri Ramakrishnain August 1886, left a nascent movement with an appointed leader and the single instruction of "staying together." Yet, the four final years of their master's life had left "his boys" with the resolve to continue his central concerns of God-realizationand renunciation of "women and gold." Some began to exhibit spiritual powers such as those so amply demonstratedby Ramakrishnahimself, but Narendra discouraged the acquisition of these powers. They all practiced severe disciplines (sadftanas)in order "to see God." Visions occurred but certainty about God did not, at least for Narendra. The main spiritual routine during their master's lifetime had been bhakti. Ramakrishna-puja was now added to Kalt-puja. The movement had become a traditional localized ascetic group of bhaktas, dedicated to devotion for their guru and KalI. When Narendra left the group in 1890, he condemnedtheir practices.sHe intended never to have contact with them again, due to his frustration with their excessivedevotionalism. Yet, he contacted them from America in 1893, after years of silence,and tried to win them to his mission.When he returnedtriumphantlyto India in 1897, he soon encountered almost total resistanceto his plan from his former fellow disciples.o Only through the dominance of his will were these iakta-sannya.sis moved from their central focus on Godrealization through renunciation and puja to trying "his plan" and "the Mission," which involved work in the world. Vivekananda actually used all nine descriptorswhich are representativeof the elementsin the Ramakrishnamovement's pattern of ultimacy. He joined the realizationsof Sri Ramakrishnawith the liberal ideals of the Brahmo Samaj.T Monism. Advaita Vedanta was the rational articulation of the Absolute and the principles of oneness.The mtiyavada doctrine of Sankara was accepted as definitive. But in the realm of multiplicity, viiista-dvaita validated one's involvement in the world. Ramakrishna'sradical destructionof the epistemologicaldifferences of advaita, vifis.tadvaita,and dvaita in his experiential harmony of

MOVEMENT / 6I THE RAMAKRISHNA all approachescan be portrayed by the model of the wheel with three spokes coming to the oneness of truth at the center. Vivekananda's solution to the same problem used the model of the ladder and postulated, as Professor Nalini Devdas correctly observed, "a reasoned system in which dvaita and viiistadvaita are the stages and advaita is the goal."E The thirst for the realization of God as brahman or iakti or Kali or even in Ramakrishnaas the avatAra of the satya yuga was relegated by Vivekananda to a subordinaterole for intermittent periods of time after 1890. What became more important than realiz' ing God and attaining mukti was his "God the poor and the miserable." But as a viiistadvaitan the poor and God were the same, only perceived from different levels of reality. For the poor he would forego his own liberation-the traditional reason for the total renunciation of the sannyasi. Nor did it matter much experientially whether or not Sri Ramakrishnawas really God. Epistemofogically, Ramakrishna'savatara nature vouchsafed the unity of brahman and fukti, for only an avatara could return from merger in the onenessof the Godhead and know its identity with the God of form. Yet Vivekananda's ladder model placed advaita at the top as the truest philosophical expressionand relegatedavataras to the relatively real of vivarta (appearance). Monasticism. Narendra became Svami Vivekananda at the suggestion of the Raja of Khetri. When Vivekananda went to America, he claimed to be a monk of the oldest order of sannyasis in India, He that of Sankaracharya.e allowed himself to be known as a identified himself as being from Bombay or even Mabrahmin, he dras, and was credentialedto speak before the World Parliament of Religions on the basis of these verbal claims. After his remarksin defense of Hinduism and often at the expenseof other Indian religious groups (the Brahmo Samaj and Theosophy, in particular), some attacked him as a liar. These attacks almost aborted his work in America, but he managedto get resolutions of support from the Raja of Khetri and from lay disciples in Madras proving that he pure Hinduism. His former gurubhais did not provide represented him with the neededcredentials. When Vivekananda returned to India in 1897 and assertedhis leadgrshipover the circle of Ramakishna monks, he accommodated more to their monasticism than they did his. (This will be treated in the next period.) When they accusedhim of being Western and

62 / RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA said that his teachings were not compatible with those of Sri Ramakrishna,Vivekanandaresponded"with great fervour": ..How do you know that theseare not in keeping with his ideas?Do you w a n t t o s h u t S r i R a m a k r i s h n at,h e e m b o d i m e n to f i n f i n i t e i d e a s , within your own limits? I shall break these limits and scatter his ideas broadcast over the world. He never enjoined me to introall duce his worship and the like. The methods of spiritual practice, concentration and meditationand other high ideals of religion that he taught-those rve nrust realise and teach mankind. Infinite are the ideas and infinite are the paths that lead to the goal. I was not born to createa new sect in this world, too full of sectsalready.',ro V i v e k a n a n c l a ' s o n a s t i c i s mw o u l d l e a d t h e m o v e m e n ta w a y m from total renunciationof gold to its use for mankind. His was an "in-the-world" asceticismwhich was not practicedby their master, Sri Ramakrishna. Universalism. The nineteenth-century quest for the foundations o f u n i v e r s a lr e l i g i o n w h i c h p r o v e d t h e u n i t y o f a l l r e l i g i o n s w a s fbunded by Svami Vivekanandain Vedanta.He equatedthe principles of Vedanta and sanatanadharnn. These were the principies o f s p i r i t u a l i t yw i t h i t s r e a l i z a t i o no f t h e O n e . T h i s w a s t h e p u r e Hinduism. Toleration. Sri Ramakrishna had realized all religions as true. This was experientialand groundedin the special natureof his exp e r i m e n t sw i t h I s l a m , C h r i s t i a n i t y ,a n d t h e H i n d u s e c t s ( s u c h a s T a n t r a , S a k t a ,V a i s n a v a ,S a i v a ) .N e i r h e r S v a m i V i v e k a n a n d a n o r , any other monk known to the author, ever carried out his own experiments.They all acceptedthe truth of alt religions on rhe basis of their master's work. Svami Vivekanandatried to lead in some comparative studies-reminiscent of those at the Brahmo Samaj. But no one actually went into the practiceof Islam or Taoism. The Ramakrishna movement'souter form would be Hindu. Vivekananda'smessage asserted that Hinduism is the most tolerant of all religions in the world. It acceptedall as true. Unity was the basis of tolerance.But as the defenderof Hinduism at a time when cultural inferiority was a bitter reality, Svami Vivekananda often lapsed into what Sister Nivedita (Margaret N o b l e , a B r i t i s h d i s c i p l e )t e r m e d h i s " m i l i t a n t H i n d u i s m . " T a k e n out of this historicalcontext,many of his remarksabout Christianity, Judaism,Buddhism,and Islam appearhypercriticaland do little to further this ideal of tolerance.But these critical remarks were

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 63 often cherished more by his countrymen desiring some area of superiority than the mild statementsof unity and tolerance. Non-sectarian. Vivekananda applied the doctrine of universality to the Hindu tradition and sought to lessenany divisiveness among its sects.He wanted to lead all Indians to a purified Hinduism, diverse enough for all. Following Sri Ramakrishna's realizations about difference resting on the variety of spiritual paths (margas), Vivekananda taught that there were four tendenciesthrough which mankind sought God. Hinduism was the only religion that recognized that the religious capacities of persons vary according to (sahskaras).rr their inner tendencies Thesecapacities must be channeled into a proper method or path (yoga), and only Hinduism taught the four yogas (jfidna, bhakti, karma and raja).|z Each of these paths had the same goal, onenesswith brahman. (He did not seem to notice that jfiana yoga and mja yoga covered much of the same spiritual territory-the non-rationalor intuitional knowledge Vivekanandainsisted that karma yoga was the of the Absolute).r3 best path for the present and even sannyasis should fbrsake other paths and work for the awakening of all. Liberalism. Liberal religion in the nineteenth century was founded on beliefs in universalreason,in progress,and in the potential of the masses-democracyor socialism.Justice,liberty, and equality were liberal religion's principles. These taught that the lack of food and clothing was unjust and a social rather than a personal ill. Therefore, liberal religion sought social reforrn through legal redress and educational uplift for the underprivilegedand downtrodden.These ideascame to Vivekanandaas part of his education in Scottish Church College in Calcutta and through his inv o l v e m e n t a s a m e m b e r o f t h e B r a h m o S a m a j ( 1 8 7 8 - 8 5 ) .T h e s e ideas were not primary concernsof Sri Ramakrishna-not in these ways. When Svami Vivekanandaacted as a liberal, he called for the end of puranic superstitionsand for a refbrm of the religion of "don't touchism" (a referenceto untouchabilityand defilement by touch) and the religion of the kitchen (a referenceto the restrictions on intercastedining). At times he even predicted an end to the caste system itself becausethe principle of sanatanadlmrma, and consequentlypurified Hinduism, was oneness-even of caste. In the satya yuga, which was coming into being through the preaching of "fiery mantras" to the masses, all would become brahmins. Svami Vivekanandawas especiallycritical of priestcraft.

64 / RELICION MODERN IN INDIA He predicted it would lose its business.He was hurt deeply when his gurubhais resembled puranic priests instead of advaita sannyasis. He attacked their devotions on many occasions before he finally lapsed into silence: You think you understandSri Ramakrishnabetter than myself? You think Jnana is dry knowledge to be attained by a desert path, killing out the tenderestfaculties of the heart. Your Bhakti is sentimentalnonsensewhich makes one impotent. You want to preach Ramakrishnaas you have understood him which is mighty little. Hands off! Who cares for your Ramakrishna? Who cares for your Bhakti and Mukti? Who cares what the scripturessay? I will go to hell cheerfully a thousandtimes, if I can rouse my countrymen, immersed in Tamas, and make them stand on their own feet and be Men, inspired with the spirit of Karma-yoga. I am not a follower of Ramakrishna or any one, I am a follower of him only who carriesout my plans! I am not a servantof Ramakrishnaor any one, but of him only who serves and helps others, with caring for his own Mukti.ra Vivekananda demandedthat his gurubhais be "in-the-world" ascetics. demandedthat thesesannyasis He who had renouncedthe world to gain mukti must become servantsof the poor and underprivileged. He called it karma yoga, but as professor A.L. Basham has observed,this respect for physical work is a purely Western idea.15 Vivekananda'sgenius was to establishthe connection between the Bhagavadgtta's call to action with India's modern awakening, ignoring its demand that all action be given to Krsna as puja. This awakening linked social reform in India to liberal, progressiveeducationof the masses. the nineteenthcentury liberal In religionists believed that this was the formula for world reform. It would end in a brotherhoodof mankind and a commonwealth of nations. Humanitarianisn. Svami Vivekananda'sliberal principles for social reform were supportedby humanitariancommitments. His "Practical Vedanta" taught karma yoga as service to all creatures (seva dharma). He formulated "the Plan" for dedicated sannyasisto teach the masses industrial and agricultural technology, develop them intellectually, and then raise them to their true nature through the highest principles of Advaita Vedanta. He differed with Sri

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 65 could be Ramakrishnain that he believed that even householders taught the principlesof unity with the Absolute,the relative reality of the universe (mayavada),and renunciationwhile remaining in the world of duty and toil. He believedthat even sannyasisshould give up their selfish goal of mukti and work to feed, educate, and in lift the massesto their true greatness, full knowledgeof the Divine within. liberal religion linked social Progressive.Nineteenth-century and progressive education.Educationwas reform, humanitarianism, the key to awakening the massesof the world from the darknessof ignorance. Progressiveeducation was universal in principle and democratic in philosophy.Vivekanandabelieved that proper study The bawould help the paralyzingills of poverty and superstition. sic content of these studies would be the Vedanta, to learn the principles of true spirituality, and Western science,to utilize the discoverieswhich would better material existence.First one must eat; then one can explore spirituality'sheights. Scientific. As just mentioned, Svami Vivekananda sought to bring the scienceof the West to India. He believed that Vedanta was the only scientific religion. Since its principles were grounded in the Absolute, there could be no incompatibilitywith science.16 Period Three. Svami Brahmananda and the Young Order (190222): Adolescence When Svami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta after seven years' absence, asserted he his right to lead his fbrmer gurubhais, who were then staying in their Math in Alambazar. Svami Vivekananda called a meetingon May I, 1897,at a layman's home Mission. Through funds in Calcutta and founded the Ramakrishna from his Western disciples Vivekananda purchasedproperty for Belur Math and brought the monks together there. He appointed as their implicit spiritual leader, Svami Brahmananda, head of the "the son of Ramakrishna," Math. The monks called Brahmananda they because his high devotionalqualities,and maharaj, because of was later aprecognizedhim as their spiritual leader.Brahmananda p o i n t e d h e a d o f t h e R a m a k r i s h n aM i s s i o n , s i x m o n t h s b e f o r e Vivekanandadied (1902). The official historiesof the Order note that Svami Vivekananadahad lost interest in these organizations severalyears after founding them.r? Svami Brahmanandaplaced spirituality above humanitarian

INDIA IN 66 / RELIGION MODERN service. He placed total control of the Mission under monks. He Vivekananda's organizedthe monasticlife and slowly incorporated "plan" of action to feed, educate,and spiritualize the "poor and miserable"of India. movement'spatternof of The nine descriptors the Ramakrishna ultimacy receiveda different emphasisduring this period. The proThe realizationof Sri cess of harmonizingmay again be observed. and the teachingsof Svami Vivekanandawere joined Ramakrishna as one. pedid not share Vivekananda's Monism. Svami Brahmananda part of the riodic rejections of bhakti. He made it a central Ramakrishna Math and Mission's activities. Birthdays of Vivekananda,SaradaDevi were celebratedwith puja Ramakrishna, He along with the major Hindu festivals and the birth of Christ.rE wide variety of orthodox Hindu ceremobrought into the cultus a nies such as Rama-, Radha-,and Siva-Sarnktrtanas.te Vivekananda's ladder model with Advaita Vedanta at the top interpretation the stagesof of as was established the unquestioned Realizationof God at the highest level philosophicaldevelopment. was the impersonalabsolute(brahman),but in the world of manifestationsworship of one's own favorite expressionof God or of godly men was not only helpful but often necessary. the processof a established Svami Brahmananda Mor,asticism. or more years of Eight long tenure before initiation as a sann)-asi. Albefore sann)'asamight be awarded.:0 training were necessary processof a long inspection though the Order had few rules, the period allowed the instrumental nature of the spiritual practices (sadhanas) have their result.This extremelylong period of spirito tual infancy under the guidanceof senior monks allowed the mature monk to be sent out in relative freedom,carrying the unwritr ten monastic ule within. believedthat the ratio of spiritual training to huBrahmananda service was three parts to one. He would teach: "The manitarian only purposeof life is to know God. Attain knowledge and devotion; then serve God in mankind. Work is not the end of life. Disinterestedwork is a means of attaining devotions. Keep at least three-fourthsof your mind in God. It is enough if you give onefourth to service."2l IJniversality and tolerance were easily harmonized and fixed in pattern of ultimacy of the RamakrishnaOrder. Any strident the

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 67 tones of spiritual militancy were softened.Complaints by Vaisnavas and Theosophists about Svami Vivekananda's tendencyto condemn their religious ideas and practices would cease.No longer would one hear: "We implore the Svami (Vivekananda) to spare us such sweepingdenunciations and judgmentson men and things, as usually adorn his lips in every meeting now."22 The spiritual quest was divorced from politics. Brahmananda, and succeeding leaders of the Order, would remember Vivekananda's words: "No amount of politics would be of any avail until the massesof India are well-educated,well-fed and well cared for." Even "the national ideals of India are religion and service,"23 Vivekanandahad counseled. The ideals of a non-sectarianHindu order were quickly harmonized. The four yogas began to be a guide for the completion of the monk's training. Karma yoga was subordinatedfor monks to fourth place. The internal strugglesover bhakti were silencedwith a clear vision of its rightful place as one of the four spiritual tendencies which each monk would develop. Leaders of the Order would never again doubt the Ramakrishna movement's use of bhakti or repeat Svami Vivekananda's fear: "What I am most afraid of is the worship room. It is not bad in itself but there is a tendencyto make this all in all and set up that old-fashionednonsense over again-that is what makes me nervous. I know why they busy themselves with these old, effete ceremonials. Their spirit cravesfor work, but having no outlet they waste their energy More importantly, outsiderswould in ringing bells and all that."2a ceaseto draw attention to differencesbetween its two great leaders, as this Vaisnavajournal's obituary notice did in 1902: "Though a Vivekanandachalked out a path for disciple of the Paramahangsa, himself. The Paramahangsawas a bhakta, but Vivekananda preached yoga, and there is a wide divergence between the two cults. Vivekanandaalso preachedthe Avatarship of his Guru, the Paramahangsa, and this led Svami Abhayananda(Madam Marie Louise), whom he had initiated and who is now in our midst delighting the Calcuttapublic by her sweetdiscourses the religion on of the Lord Gaurangato secedefrom him."25 Humanitarianisru.When Svami Vivekanandagot ochre-robed monks to do relief work for the first time in 1900. the results could not be measuredin physical terms. The Indian press found new heroes, servants of the suffering who were neither Christian

INDIA IN 68 / RELIGION MODERN missionariesnor foreigners. Despite whatever doubts the gurubhais may have had about a sannydsi laboring for social change, once they were recognized as archetypesof a new spirituality, or an ancient spirituality recovered,there was no turning back' By practicing this ideal, they had adopted it.26 Progressive. The dedication of the Order to progressiveeducation was firmly establishedin this period. As the monks prepared themselvesto teach and preach the sanatunadharma, studies of the glory of Hindu spirituality emerged.Translations and commentaries ..most spiritual" scripturesof the Hindu tradition were made on t-tr" available in English and the regional languagesof India. These translationsoften required a more formal study of Sanskrit, English, and at least one regional language other than their own' Mass education meant the founding of schools and colleges and the beginning of journal and magazine publications. The Brahmavadin had been started even before the gurubhais of Ramakrishna had begun to work on Vivekananda's "Plan"-and that by lay Madrasi disciplesin 1895.2? ihe descriptor of scientific was harmonized into the pattern of ultimacy of the order. By working with this ideal in the speeches of Svami Vivekananda, editors were taught the place of science alongside the sanatana dharma. Monks no longer had to have direct exposure to Western educational institutions; they had Vivekananda'scanonicalstatements. Period Four. A General Convention (1926): Young Adulthood During the third presidency,that of Svami Sivananda,tbere occurred an event that would suggestthat the Ramakrishnamovement had reached a new period in its development.This was the first in Svami Saradananda, giving the General Convention in 1926'28 pointed out that the movement Chairman's Address of Welcome, had passedthrough "two stagesof opposition and indifference" and Warning that this might had now entered a stage of acceptance.2e energy," he called upon the Order bring "a relaxation of spirits and to "keep close to their purity and singlenessof purpose, their sacrifice and self-surrender."ro Svami Sivananda told the Convention: "What we after all know is that sri Ramakrishna was the mainspring of all that the Svamiji (Vivekananda) spoke and did. It was the Master's message that Svamiji carried from door to door, elucidating it to all in the

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 69 light of what leading he had from the Master himself."3r From the point of view of the Order there could be no doubt about the harmony between the teaching of Ramakrishnaand Vivekananda. The Order's monism was so well establishedthat no time was wasted defending its relation to worship. Their collective mind seemed to move between the levels of the real and relative reality when shifting from oneness with brahman to puja before images of Kah or Ramakrishna.These aids meant nothing on the higher level (Vivekananda's model of the ladder); but the warmth of bhakti was as legitimate as any other form of worship (Ramakrishna's model of the spoked wheel with all leading to God-realization equally). This period in the life of the movement had three major emphases:a repetition of the central principles, a justification of its stand againstpolitical involvement,and an administrativeconcern about the significant growth of humanitarianand educationaloperations. Svami Saradananda'ssummary of the realizations of Sri Ramakrishnaat the convention indicates that the descriptorsof monism, universality, tolerance, and non-sectarianism had been routinized. They would be expressedmore or less elegantly throughout the succeedingdecades,but their meaning was set. One should note in Saradananda'ssummary that spiritual practices were again producing the siddhi of "religion transmittedby touch." This sevenlirld summary emphasizedthe spiritual rather than the humanitarian rrspects the movement,32 of even as they became increasingly involved in the latter: ( l) Every sincere devotee of any religion whatsoever will have to pass through the three stagesof dualism, qualified monism and ultimately monism. (2) As all jackals howl in the same pitch, so all devoteesof any religion whatsoever have declared in the past and will continue to do so in future, their oneness with the Deity on realisingthe heightsof monism. (l) That there need not be any quarrel between dualism, qualifed monism and monism, for each comes in turn to every devotee in accordance with the growth and development of his spiritual life. (.1) The positive part of every religion, in which are found the way and the method of procedure through that, as well as

INDIA IN 70 / RELIGTON MODERN the goal which its sincere follower would reach in the endis true. But the negative, which speaksof punishment and damnation, eternal or otherwise, for the straggler' is not so' being added to the former for keeping the members of the community from deserting and straying to other folds' (5)Thatreligioncanbetransmittedtoothersbywillandtouch bY the great teachers. (6) In the SanatanaDharma of the Vedanta are to be found the eternal principles and laws that govern every single manifestation ol religion in a particular time, place and environment' (7) Stick to your own religion, and think that the followers of other religions are coming to the same goal through different paths. -Svami (1926)11 Saradananda

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 7I Ramakrishna.One who worships it, worships him as well. And one who disregardsit, disregardsour Lord."37 Institutionalizationhad occurred, though in a youthful form. The institution could now speak as a body. Sannyasis, free and renunciateto the world, now worked and spoke as a body. They were now svamis-bound by the will of an Order. The movement would reaffirm its non-involvementin politics. Even when asked by the Gandhi movement for support, the Ramakrishna Mission and Math stayedout of the political struggle againstthe British. National leadersseemedto understand. however a l o o f t h e R a m a k r i s h n am o v e m e n tr e m a i n e d ,t h a t t h i s m o v e m e n t was functioning as "the soul of the nation."38 The movementmight r e s i s tp o l i t i c i z a t i o nb u t m a n y o f S v a m i V i v e k a n a n d a ' s n e m i l l i o n , o recordedwords awakenedmore than quiet spirituatity. The third concern of humanitarianisnt and progress was celebratedat the conventionwith calls for renewedeffort, without losing sight of spiritualgoals.The Order's relief and educational work set it apart as the exemplarof spirituality in an awakeningIndia. Period Five. Indian Independenceand the Order: Mature Adulthood When Independence was won in 1947,even though the Order had not taken an active role politically, it had become the archetype of spiritual service. Praised even by Prime Minister Nehru, who otherwisecharacterized sadhusas parasites, all the movement respondedto nation-building with differing emphasesin its thoroughly routinized pattern of ultimacy. Svami Tejasananda pointed to four ideals of the Ramakrishnamovement in this report from 1 9 5 4 ;t h e y w e r e : to conduct the activities of the movement for the establishment of fellowship among the followers of different religions, knowing them all to be so many forms of one Eternal Religion; (2) to train men so as to make them competent to teach such knowledge or sciences were conducive to the material or as spiritual welfare of the masses; (3) to promote and encourage arts and industries; and (.1) to introduce and spread among the people in general Vedantic and other religious ideals in the light of the life and teaching of Sri Ramakrishna.se The descriptorsare implicitly there. They seem to have become (l)

Ramakrishna's concern for humanitarian service was portrayed totheconventionbySvamiSivanandainaretellingofSri Ramakrishna'sdenialofNarendra'srequesttobeinitiated.The a lack of the Master's initiation was to be interpretedas having within the order is the spiritual end. (A more novel interpretation notion of a valid initiation "by touch")' The Admonition of his Master to forego the selfish enjoymentofSamadhianddedicatehislifetothewelfareofthe many, seeing Him alone immanent in the Universe' haunted him day and night ever since that memorable day when Sri Ramakrishnain a mood of inward absorption handed over to his illustrious disciple the precious fruits of his own realisationsreaped in the course of the crowded period of his Sadhanaand made him the happy conduit for the flow of the elixir of spirituality that the world needed at a great psychological Period of its historY. -Svami Sivananda(1926)3' The inner tension between spiritual liberation (mukti) and sothan philocial service (sevc) was resolved organizationally rather sophically. Svami Sivanandastated that "Any attempt to make.a is distinctly cleavagebetween the existing Math and Mission works the ideal of Svamiji and therefore stands self-condemned."sr againsi "This Math representsthe It-was further "unholy and dangerous."r6 inphysical body of Sri Ramakrisfna. He is always present in this of Sri stiiution. The injunction of the whole Math is the injunction

INDIA IN 72 / RELIGION MODERN so commonplace that the spiritual elements need not be stressed, while humanitarian concerns head the list. Within the same report Tejasanandarecited an impressive listing of ten concerns which were being engaged in by the Ramakrishna movement: "Liquidation of illiteracy, rural reconstruction,work among laboring and backward classes,economic and social uplift, removal of untouchability, female education, relief works in times of natural calamities, preservation of indigenous culture, dissemination of the accumulated spiritual wisdom of the race, and evolution of a cultural synthesis."{ The movement had grown from the five Maths and centers in the lifetime of Svami Vivekananda to 84 Maths and Missions in India alone.ar Its educational work in the year 1949-1950comprised two full degree colleges, 17 high schools, 121 lower grade and other schools, and 50 student houses, with a total enrollment of 27,000 students.Its work for women involved 3,000 students.Its medical work included 10 general hospitals, one maternity hospital, 65 dispensaries,and reached 13,000 "indoor patients" and two million "outdoor patients."42 While never more than seven hundred monks and a few nuns served in the Order, their prodigious literary production increased with more translations, monographs, and series, lectures, cultural activities, and regular classes.These activities were manifestations of the vitality of the spiritual quest of the Order' Professor Gerald Cooke, in a study sponsoredby the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society in Bangalore, reported on the everyday activities of a Ramakrishna Math in south India in the mid-sixties. Since his study focused on historical and sociological questions,it is even more impressive that he had such high words of praise for the movement: "It is not difficult to acknowledge the blessingswhich the RamakrishnaMath and Mission brings to India. Indeed it would be humanly and religiously insensitive not to rejoice in the constructive efforts and results of this movement."a3 Yet Cooke noticed that the ideals of universalism and non-sectarianism were working out somewhat differently in history than outlook, the ideal. "For all its stresson a universal, super-sectarian the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement is rooted in Hindu traditions and in actuality servesprimarily Hindus'"e He noted that monasticism was not a role of highest prestige "even of young

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 73 people who maintain constant contact with the Ramakrishna movement."45This observation is reinforced by the fieldwork of Professor David Miller in Bhubaneswar during 1964.46 Miller noted another sectarian feature: "In 1964, the trend seemed to be toward making the deity's presence more immediate to the laity through the worship of gurus."a7 John Yale and Christopher Isherwood both speak of the cult of Sri Ramakrishnaand its increasing importance during this period. Period Six. The Call for a Second General Convention: Old Age By the end of the 1970s, with a sensitivity rare for organizational leaders,Svami Gambhirananda, president of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, had begun to talk about calling a second General Convention of the movement. On the one hand, statisticians would be comparing the reports on the activities of the movement in the seventies with any very successfulbusiness: increased centers, libraries, hospitals,patients, colleges,schools, students,and all other indices of growth, save one. The number of svamis remained about seven hundred. On the other hand, there were definite signs that a new stage in the life of the movement had been entered. The last of the disciples trained by the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna are reaching their eighties. A totally different generation of leaders will soon take over the movement. Yet to an outsider their spirituality is remarkable in its own right. But the sure signs of old age are admitted when the body cannot cope with all its demands. The very successof the movement in physical terms journals, schools,colleges,hos(maths,centers,publishing houses, pitals, and dispensaries)has overtaxed the Order. It has begun to show signs of not coping fully with life's demands.This pattern of ultimacy does not vary significantly in the articulation (the ideal level) from the previous period. Yet old age almost invariably denrands a comparison of the ideals one has lived by with actual achievement.There have been questioningsin the author's presence by leading svamis of the movement. The thesis of this study is that the Ramakrishna movement has now entered old age because of the dynamics of its own pattern of ultimacy. It shows signs of not coping with the demandsof its own ideals. This is a historical point of view. The historical actuality does not address the idealist vision. As Cooke observed in his study of rhc movement, "It is characteristicof Hindu thought and belief to

74

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THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 75 of ultimacy? At the beginning of the 1980s in India there is pronounced unrest. Whereas it could once be assumed that the Ramakrishna movement articulated the spiritual aspirations of the Indian renaissance (and that was the positive conclusion of these very ideals are calling the movement into Bharati's essay),53 question. Of the nine descriptorsof the movement only the ideal of monasticism is rejected by some as irrelevant for modern India. The other eight have survived into the 1980s but function now to judge the Ramakrishna movement's contmitment to actualizing them in history. In December 1978, the author conductedtwenty-five interviews with svamis of the RamakrishnaOrder in India. Among the svamis were Gambhirananda,Lokeswarananda,and Ananyananda. The conclusionsof these interviews regardingthe movement's pattern of ultimate concern are (1) that the radical commitment to social reform inherited from the Brahmo Samaj and Svami Vivekananda has been lost, (2) that Vivekananda'scriticisms about puranic superstitions and ignorant priestcraft are thought by the members of the movement to apply in no way to the RamakrishnaMath and Mission, (3) that Vivekananda's call to lead worshippers from lower bhakti characterizedby fear and greed does not apply to any of the worship in the movement's institutions, (4) that reform and spiritual growth are extremely slow processesrequiring many lifetimes and the movement should be judged by the progressmade by the few who are totally engaged in those endeavors,(5) that eternal principles realized by Sri Ramakrishnaand Svami Vivekananda can only reach a small portion of the world's population through Ramakishna educationalinstitutionsand publications,and (6) that monasticism is necessaryfor God-realization. Period Seven. Particularistic Hinduism (Ramakrishnaism):A Hindu Religion When governmental interferencefrom Calcutta and the state of Bengal (both then controlled by the Indian Communist Party) became intolerable, the RamakrishnaMission sought the protection of miniority status in 1985. Swami Bhashyananda stated: "The RamakrishnaMission made no claim that we are non-Hindu. Our lawyers advised the court that we are Hindus, but special Hindus."5a The Indian Constitution (1947 and,thereafter) created a political

regard historical actuality as less decisive for human life than inner private experience."aE That ideals will both influence and be influenced by historical contingenciesis an unstated assumption in Western thought-an assumptioncapable of being examined and falsified. Yet, following Cooke's argument, "This devaluation of the objective stuff of history may encouragethe view that ideas and exhortations and right inner convictions...are enoughto constitute the ideal."ae The advaita view that the realized ideal is real and the viiistadvaita and dvaita demand that truth manifest itself in the world reassertsitself. Despite its ways of harmonizing this problem, the movement slights history and reform or revolution. The Ramakrishna movement is being attacked in Bengal by Communists who actually share the last three ideals of the movement (e.9. reform of society, a belief in progress,and a belief in science).There are increasing incidents of students and lay faculty attacking the curriculum of the movement's schools as superstitious. They find the offerings too narrow to facilitate progress. They find the movement's commitment to reform of the caste system hypocritical.50 When the Bengali government began "modernizing" the movement'sschools,a lawsuit regainedcontrol by arguing that the Ramakrishna Mission was literally a minority religion and subject to the constitutionalrights of Article 25(l).5r Sadly, in order to retain its schools, the movement no longer claimed to be universaland non-sectarian. Another line of attack has come from India's new rationalists, who are going back to the very foundations of the descriptors to which the Ramakrishna movement has been able to claim sole ownership for the last eighty of its hundred-yearhistory.52 The rationalists show other ways of actualizing many of the same ideals. For instance, the liberal commitment to social reform is not hampered by an idealist commitmentto the caste system.The new rationalistsare joining the Indian communistsin demandingaction to alleviate inequality. Sanskrit scholars have argued other ideals within Indian scriptures than monasticism. And it is not unusualto hear Indian scientistscharging that the Ramakrishnamovement is anti-scientific in that the method (falsifiability) and scope (every facet of life being examined critically) have not been utilized in Ramakrishna Vedanta. What does this have to do with the way the Ramakrishna movement currently emphasizes the various descriptorsof its vision

76 / RELIGIONINMODERNINDTA entity, the majority religion. This legal fiction had a number of advantages-both ideal and real. It satisfied both secular and religious interests. The majority religion was identified by Hindus as the Hindu religions of India, from the religion of the Vedas to the thousands of current Hindu religious groups. To the reformers, secular and religious, this legal creation provided a normless entity which could be transformed(re-formed) by law. The Indian Constitution did not attempt to make India a Hindu state but created instead a special category of "the majority religion," which everyone assumedto be "Hinduism." "Minority religion" also became a category of the constitution. There are numerous sections of the Constitution of India which recognize rights of and demarcategovernmental controls over these two constitutional entities [Arts. l5(l), l5(2), 16(2), 16(5),23(2),25-28,29(2)1. The constitutiondoes not define either "Hinduism" or "the majority religion." The constitution createsa state which is entrustedwith jurisdiction over the majority religion. There were also disadvantages particular Hindu groups----on for the idea and on the real levels of conceptualization and in their historical contingencies-that were never anticipated. One of these included interference by Indian governmental entities acting contrary to that Hindu group's interests and aspirations. That was of course unthinkable in 1947 as the Indian Constitution was being written (at least for reformist Hindus), but it became a reality in the 1980s-first in Calcutta, then in Bengal, and later in Kerala. It began for the Ramakrishna Mission and Order in a dispute in one of their colleges. Prof. Madhad Bandopadhyayaof the Vivekananda Centenary College brought a lawsuit against the Order. At issue administratively for the Order was the privilege to run its schools according to the desires of the Order rather than by the vote of the various faculties of its schools. The Indian Constitution, state constitutions, law, and various departmentsgoverning education establishedthat educationalinstitutions of the majority religion (presumed "Hindu") would be subject to the rules of majority (presumed"Hindu") reform. Minority religious educational institutions could be administeredby their own rules, democratic or otherwise. Since the faculty wanted an academic and not a monk as its president and even seemed to want to hire Communists as faculty the Order filed suit to retain control. The text of the Order's responding affidavit in 1980 would

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT/ 77 seem to affirm Ramakrishna's notion that all religions are essentially equal but seek to be a minority religion that is at the same time the embodiment of the Religion Eternal. "Minority religion" had been substitutedfor "a purified Hindu religion." cult 6. Shri Ramakrishna's or religionthrowsa new light on the conto cept of religion, and gives a new meaningand interpretation all religions of mankind,therebyenrichingthem with a new value.This new within itself eachof all religion is uniqueby itself, and comprehends the other religions,and yet is not identicalwith any one of them. 7. The most important featuresof this new cult or religion practised which clearly distinguish(sic.) it by and preached Shri Ramakrishna, from all the other cults or religions,including traditionalHinduism,are as follows:(i) The religion of Shri Ramakrishna looks upon Shri Ramakrishna as of an illustrationand embodiment the Religion Etemal which constitutes the core of all relilious ideals, and permits his worship through photos,statues, with etc.),relicsor otherwise, his image(like portraits, or without any ritual or ceremony. (ii) It not only tolerates religious(sic.),but also accepts them all all all to be true, and it considers religionsto be only different pathsleading to the samegoal, whereasother religions claim absoluteauthority of in all matters the exclusion all others. to (iii) It believesthat the underlyingtruth in all religionsis the same of of EternalTruth which is the essence the scriptures all religions. (iv) It preaches harmonyof all religions. the (v) It prohibits condemnation any religion of (vi) It enjoins no particularritual or ceremonywhatsoever compulas sory. (vii) It enforcesno restriction regardingfood as in many other religions. (viii) It recognises privilege whatsoever to caste,colour, creed, no due language, nationality. or (ix) It recommends selflessservices(sic.) to man in a spirit of worof ship, looking upon him as the veritablemanifestation God, as a sure meansto attain one'sspiritual goal. (x) It does not requireany personbelongingto any other faith to abjure the snme,on initiation into or acceptance this unique religion of of as by Shri Ramakrishna is so demanded other religions. (xi) It does not imposeor require any specific ceremonyby way of conversionor purification or otherwise,for initiation into this new religion, unlike other religions. ($i) It allows its followers to participatefreely in the religious ceremoniesof all other religions.st

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MOVEMENT/ 79 THE RAMAKRISHNA (p.3) The paper went on to admit, a bit begrudgingly, that, "Practically speaking,the Mission's action points out a serious inequity in India-that minority institutions (Christian, Muslim, etc.) are free to operate as they wish, while institutions run by Hindus, (because they are the majority) must follow a different set of rules. Some analysts project that if the ruling is not overturned, other Hindu sects may take the same route. Ultimately, as statedMr. J.N. Singhi of Calcutta, "If Government does not stop interference,a day may come when social organizationswill not build schools and colleges."(ibid.) maintained Throughout the dispute Swamis and representatives that the RamakrishnaMission was still Hindu. Having minority status had nothing to do at all with being Hindu or not. Mysore, was exempted from certain state school requirementsregarding appointment of staff and the admission of students. To get these affirmative rulings the Ramakrishna Mission argued in the Bengal case that "The religion of Sri Ramakrishnais the religion separate and different from that of the Hindus Ramakrishnaism has its separate God, separate name, separate church, separate worship, separatecommunity, separate organization and above all, a separatephilosophy . . . An attempt to equate the religion of Ramakrishnawith the Hindu religion as professed and practiced will be to defeat the very object of Ramakrishnaism and to deny his gospel." (Hinduism Today, July 1989, p.20) The Ramakrishna Order and Mission won. But it did not win its views that it could manage its educationalinstitutions without state interference under Article 26(a), the majority religion clause. It had to win this freedom under Article 26(b) which places minority religious reform in the hands of the minorities themselves-and not a concern of the state. The RamakrishnaOrder and Mission had abandoned the majority religion and the locus of reform of majority religion to protect its own interests.It won this right for itself-and other religious sects or denominations in India. A religious group simply needed to prove itself a sect or minority religion. By clarifying itself as a minority of 1400 monks and 100,000 lay followers, the Ramakrishna Order and Mission accepted an identify of something more than a numerical minority. It abandoned the role thrust upon the Order from its beginning in 1897, that of being the living example of purified Hinduism. If affirmed

The Ramakrishna Mission's lawyers argued that "Ramakrishnaism" was a new and minority religion, different from traditional Hinduism, but still Hindu. When the case reached the Supreme Court, India's judges decided in 1985 that 39. The fact that Sri Ramakrishna never expressly abjured Hindu religion and his disciples had sometimes described them (sic.) as Hindu monks would not be decisive . . . 41. . .. But it was Sri Ramakrishna and his discipleswho gave concrete shape to the concept of Religion Universal covering not only different schools of Hindu faith but also other religions of the world. 47. Compared to the members of Arya Samaj the claim of the (sic.) as religious minorities, in our view, stands on Ramakrishnaites stronger footing. Ramakrishnaites,who are admittedly much less than fifty percent of the total population of the State, do not consider themselves as a reformed sect of Hindus and they profess and practice World Religion. They do not follow Hindu morai code or accept caste system. even non-Hindus could be followers of the faith . . Hindu way of life retruires obedience to and observance of Hindu code of life. Ramakrishnaism does not prescribe such code of life laid down by HinduReligion... 48. The followers of Sri ramakrishnahave a common faith. They have common organisation and they are designatedby a distinct name. Therefore, they constitute a denominationor sect within the meaning of Article 26 of the Constitution of India . . . As a religious denomination ramakrishnaMission enjoys a right under Article 26(a) to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes.The Mission under Article 26(b) has also right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion.$ On October 7, 1985, Judge Bandopadhyaya of West Bengal ruled that the "Ramakrishna Mission is a religious minority" and "the cult of Sri Ramakrishna [is] a new religion different from Hindu religion." Bandopadhyaya ruled that the Mission had protection under Article 30(l) of the Constitution, which meanr that its own religious principles and standards would be the basis for contract disputes, as in a civil suit with its teachers, and that it would be shielded from most governmental interference. Hinduism Today editorialized in March 1987 that "the formal declaration of Ramakrishnaism as a new religion is not surprising. The Mission has always been universalist, priding itself in multireligious membership and resisting any attempt to be pigeon-holed."

80 / RELIGIONINMODERNINDIA that it was both a minority sect but still Hindu; its ontological claim for nearly a century had changed fundamentally. Inferentially, the Ramakrishna Order and Mission had been forced to say that it was new. It was a reform religion. It affirmed Ramakrishna'scircle of equality of all religions, but not unambiguously for radical transcendence, since Ramakrishna was still affirmed as the embodiment of the Religion Eternal. All religions were equal and true; none was superior. Ramakrishnaism was a minority sect. Again inferentially, the Ramakrishna Order has been forced by the lawsuit to understand its own finitude. Legally, it was Ramakrishnaism. It was legally a particular religion. Perhaps that does not change the fundamental teaching of the Order: that it is both purified Hinduism and the living example on earth of the sanatana dharma, the Religion Eternal. That claim can still be made, even though "majority" Hindus have more justification in taking it as sectarian. The few Swamis who would talk "off-the-record" about this crisis claimed that what the lawyers said in court does not represent the ideal nor has the ideal of the Mission been changed.There may be more truth to this position than meets the eye. Hinduism has always worked well philosophically with two-level ontologies-appearance and Reality, maya and Brahman, aifiana and jfiana, infinitum. But the Ramakrishna Mission's historical claims were nevertheless compromised-that the gospel of Ramakrishna embodies Sanatana Dharma in its universal form and as an institution it is a purified Hinduism which is not a sect nor sectarian. Period Eight. The Ramakrishna Movement and the Future: Death or Rebirth? The sixth stage of life can be extended for some time into and possibly beyond the 1980s. What can be said about the Ramakrishna movement's future? The extraordinary caliber of monks and nuns who have been attracted to and trained by the RamakrishnaMath will no longer meet the needsof the movement. The administration of the publishing, medical, relief, and educational operations will begin to buckle under the strain of its dependence on monastics as top decision-makers.Much as Roman Catholicism has already begun to experience, the Ramakrishna Mission will face an ever decreasing supply of monastic leadership.

THE RAMAKRISHNA MOVEMENT 8I / But whereas the former has a large cadre of lay workers to rely on, the RamakrishnaMission does not. Early on, it concluded that its laymen were not sufficiently interestedin its mission nor sufficiently spiritual to be given real leadership.There are no age statistics available to document what must be stated as a general observation: the Order is aging faster than it is currently filling its ranks. How will the Order respond to the deaths which will strike drastically at its asceticswho are now over sixty? Without dramatic rejuvenation the Order will enter a marked decline in the number of svamis available to run its operations. will face a dilemma: It either allow lay volunteers or hired workers governance of many activities, or cease their operation. The latter alternative would mark a certain decline, while the former may not preserve the Order's hallmark: the incorruptibilityof its spiritual leaders. But its greatest crisis appears to be similar to that of the Brahmo Samaj when merely speaking great ideals was not enough. The movement has served the poor and given relief to many millions in times of acute need, but now other movements who stress immediate action and the urgency of changing the social system are addressingreform and revolution in India. For the Ramakrishna movement to be reborn, it will need to re-experience and re-vision these nine descriptorsin less narrow and less parochial terms. Notes movement l. The Ramakrishna designates religiousmovement its this in entirety.Its monastic order is known as the Ramakrishna Math, while its humanitarianconcerns are administeredby the Ramakrishna Mission. 2. Of the hundreds worksconcemed of with the Ramakrishna movement only a few deserve and its leaders, specialmention.Until recently only one history has emerged, Svami Gambhirananda's History of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission (Calcutta:Advaita Ashrama, whichoftenlacksobjectivity. 1957), Many svamis havestudied the lives and teachings Ramakrishna his direct disciples. of and The Isherwood's John Yale's books bibliographies Christopher in or providean adequate listing of thesein-house works. Althoughher in study centerson the work of Svami Vivekananda America, Marie Louise Burke's contributions are noteworthy: Swami Vivekanandain America: New Discoverres(Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama,1958),and Swami Vivekananda: SecondVisit to the His

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m a k i n g t h e H i n d u r e l i g i o n a c l o s e d a n d r i g i d s y s t e m ,m a d e i t s o elastic as to accommodate the religious trendsof that age."r0 all He uses such phrasesas "so-called Islam,' and ,.the very soul o f r e l i g i o n " a n d " t h e s a l t o f r e l i g i o n . "H i s c r i t e r i o no f j u d g m e n ti n all such instancesis the person of faith. Such personsmay exist in any religious tradition and they will be characterized inner dis_ by c i p l i n e , f r e e d o m f r o m v a i n a t t a c h m e n tt o w o r l d l y m a t t e r s , a n c readinessto abandontheir own security in order to fincl ways to help alleviatethe sufferingsof others.when Zakir Husain refers to t h e s e q u a l i t i e s ,h e n r a k e sr e f e r e n c e s o t h e t w o g r e a t p o e m s o f t Iqbal, The Secrets of the Self and the Mt,steriesof Selflessness)l F o r S . A b i d H u s a i n ,Z a k i r H u s a i na n d t h e i r c o l l e a g u e s t t h e J a m i a a M i l l i a I s l a m i a ,b o t h I q b a l a n d G a n d h i a r e m e n o f f a i t h i n w h o m t h e s a l t o f r e l i g i o n i s d i s c e r n e dT h e M u s l i m s o f t h e J a m i a M i l l i a . Islamia stayedwith India when many of their co-religionists id d not, because they agreedwith Gandhi that a type of secularism was possiblefbr India that would not be repressive Muslims. fbr In the disastrousperiod after the collapse of the Khilafat and non-cooperation movements,it had been suggested that the Jamia M i l l i a I s l a m i a s h o u l dr e m o v et h e w o r d I s l a m i a f i o m i t s n a m e i f i t w a s t o s t a y i n I n d i a . G a n d h i i n s i s t e d h a t h e w o u l d n o l o n g e rs u p _ t port the institution if they removedthe word Islamia.This was one indicationof his concernthat Muslims should feel entirely at home in the secular and free India he was working for. Secular in this Indian context meansa political systemin which religious commu_ nities are free to develop their own religious and cultural lives. It does not mean a system in which the state is opposedto religion, or actively seeksto replacereligion with anotherset of values.Un_ d e r t h i s k i n d o f I n d i a n s e c u l a r i s mt,h e r e w o u l d b e r e l i g i o u se d u c a _ tion. We have noted that "true spirit of religion" is one of S. Abid H u s a i n ' s e x p r e s s i o n sA n o t h e r o n e i s " t h e I n d i a n s p i r i t . " H e h a s . written a lot about the history and culture of India, and the role Muslims have played in India's past and should play in India's fu_ ture. He argues that the climate and the experiences invasions of by many peoples over the long course of India's history have res u l t e d i n a d i s t i n c t i v es e t o f a t t i t u d e sw h i c h r e p r e s e n t h e I n d i a n spirit. This is a spirit receptiveto contemplation, tolerant,ready to co-exist with many different cultural groups,and open. The attitude to problem solving in terms of Indian Muslims is

put manifestedin the approaches fbrward in the journals edited by Husain in the last part of his life. The English journal /sS. Abid l a m a n d t h e M o d e r n A g e , w h i c h b e g a np u b l i c a t i o ni n M a y 1 9 7 0 ' gives a good indicationof the concernsof its editor. He seesworld history as a processof moving away from tribal of cultures,toward the development larger social and political units I i n w h i c h r e a s o ns e r v e st o c r e a t eb o n d s o f r e l a t i o n s h i p . s l a m h e seesas the last of the great revealedreligions.From this perspeci t i v e , I s l a m i c s o c i e t yi s m o s t h e a l t h yw h e n i t e x h i b i t sc o n f i d e n c en w a h u m a nr e a s o n , n d o p e n si t s e l f t o c o m m u n i c a t i o n i t h o t h e r s . S . A b i d H u s a i n ' s m e t h o do f p r o b l e m s o l v i n g i s t o e n c o u r a g e l o a d i s c u s s i o n n d t h e f r e e e x c h a n g e f i d e a s .H i s p h i l o s o p h i c ap o s i t t i o n i s s o n r e w h a P l a t o n i c ,b o t h i n h i s c e r t a i n t yt h a t f i n a l t r u t h i s m o r e t h a n t h e f o r m s t h r o u g h w h i c h i t i s p r e s e n t e d ,a n d a l s o as through his interestin debateand exchange the way of stimulating human capacity to improve the world. In the various issuesof lslam and the Modern Age, one finds S. Abid Husain's presence o m o s t o f t e n a s t h e p e r s o n b e h i n d t h e s c e n e s r g a n i z i n ga c o n f e r ence, and usually reportingthrough the journirl on all the points of One can discern from the topics dealt with at the view presented. judged to be most urgent by S. Abid various seminarsthe concerns H u s a i n a n d h i s f r i e n d s .I n t h e e i g h t y e a r s t b l l o w i n g t h e e s t a b l i s h ment of Islam and the Modern Age Societythe following problems r w e r e c o n s i d e r e d :r e l i g i o n a n d t h e m o d e r n a g e ; r ' z e l i g i o n a n d r d p e a c e ; r r h r i s t i a n - M u s l i m i a l o g u e ; r ae l i g i o n , m o r a l i t y a n d l a w ; 1 5 C I o a n d t h e r e c o n s t r u c t i o n f r e l i g i o u s t h i n k i n g i n l s l a m . 1 6n e v e r y case,contributionscame from personsfrorn different countriesand diff'erenttraditions. F u r t h e r ,i n v a r i o u si s s u e so f t h e j o u r n a l ,t o p i c s a r e d e a l t w i t h i n a t h e m a t i c m a n n e r .T h e i s s u e so f M u s l i m l a w a r e c o n s i d e r e d i T t s e v e r a l i m e s . r ? h e r o l e o f w o m e n i n I s l a m i cc o u n t r i e s s a l s o d i s c u s s e d . sS . A b i d H u s a i n h a d h i m s e f w r i t t e n a p l a y a b o u t p u r d a h * s when he was young. The discussionabout women includeintbrm a t i o n a b o u t t h e a c t u a l c h a n g e st a k i n g p l a c e i n v a r i o u s M u s l i m the countries.The journal also discusses Sikh religion.3'Various articles deal with aspectsof the tension betweenrevelationand reaA s H s o n . a " i n d u - M u s l i mr e l a t i o n s h i p a r e a n a l y z e d . o r n u m b e ro f a r a o t i c l e s o n a s p e c t s f I n d i a nM u s l i r n h i s t o r yi n I n d i a a r e i n c l u d e d , s , r v e l l a s a n a l y s i so f o t h e r M u s l i m s o c i e t i e s s u c h a s P a k i s t a na n c In Turkey.{2 theselatter cases,the focus is on the natureof secular-

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ism and the problemsthat have arisen. societies, ihe attitude as stated In relation to the industrialized Husain's introductionto the first issue of the journal is in S. Abid that materialismand rationalismhave becometoo dominant,so that human values as such are given less priority than they should reo c e i v e . a 3 . A b i d H u s a i n ' s o w n m e t h o d ,a s a c o m m e n t a t o r n t h e S the various seminarshe reports,is to paraphrase various positions in put forward, and then to suggestpossibleweaknesses the arguments. The effect of this is not to discouragehis readers,but to s u g g e s tt h a t n o n e o f t h e s e i s s u e sa r e r e a d i l y s o l v a b l e .H i s c o n f i d e n c e l i e s m o r e i n d e v e l o p i n gm u t u a l s y m p a t h ya n d r e s p e c tb e tween the personswho are ready to talk, than it is in any particular final solution. His article on "The Power of Faith" perhapsbest exemplifies o h i s a t t i t u d et o r e l i g i o n .H e w r i t e s : " T h e f o u n t a i n - h e a d f f a i t h i s t h e m y s t i c v i s i o n w h i c h c a m e t o s o m e g r e a t s e e r sa t v a r i o u sl i m e s i t i n v a r i o u sp a r t so f t h e w o r l d . . . . T h i s m y s t i c e x p e r i e n c en v e s t s h e great seer with a charismawhich enableshim to attract countless h u m a n b e i n g s t o w a r d sh i m t o k i n d l e i n t h e i r h e a r t st h e l i g h t o f faith and infuse into their lives the spirit of truth, love and comof passion."{ He usesGuru Nanak and Gandhi as instances persons w h o h a d t h i s k i n d o f i n f l u e n c eo n h u m a n k i n d . O n e o f t h e m o s t g r i m o f S . A b i d H u s a i n ' sa r t i c l e si s t h e o n e h e c o n t r i b u t e dt o t h e v o l u m e h o n o r i n g h i s f r i e n d Z a k i r H u s a i n ' s seventy-firstbirthday. After the fifty years or so of close working togetherand mutual support through difflcult and bitter times, the offering of S. Abid Husain to Zakir Husain reflects commemorative certain realities close to the hearts of both of them. The harshest reality is the contrastbeiweenthe actual India of the time-1966a n d t h e i d e a l t h e y h a d s t r u g g l e da l l t h e i r l i v e s t o i m p l e m e n t .H e does not hesitateto blame relision for much of the trouble. B u t t h e m o s t i n t e n s ea n d v i g o r o u sf o r m o f g r o u p e g o i s m i s a r e l i g i o u sc o m m u n a l i s mI.t . i s a s t r a n g e n d h i g h l y e x p l o s i v e mixture of religious prejudice and political self-interestthat o e x i s t s t o a g r e a t e r r l e s s e re x t e n ti n t h e m i n d s o f m a n y o f our countrymenin a latent form, and at the slightestprovoc a t i o n b u r s t s i n t o f l a m e s o f a n g e r a n d h a t r e d. . . A s t h e b o m o v e m e n t s f r e l i g i o u sc o m m u n a l i s m e l i e v et h a t t h e y h a v e D i v i n e S a n c t i o nf o r t h e i r p o l i c i e s , t h e y h a v e d e v e l o p e da and lost all capacity for strong senseof self-righteousness

s e l f - c r i t i c i s m . . . .E a c h r e l i g i o u s c o m m u n a l i s tm o v e m e n t i s confrontedwith its ugly and revolting face reflected in that of its rivals, but fails to recognizeit as its own true image .... Once we start distorting the Moral Law to suit the interest of our community we shall be soon doing it to suit our own personalinterest.a5 R e l i g i o n i n S . A b i d H u s a i n ' sv i e w m i g h t b e s a i d t o h a v e t w o f'aces. On the one hand, the cumulativetradition contains within it writings, scripture,poetry, biographies, and so forth that can serve to stimulatethe kind of integrated moral personswhom he admires, and whom he considers the salt of the earth.On the other hand, religious personswho see themselves the instrumentof a salvation as history, and thereforejustified in their mistreatmentof other persons, are dangerous.In the article presentedto Zakir Husain, he commentson the dangerof unthinkingadherence creedsand forto mulas, as opposedto the involving of oneself in attemptsto solve real human problems.This clinging to words insteadof actions he seesas one of the worst diseases India. of "Of the various obstacles the way of our drooping,decaying in faith thriving afresh and bearing fruit in the impelling urge to act i o n , i s o u r t r a d i t i o n a lr e v e r e n c et b r a n d r e l i a n c e u p o n t h e a l mighty Word.... It was a passingphase in our history when G a n d h i i n f e c t e dm a n y o f u s w i t h h i s s p i r i t o f ' d o o r d i e ' t h a t i n c i dentally brought us our freedom.Afier he left us we lost no time in reverting to our age-old wisdom of the 'self'-realisation through the Word.' "a6

Notes l. The CollectedWorksof MahatmaGandhi(New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministryof Information Broadcasting, and Covernment of I n d i a ,I 9 6 5 ) ,l 8 : 3 7 8 ,3 7 9 . 2 . I b i d . , 1 9 : 3 4 , a n d G a n d h i ' s o r r e s p o n d e n c e , 7 3 6 1 ,C N 3 4 0 , C SN GandhiMemorial Library,New Delhi. 3. M.K. Gandhi,An Autobiography, Story of My Experiments The with Iratft (New York: Beacon Press, 1957), l12. p. 4. S.M. lkram, ModernMuslimIndia and the Birth of Pakistan (Lahore: A s h r a f , 9 6 5 )p . 1 5 9 . 1 , Worksof MahatmaGandhi,l0 : 6-64. 5. Collected 6. Rais AhmedJafri Nadvi, ed.,Selections Ali's Comfrom Muhammad

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ISLAMIA

165

rade (Lahore'. Muhammad Ali Academy, 1965), p. I l.

7 . Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, l8 : vii. 8. lbid.. l8 : 387. 9 . S. Abid Husain, Gandhiji and Communal Unity (Bombay: Orient
Longmans. 1969).p. 56.

41. Ibid.,'1, no. 2 (May t976) : 64-82.

4 2 . I b i d . , 2 , n o . 3 ( A u g u s rl 9 7 l ) : 6 7 - 8 8 .S e ea l s o v o l . 2, no. 4 (November l97l). 4 3 . I b i d . , l , n o . I ( M a y 1 9 7 0 ): l - 9 . 44. Ibid., 4, no. 4 (November 1973) :37. 45. Dr. hkir Husain Presentation Volume (New Maktaba Jamia. 1968), pp. 289-291 46. Ibid., p. 299.

1 0 .Muhammad Ali, Scheme of Studies of National Muslim Educational

Institutionsin India (Bombay: Bombay ChroniclePress,n.d.).

l l . Afzal lqbal, ed., My Life a Fragmenr (Lahore : Ashraf, 1942), p. 23. 12. lkram, Modern Muslim India, p. 63. 1 3 .Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, l9 :'11,347. 1 4 . I b i d . ,l 6 : 5 1 4 . 1 5 .I b i d . , l 6 : 5 1 3 . t 6 . I b i d . ,2 3 : 5 6 . S 1 7 .G a n d h i ' s C o r r e s p o n d e n c e ,N 1 4 9 2 5 ,M i c r o f i l m , G a n d h i M e m o r i a l
Library, New Delhi. 18. Madhooli, Jatnia Ki Kaahani (New Delhi: Maktaba-iJamia, n.d.). 19. M. Mujeeb, Dr. Zakir Husain (New Delhi: National Book Trust, 1 9 7 2 ) .p p I 0 4 , 1 0 5 . 20. lbid., p. 105. 2 1 . I b i d . ,p . 2 3 9 . 22. lbid., pp. 120, l2l. 23. Ibid.,p. 138. 24. S. Abid Husain, The Way of Gandhi and Nehru, pp. xvi, xvii. 25. Anees Chishti, PresidentTnkir Husain: A Study (New Delhi: Rachna P r a k a s h a n )p . 1 8 , q u o t i n g R a s h e e dA h m a d S i d d i q u i " M u r s h i d " , Anjuman Taraqi Urdu, 1946,p.221 . Mazamen-e-Rasheed, 26. S. Abid Husain, The National Culrure of India (New Delhi: Asia H P u b l i s h i n g o u s e ,1 9 5 6 ) ,p . 7 6 . 27. Islam and the Modern Age 4, no. 4 : 36-42. 28. S. Abid Husain, The Way of Gandhi and Nehru, p.81. 2 9 . I b i d . ,p . 8 3 . 3 0 . I b i d . ,p . 6 5 . 31. Zakir Husain, Education Reconstruction in lndia (New Delhi: PublicationsDivision, Ministry of Informationand Broadcasting, Governm e n t o f I n d i a , 1 9 6 9 ) ,p . 3 . 32. Islatn and the Modern Age l, no.2 (August 1970). 3 3 . I b i d . , 2 , n o . l ( F e b r u a r yl 9 7 l ) . 34. Ibid., 3, no. 4 (November 1972). 35. Ibid., 5, no. I (February1974). 3 6 . l b i d . , 8 , n o . 4 ( N o v e m b e r1 9 7 7 ) . 3 7 . l b i d . , 5 , n o . 3 ( A u g u s t1 9 7 4 ) S e ea l s ov o l . 7 ,n o . 2 ( M a y 1976). . 3 8 . I b i d . , 6 , n o . 4 ( N o v e m b e r1 9 7 5 ) .S e e a l s o v o l . 7 , n o . I (February 1976). 39. Ibid., 7, no. 3 (August 1976) : 53-64. 4 0 . I b i d . , 3 , n o . 3 ( A u g u s t 1 9 7 2 ) :S e e a l s o v o l . 4 , n o . 2 ( M a y 1973).

THE PARSI COMMUNITY/ 167 ( A h u r a M a z d a ) i n v i s i o n s ,o n t h e b a s i so f w h i c h h e t a u g h t t h a t good and evil were opposedrealitiesand that each person had the l'reedomand the obligation to choose between the two forces. On the basis of their choice,either to supportthe path of righteousness (asa, of Yedic rta) or to choose the lie (druj), men (and womenthere is no difference between the fate of the sexes) would be iudged after death. Thereafter,they passedto heaven or hell for reward or punishment. Zoroaster saw the world as a battleground between the good Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord) and the evil Angra Mainyu (DestructiveSpirit). But he looked forward to the day of renovation when mankind would be resurrected,the evil ejected from existence, and Mazda's rule established earth. on The prophet's teachings are preserved hymn form in an othin e r w i s e u n k n o w n l a n g u a g e , a t h i c A v e s t a n ,b u t o n e w i t h e v i d e n t G finks with Vedic Sanskrit.The l"l Gathas are preservedin the liturgy, and text, of the yasna and have been describedas, in part, meditationson this ancient Indo-Iranian ritual.2The whole of the extant Zoroastrianholy book, the Avesta,is of a liturgical nature.It assumedwritten form at a relatively late date, sometime in the fifth century CE, but the teachingsand the ritual practicesdate back to a much earlier period, some to the pre-Zoroastrian era, and some to the early centuriesBCE. For traditional Zoroastriansthe whole is the word of the prophet. We know virtually nothing of Zoroastrian history from the time of the prophet until the foundationof the first Iranian empire, that of the Achaemenidsin the fifth century BCE. Thereafter, it was the state religion of three successiveIranian empires: the Achaemenids,the Parthiansand the Sassanians, until the Muslim Arab invasion of Iran in the seventh century CE. Each of these empires ruled over an area stretching from India to what is now was, therefore,the world's most known as Turkey. Zoroastrianism powerful religion for a millennium. Within a relatively short time of the Muslim invasion Zoroastrianism becamethe religion of a persecuted and socially deprived minority in Iran. Conditions becameso bad that in the ninth century a small group of faithful Zoroastriansdecided that, rather than leave their cherishedreligion, they must depart from their homeland and seek a new land of religious freedom.The story of their long and hazardousjourney is related in the Qissa-i Sanjan, "The Tale of Sanjan."3This was not written down until 1600, so we

7
THB PARSI COMMUNITY

John R. Hinnells

The word "Parsi" means Persians and refers to those Persians who migrated to India from Iran in the tenth century CE to escape Islamic oppressionin their Iranian homeland.At the 1981 Census they totalled 71,630 in India, making them India's smallestracialcum-religiousminority. Typically they are city dwellers (96Voare classifiedas urban dwellers).The main numericalcenter nowadays is Bombay, although nearly 12,000 live in Gujarat and there are communitieswith templesin various cities such as Delhi' Calcutta, Madras, and Bangalore.There are also approximately3,000 in Pakistan (mainly Karachi) and a small community in Sri Lanka. The Origin of the Parsis Theirs is probably the oldest of the world's propheticreligions is since the prophet,Zoroaster(or Zarathustra), generally dated by 1,200 BCE. Many Parsi writWestern academicsat approximately ers would date their prophetmuch earlier,at 6,000 BCE if not earof lier.r He lived in the northeast Iran on the Asian steppesand inIndo-Iranian tradition so that Zoroastrianism herited much of the This results and Hinduism have somethingof a common parentage' betweenthe two, such as the place of in a number of similarities fire in ancient texts (the Vedas and Avesta) and certain purity laws and attitudes toward the priests. The common ancestry has been emphasizedby a number of Parsi writers in recent times. It is not' therefore, a point of merely antiquarian interest. Zoroaster was a priest who was convinced he had seen God

IN INDIA 168 / RELICION MODERN cannot be confident of the historical reliability of the details, but it does show how Parsis viewed their settlement in India. The Qissa tells how the exiles were guided in their travels by a wise astrologer priest; how their lives were threatened by a terrible storm at sea until they were blown safely ashore in India as an answer to prayer. In short, their arrival in India is seen as being due to the will of God. The Qissa relates how the local Hindu prince gave them permission to settle on certain conditions: that they speak the local language,observe the local marriage customs, and carry no and in view of the weapons. On receiving the necessaryassurances Parsi account of their religion in sixteen shlokas, which stressed the similarities of Zoroastrianismand Hinduism (for example the reverence for the cow), they were not only permitted to settle but were also given a plot of land and permissionto build a temple. From the Parsi point of view, Hindu rulers have made only minimal demands upon them. None of these have required them to changeto their religion which they have been almake substantial lowed to practice in peace.

THE PARSI COMMUNITY/ 169 nronopoly had lain with the East India Company), the port of liombay boomed and the Parsis flourishedas middlemen in trade. ,\s industriessuch as textiles developedin the nineteenthcentury, l'arsis were at the forefront. By the 1850s the main center of the l'arsi community was no longer in the traditionalvillages and cities ol Gujarat, such as Navsari and Surat,but in the cosmopolitanmetropolis of Bombay. Wealth brought power and Parsisdistinguished lhemselves for the charitablemannerin which they dispensed these lcquisitions. Sir JamsetjiJijibhoy (1785-1859)was the personification of the Parsi dream of his generation.Orphaned at an early rrge,he started as a batliwala (collector of empty bottles) but made rr fortune, mainly through the China trade. With his wealth, he built schools, hospitals, dug wells, and supported the poor and needy not only of the Parsi community but of all races. He was knighted, made a baronet, and given the Freedom of the City of London for his charity-the first Indian to be so honored. His inlluence with the Governor of Bombay, though rarely made public, rvas significant. He, and others like him, gave status and respectrrbility to the whole community.4 After the "Indian Mutiny" (or "War of Independence") in Itt-57, the nature of British rule in India changed.Governmentnow lay not with the East India Company but with Parliamentin Lontkrn, especially in the person of the Secretaryof State for India, lnd with the Crown in the person of the Viceroy. Wealth and loeal influence were no longer sufficient to affect official policy. Now it was necessaryto exert influence with the British in Enlland, notably at the Parliamentin London. What was needednow wrs an education, preferablyin law, which would enableIndians to rrrguewith the British in their own terms.The Parsiswere pioneers rn adapting to the changedpolitical situation, largely becausethe *'ealth of the earlier generation had been used to build schools rr,hicha substantial proportionof the community attended. 1860, In lrrr example, although Parsis represented only 67o of the Bombay they occupied 40Vo of the places in the city's educalrrrpulation, rr()nalinstitutions.While the moderates dominatedthe new Indian \rrtional Congress,that is until 1907, Parsis were leading figures, l o r e x a m p l e :D a d a b h o yN a o r o j i ( 1 8 2 5 - 1 9 1 7 ) h o w a s f o u r t i m e s w I'rcsidentof the Indian National Congressand the first Indian to be ,'lccted Member of Parliament (M.P.) in the Westminster Parliar n c n t , P h e r o z e s h a M e h t a ( 1 8 4 5 - 1 9 1 5 ) " T h e u n c r o w n e dK i n e o f , h

Parsi History in India For the first 400 years of their history in India, the Parsis appear to have lived in peace and obscurity. When the Muslim armies invaded Gujarat in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Parsisfought valiantly, but in vain, alongsidethe Hindus. Their fears that Muslim rule in India would be as oppressiveas it had been in Iran proved unfounded. A much greater impact on the Parsi community was effected by the arrival of European traders in the seventeenthcentury, especially the British who took over Bombay in 1662. Their intention was to use the islandsof Bombay as a trading base, free from the political troubles of the mainland. To do this, they offered conditions which would attract migrants to help develop what was largely an uninhabited and unhealthy marsh land. Two attractive features for minority groups were freedom of religion and equality in law. Over the following decades,Parsis migrated to Bombay in greater proportion to their numbers than did any other community. As a result, at the dawn of the nineteenth century, they owned much of the land and had establishedthemselves in leading positions in key areas,for example, the dockyard. When private traders entered India after l8l3 (previously the

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Bombay," and Sir Dinshah Wacha (1844-1936),who acted as Secretary to the INC for some twenty years. Parsis were also leaders in the growing industries the time, for instance: of J.N. Tata (18391904) in steel; Sir Sorabji Ponchkanawalla 188t-1937), who ( f o u n d e dr h e I n d i a n C e n t r a l B a n k ; S i r D i n s h a h p e t i t ( 1 S 2 3 - 1 9 0 1 ) , who owned a number of textile mills. They were also leadersin a n u m b e r o f s o c i a l m o v e m e n t s , o r e x a m p l e ,S . S . B e n g a l e e( 1 8 3 1 f 1893) and B.M. Malbari (1853-1912) in the campaigns for women's rights. In the honors, such as knighthood bestowed on them in the causesthey espoused, the political offices achieved, in in the professionsthey pursued, and in the economic fields they openedup, the Parsissaw themselves, and were seen by others,as b e i n g l i k e t h e B r i t i s h . A t t h e t u r n o f t h e c e n t u r y ,B o m b a y p a r s i fashionsin dress,recreation(sport and the theatre),dining, even in personalmannerisms(such as the style of moustache, and haircut) and vocabulary were typically Westernized.s From the Surat conferenceof the INC (Indian National Congress) in 1907, Parsi fortunes began to decline. Squeezedout of the INC by the Hindu militants, they turned politically to the National Liberal Federation,whose westernbranch in Bombay they came to dominatethrough such men as Sir PherozeSethna(1866-1938)and Sir Cowasji Jehangir(1853-1934). But this never becamean effective political body. As the mighty battalions of the Hindus and Muslims faced up to each other, the minorities in general,and the Parsis in particular (being the smallest of the minorities), were eclipsed. Whereas the British had taken note of parsi opinion in the nineteenthcentury,they now ignored it. The wealth and power the Parsis had achieved was, of course, out of all proportion to their numbersand the other communitieswere now catching up in acquiring their portion. But as militants gained prominencein various quarters,the Parsis began to fear for their own future, recalling what their fate had been in their homelandwhen religious "enthusiasts" had assumedpower. Many, therefore, began to consider leaving India, some to go to Britain, some to Iran where the new Pahlavi dynasty began to show a protectinginterestin the ancient religion. The great majority, however,remainedin India.6 The period 185'l-1947saw a dramatic dispersionof the community. Although only a relatively small number dispersedfor the fear of lifc in India, quite a number migrated for trade and education. Some traveled in India, notably to help develop the commercial and

shipping center of Karachi, others to Calcutta,Madras, Bangalore, Parsiswere pioneersin the develand Delhi. Some went overseas. opment of the China trade and communities gradually grew in Canton, Shanghai,and Hong Kong. After the 1940s and the Comm u n i s t t a k e o v e r i n C h i n a , i t w a s H o n g K o n g w h i c h b e c a m et h e home for Parsis in this region. Others settled in Singapore.In the nineteenthcentury a number of Parsis,along with other groups of Indians, migrated to East Africa, notably Aden, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania(to use the modern names).In the 1960s,Asians felt compelled to leave many African countries.A f'ew Parsis returned to India, some went to the American continent,but most settledin Britain.? Individual Parsishave visited Britain from the early eighteenth century, but the Religious Associationwas not founded until 1873. Three Parsis have becomeMembers of Parliamentat Westminster, In London constituencies. addition to Naoroji, who all representing there was Sir Muncherji Bhownagree has already been mentioned, ( T ( 1 8 5 1 - 1 9 3 3a n d S h a p u r j i a k l a t v a l l a1 8 7 4 - 1 9 3 6 ) . h e m a i n p e r i o d ) S community, however,has been Zoroastrian of growth in the British period. A number of doctors came in the in the post-Independence late 1940s,attractedby the new National Health Service,but most came in the 1960swhen Britain was attractivefor Indian migrants.s migrated to the United Also in the 1960sand 1970s,Zoroastrians numbersare not available,but it is esStatesand Canada.Precise timated that there are approximately 4,000. After the fall of the Shah in 1979, they have beenjoined by a number of Iranian Zoroastrians.Another continentwhich has become home for Zoroastrians in recent times has been Australia,particularlySydney.Smaller groups,generally numberinga few hundred,are to be found in the Gulf states and France. Zoroastrianismis, therefore, now to be found in more countriesthan at any time in its vast history.e for The dispersion, however, has serious consequences the parbeent community in India. Becauseof a low birth rate (discussed low), Parsi numbersare declining dramaticallyin India, at the rate i o f 2 O V o n t h e d e c a d e1 9 7 l - 1 9 8 1 t o b e p r e c i s e .O u t - m i g r a t i o ni s further depleting those numbers. Parsis are not the only Indian group to migrate overseas.What is different for them, however, is that they are the only ones whose numbers in India are shrinking. There is another problem specific to them. Many Indians who migrate come from particular villages and a substantialproportion are

I72 / RELIGTON MODERN IN INDIA manual workers or small traders. This is not so with Parsis. A recent survey has shown, for example, that 92Vo of the Zoroastrians in New York have a university or college degree. Only 5% of the total Zoroastrian diaspora are manual workers, whereas lSVo are in the professions(notably medicine), l5Vo engineers,74Vobusiness executives, and l4%oare administrators.Among the Parsis, it is the educated,enterprising,ambitious, and young people who are migrating. That inevitably has a consequence not only for the numbers but also for the social "mix" left in India.r0 In view of these patternsof migration and the fears with which most Parsis viewed Independence, how has the community in India fared in the last 40 years? There have been some difficulties. The nationalization programme took control of Air India and took a number of banks out of Parsi hands. Prohibition took away the main source of income of 5OVo Parsis in Gujarat. Many of these of people turned to their lands for alternative income, but this income, too, was reduced by land tenancylegislationin 1950. But, there is no sense of these policies being anti-Parsi and the community's experience at the hands of government has generally been good. A number have achieved high office. A Parsi has, for example, held the post of head of each of the branchesof the Armed Services (Air Marshal Aspi Engineer for the Air Force, 1960-1964;Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw for the Army, 1973; Admiral Jal Cursetji for the Navy, 1976-1979). India's largestcommercialconcern, Tata Industries, is Parsi owned, as is South Asia's largest private concarn, Godrej Brothers. Parsis have mad substantialcontributions in diverse fields such as Atomic Energy (Homi Babha, 1909-1969);Education (two Vice Chancellorsof Bombay University, Sir Rustom Masani, 1876-1966and Dr. [Mrs.] Bengalee,Vice Chancellor at the time of the writing); and the Arts (Zubin Mehta who was appointed Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1978). Politics continues to be a field in which Parsis are distinguished. Individuals have held the office of Governors of Provinces (Sir Homi Mody, Uttar Pradesh, 1949) and Ambassador in Washington (Palkhiwala in 1977). One of rhe co-founders of the Swatantra Party, Minoo Masani (b. 1904), was a Parsi. But perhaps, the most influential was Feroz Gandhi. He enteredParliament in 1952 where he became known as a campaigner against corruption. Prior to that, in 1942, he married Indira Nehru-who went on to become one of India's most powerful political figures. Since in

COMMUNITY/ I73 THE PARSI parsi terms descent is reckoned through the father, that means, in the view of many in the community, that technically Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi are Parsis. Since Rajiv Gandhi has taken part publiciy in explicitly Hindu acts, for example, his mother's funeral, that may not be his own self-perception. Nevertheless, Parsis are fond of recalling how he resembleshis father and believe that he, like others, illustrates beyond doubt the conviction that Parsis have not faced prejudice in IndependentIndia. Parsi Religious Practice This brief overview of Parsi history has highlighted the vast changes which have occurred in the community's fortunes over the y"u.r. Zotoastrianism emerged from its origins on the Asian ,t"pp"t in the stone age to become, for over a millennium' the *oitO't most powerful religion, thence to the religion of a persecuted minorlty in its homeland,to an obscurereligion of minority in exile, and finally to the religion of a powerful, respected,but small community in a different culture. The rest of this chapter is concerned with how those social and political changes have affected the practices and teachings of Zoroastrianism.It must be stressedthat it is concerned specifically with Zoroastrians in India, or the Parsis. An account of Zoroastrianismin Iran would be rather different. Typically, Parsis spend little time in theological study' Few know much of the religion's formal teachings.To most Parsis, their religion is tied up with their identity. It is something which is done, not speculatedabout. The natural place to begin a study of their Zoroastrianismis, therefore, with the practices, specifically the life-cycle rites and the daily observancesof the lay person. A preliminary word on the fundamental concept of purity and pollution, which underlines various practices,is important' Purity and Pollution Purity,ithasbeensaid,isnotnexttogodlinessinZoroastrianism'butpartofit.Accordingtothetraditionalteaching,death,in all its forms, is the weapon by which evil seeks to destroy the good creation of God. The greatest victory of evil' and consepresence,is the death of a human [uently the major focus for its of being.-Fundamentally,the essenceof impurity is the presence

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/ COMMUNITY I75 THEPARSI good and evil. How they use that free will, will be what determines their fate after death. A person'sgood thoughts,words, and If deeds will be weighed in the balances. the good predominates, i f t h e e v i l p r e d o m i n a t e st,h e y g o t o the persongoes to heaven, for that an individual is responsible hell. Such a belief presupposes words, and deeds.Since a baby cannot distinhis or her thoughts, guish right from wrong, it cannot be responsiblefor its acts and h e n c e c a n n o t s i n . A s t h e c h i l d g r o w s u p , i t l e a r n st o d i s t i n g u i s h and that is the point at which initiation should occur. There is no s e n s eo f c l e a n s i n gf r o m s i n , o r o f i n i t i a t i o n e n s u r i n g s a l v a t i o n , rather it is entry into the army of God to fight againstevil and into the Parsi comntunity. A 1906 test case in the Bombay High Court formalized in law what had been normal Parsi practice, namely that only the offs p r i n g o f a P a r s i m a l e c a n b e i n i t i a t e d .I n m o d e r n p r a c t i c e ,t h e is child of any interrnarriage generallyexcluded.The most common preferred by Parsis for this is to say that religion is explanation part of a person'sconditioningfiom birth and that it is emotionally h a n d p s y c h o l o g i c a l l y a r m f u l t o c h a n g er e l i g i o n . P e o p l es h o u l d b e religious in the tradition into which they were born. Parsisdo not, t h e r e f o r e ,t y p i c a l l y s e e a n y e x c l u s i v ec l a i m t o r e l i g i o u s t r u t h . A supportingpractical argumentis that becausethe Parsis are such a tiny minority, if they were to seek, or even accept,converts,they would antagonizethe dominant communities.As evidenceof this, they point out that they have fared well in India beausethey have not been seen as a threat by the host society. They oppose intermarriagebecausethey fear that it will inevitably erode the distincof tive characteristics the community. It is not that they necessarily as superior, but rather that they wish to preserve see themselves their identity. T h e r i t e o f i n i t i a t i o n , t h e n a u i o t e ( c o m m o n l y e x p l a i n e da s m e a n i n g" n e w b i r t h " ) b e g i n s i n p r i v a t e w i t h a r i t u a l b a t h . O n c e cleansedin body by bathing and in spirit through prayer' then the child is dressedin clean white "pyjama" trousers,a shawl draped round the upper portion of the body, and wears a small cap, for the head is always covered during worship. The child is led into the room where the nauiote is to be performed. A senior female member of the family performs a traditional Indian greeting ceremony. The child then sits before the officiating priest (there are usually several present)and in the presenceof the fire which, as

evil. Anything which is conducive to death (for example decaying matter),or is considered dead, is impure. Whateverleavesthe body is considereddead. Thus blood, cut hair, semen,urine are all im_ pure when separated fiom the body. It is a human religious duty to preservethe natural purity of the creation,for God createdit in a p e r f e c t a n d h o l y , i . e . p u r e , s t a t e .Z o r o a s t r i a n i s m a s , r e a s o n a b l y , h b e e n d e s c r i b e da s t h e w o r l d ' s f i r s t e c o l o g i c a lr e l i g i o n . S i n c e t h e human body is also part of God's good creation,it is an essential duty to preservebodily purity. BecauseGod is wholly pure, it is vital for worship to be con_ ducted in total purity, that is, in terms of moral, spiritual,and physical purity. A priest is basicallya man whose life is dedicated to the pure, the holy lit-e.obviously, this necessarily involves ethics and spiritual concerns. also requiresthe strict preservation It of the purity laws so that he may act in the sanctuary,and in other rites, on behalf of community memberswhose daily lives make it difficult for them to preservethe necessary stateof purity. Women also stand at the forefiont of the battle against impu_ r i t y . S i n c e b l o o d w h i c h h a s l e f t t h e b o d y i s i m p u r e ,t h e m o n t h l y cycle of menstruationmeans that women are in a regular state of i m p u r i t y a n d , a t s u c h t i m e t h e y s h o u l da v o i d c o n t a c tw i t h a n y t h i n g that is holy, for example a priest, the fire or a temple. In Zoroas_ trian belief, evil instinctivelyattacksand seeksto destroy life. Becausea woman's body is the ultimate focus for the creationof life o n e a r t h , s h e i s p a r t i c u l a r l y s u b j e c t t o t h e a s s a u l to f e v i l . H e r monthly cycle of impurity is, therefore,in no way seen as a moral, or religious, failing on her part. Rather she is the innocent victim and temporary abode of evil and impurity. Most religions have a range of purity laws associated with menstruation, child birth, etc. what distinguishes Zoroastrianism the logic with which it eluciis dates those laws. Apart from these aclditionallaws relating to pu_ rity, the religious obligationsand practicesof men and women are the same.The same purity laws also mean that a woman cannot be a priest.r2 Initiation Initiation should take place before the age of puberty, but not in infancy, since it is consideredimportant that the young person should chooseto enter into the responsibilities the religion. Zo_ of roastrians believe that people have freedom to choose between

IN INDIA 176 / RELICION MODERN the representative God, is presentat all ceremonies. of After introductory prayers, basically affirming belief in Zoroastrian teaching, the child is investedwith the sacredemblemsof the religion, the sacredshirt and cord, the sudre and kusti. The sudre is a white, cotton, vest-like garment worn next to the skin at all times. It is investedwith heavy symbolism, having, for example,a small pocket at the "V" of the neck which is said t o b e t h e s p i r i t u a lp u r s e i n w h i c h t h e i n d i v i d u a l s h o u l d s t o r e u p good thoughts,words, and deeds.But to many Parsis, the sudre is more than a mere symbol, it is a spiritually powerful and protective force for the believer.The kusti is a long cord woven (traditionally by the wives of priests)from lamb's-wool. Historically, it is related to the sacredcord of the brahmin, but for Zoroastrians,it is the badge of all believersand not just of the priests. After the investiturewith the sudre and kusti, the child is then blessedby the officiating priest with prayers for a long and active life in the r e l i g i o n .T h e c h i l d i s t h u s i n i t i a t e di n t o t h e r e s p o n s i b i l i t i eo f t h e s and the fellowship of the community.'1 religion The Daily Prayers As the naujote is the same for boys and for girls, so the daily practiceof prayer is the same for each.At five set times during the day, before bathing, worship, and at the start of many enterprises or journeys, the cord is untied fiom aroundthe waist (it is not tied round the shouldersas it is by the brahmin) and then, facing the light with the kusti in hand, the worshipperrecitesprayersin which he affirms his devotion to God and rejectsevil. As the name of God is mentioned,the Zoroastrianbows the head and touchesthe sudre with the ends of the knsti are his or her forehead.As evil is mentioned, and dismissively.The kusti is passedback and flicked contemptuously forth around the waist with knots before and behind.As the knots are to tied, a resolve is expressed practice good thoughts,words, and deeds.The prayers may be said anywhere,though naturally a pure place should be sought,be that a temple, in the home, or before one of the creationsof God (for example,the waters).It is a practice to common to all believers, young and old, to rich and poor, to lay person and priest. in India and overseas. Temple Worship Theoretically,there are only two formal liturgical duties for a

/ COMMUNTTY 17? THEPARSI Zoroastrian, the daily prayers as describedabove and the observance of the seasonalf'estivals,the gahambars.The latter observance has declined considerablyin India, partly due to restrictions on large festival meals.It is more widely observedin Pakistanand was originally a religion of the is important in Iran. Zoroastrianism open air, so that people commonly worshippednot in human consiructionsof templesbut before the divine creation of the sky and sun or the waters.Temples were a relatively late entry into the religion, probably in the fifth or fourth centuriesBCE, as a result of lran, they becamepopular as foci western influence.In Zoroastrian In India, there was for centuries of royal piety and munificence. o n l y o n e p e r m a n e n t l yb u r n i n g f i r e , w h i c h i s n o w h o u s e d a t t h e quiet seasidevillage and center of Parsi pilgrimage,Udwada' Worrhip b.fot. the fire was mainly conducted in the home' But as Parsis became increasinglywealthy in the nineteenthcentury, they to had the resources btrild temples.They also had a new religious who were rarely Parsis,the need. Becausethey employed servants, longer be preserved in the proper purity of the home could no manner for the ritual fire. Temples were, theretbre, constructed as centersof PuritY. There are two types of fire temples which are distinguished from each other by the grade of fire which burns within them. An AtasBahram housesthe highest gradeof fire, the royal Bahram or a "victorious" fire. This takes a year to consecrate nd, once inThere are eight such "cathedral fire stallecl,is treated as royalty. t e m p l e s " ( a s t h e y a r e s o m e t i m e sr e f e r r e d t o ) i n I n d i a , f o u r i n Bombay, two in Surat,one each in Navsari and Udwada' The "ordinary" fire temple Qlar-i Mihr or "Court of Mithra," also known as an agiari, Gujarati for "house of fire") has a less complex cons e c r a t i o n .T h e r e a r e a p p r o x i m a t e l y1 6 0 s u c h t e m p l e s s c a t t e r e d throughoutIndia. At first, fire templeswere simply centersof purity to which a priest would take a fire. In recent times, however, i t h a s b e c o m e t h e r u l e t o k e e p p e r m a n e n t l yb u r n i n g f i r e s i n temples.The fire is not only the "symbol of He who is pure underilea ligtrt," but is also consideredto be the very presenceof God and sometimesrefened to as the Son of God' A Parsi temple is a complex of rooms or buildings' Near the gateway is a place for washing and reciting the sudre-ku'ftiprayers' In outer rooms are pictures of the revered figures of the religion fromtheprophettothebenevo|entdonorstothetemple.These

I78

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COMMUNITY I79 / THE PARSI literacy rate for Parsi women in Bombay was practically the same as for men (97Vo and 99Vo respectively).The numbers completing high school or college education were similar (men 457o, women 127o) and a substantialproportion completed a university course is (men 217o, women 16%o). The consequence that a high proportion of women are in gainful occupation(29Vo comparedwith 9Vo of the general female population in Greater Bombay). Becauseof a these achievements, high proportionof Parsi women either delay or marriage(the averageage of Parsi women at marriagewas 25)16 many do not marry. Thus in 1982, the index of non-marriageof Parsi women was 217o,compared with 3Vofor the rest of Bombay's female population. Educationaland career opportunitieshave thus dramaticallyreducedmarriagesamong Bombay Parsis.The resulting declining birth rate is the major reasonwhy numbersare dropi p i n g s o r a p i d l y ,b y a s m u c h a s 2 O V o n t h e d e c a d e1 9 7 l - 1 9 8 1d o w n or to 71,630.The 1982 survey showed only l%oseparated divorced. Arranged marriageshave been common among the Parsis,but, increasingly in the twentieth century, prospectivebrides and are Love marriages common. It is difgrooms have been consulted. ficult to give precise figures becausethe process is not always clearly defined.It would be rare for Parsi youth to go directly againstknown parentalwishes and virtually unheardof for parents not to discussmarriageprospectswith the children. The role of a marriage broker in the old sensehas practically disappeared, though as the youth find it increasinglydifficult to find a bride in the shrinking community (especiallyin the more widely dispersec c o m m u n i t i e so u t s i d eB o m b a y , a n d p a r t i c u l a r l yo u t s i d eI n d i a ) , t h e Bombay Parsi Panchayathas begun moves for a marriage bureau. I n s u c h a s m a l l c o m m u n i t y , m a r r i a g ew i t h i n t h e w i d e r f a m i l y i s n o t u n c o m m o n .T e n p e r c e n t o f w o m e n w e r e f o u n d i n t h e 1 9 8 2 survey to have married men they were related to by blood, for the most part their cousins.Out-marriageis reportedto be a growing phenomenon, but the 1982 survey found only l%ohad done so. The situation is diff'erent among those who have migrated overseas, w h e r e o v e r l 0 7 o o f t h e y o u n g a r e a l r e a d ym a r r i e d o u t . I t s e e m s c e r t a i n t h a t a n i n c r e a s i n gn u m b e r w i l l d o s o i n t h e s e c o n d a n d third generations. The marriage ceremony can be said to commence with betrothal. Becausea Zoroastrian'sword is consideredhis bond, the betrothal is thought to be binding. The date of the marriage is

pictures are commonly garlanded and worshippers usually pause before them and touch them to draw, as it were, their spiritual energy to themselves. Before entering the prayer room, worshippers flick off their shoesso that outside impurity is not taken into the center of worship. The fire is kept in a sanctuarywhich is marked off on one side of the room with floor to ceiling walls through which there is a door for the priest to enter and windows for the worshippers to veneratethe divine presence.There is no formal time for prayer in the temple, but many like to attendat one of the five set times when the fire is f'ed. Parsi worship before the fire is an intenselypersonal activity. As worshippersenter the prayer room they normally stand in the doorway of the sanctuary, kneel and bow the head on the step before the fire, leave a piece of sandalwoodas an offering to God, and then take a pinch of ash from the fire, left by the priest in a ladle in the doorway of the sanctuary. This they apply to the forehead, thus receiving its energy and strength.Then, standing(or sitting on a bench if old or infirm), the worshipperwill offer prayers in the sacred languageof Avestan. Afterwards, vernacularprayers may be offered in petition or thanksgivingfor a boon. Essentially, therefore,the visit to the temple is an act of pilgrimage in order to see the living fbrm of God, to stand in the divine presence, and to receive strengthfrom it.rr Marriage Marriage is not merely desirablebut doctrinally a duty for Zoroastrians. BecauseGod and his creation are characterized life by and bounty, it is a religious obligationto extend His kingdom through marriageand the raising of a family. This is an obligation laid on all, including priests.Indeed,until the last century a priest was not allowed to perform certain major ceremoniesunless he was married. It is only with the influenceof Theosophy, and a tendencytowards asceticism,coupled with a numerical decline in the priesthood, that this tradition has been eased.Until the mid-nineteenth century child marriage was practiced in common with the rest of I n d i a n s o c i e t y ,b u t i t h a s n o p a r t i n t h e a n c i e n tr e l i g i o n a n d w a s quickly droppedonce the pressures social reform began.'5 for a In the twentieth century, Parsi women have experienced degree of "liberation" unequalled in Indian society. In 1982, the

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THE PARSI COMMUNITY/ I8I sinful in Zoroastrianism). The sachkar ceremonyis then performed when a circle is drawn round the corpse into which only corpse bearersshould enter, for within that area the presenceof pvil is potent. The corpse is removed to the funeral grounds as soon as possible. Commonly in the twentiethcentury,this is immediatelyafter death. At the funeral grounds, rooms are set apart which are designed for the various ceremoniesin a way few householdscan manage in crowded city life. The funeral procession is led by nasarsalars, the corpse bearers, who carry the body to its final resting place. They and the mourners walk in pairs, with a white cloth tied between them, binding them together in mutual support in the face of death.A dog, man's ally in the Zoroastriantradition, is presentnow, as at severalpoints in the ceremony,because its of ability to "see" death and to guard man. The corpse is laid on a slab and the bereaved take their last leave before the nascirsalars carry it into the "Tower of Silence," or daxma, where it is exposed to the vultures. The daxma is generally about thirty feet high. It is round and encircledby high walls so that no one can see inside. There is but one entrance up a flight of steps to a door set high in the wall, through which only the nasarsal4r.renter. Inside, there are usually three concentriccircles of pavis, or rectangularspacesinto which the corpse is placed (outer one for males, center one for females, inner one for children). The corpse is stripped and the nasrirsalars leave. It is estimated that the vultures devour the corpse in approximately twenty minutes,during which time the mournerspray nearby. After the bones have been bleached and powdered by the sun, they are cast into a central pit. The mourning ceremonies last for four days. On the afternoon of the third day, the L/thamna ceremony is held at which charities are announced in memory of the deceased.Charities, rather than gravestones,are considered the proper Zoroastrian way to commemorate someone.It is also when an adopted son is named, if necessary, for a son is required to perform the various ceremonies at different stages through the year, and annually thereafter, memory of the deceased. in The Towers of Silence are a noted feature of Zoroastrian practice, which the journalists have too often sensationalized. theoIn logical terms, the daxmas are necessaryin order to contain the impurity of evil. Becauseearth, fire and water are sacred creations of God, burial, cremation, and disposal at sea involve defiling the

fixed by choosing an auspicious day; eclipses,for example, are avoided. The betrothal is known as a naming ceremony (nam padvin), "naming" this person as the boy or girl they will marry. With the wedding itself, there used to be four days of ceremonies, but these are now often performed in one. The bride wears a sari, normally white, and the boy traditional Gujarati dress (dagli and white trousers with a hat, pugri). The ceremony takes place in either the morning or evening.After a purificatory bath at home, the couple will go to the baug or place of the wedding (though the ceremonycan be in a temple or the home) in a car bedeckedwith flowers. They are grand occasionswith severalhundred guests,in earlier times even more. The couple is greetedon their arrival on the wedding dais by a senior female relative as with the naujote. The boy takes his place first. Present with them on the dais are witnessesand senior female relatives.It is customaryfor these to be married people and it is abnormal for those who have recently been bereavedto participate in this way. The family priest from each side sharesin the performance the ceremony.Traditionally, of the wedding commenceswith the couple sitting facing each other, but with a sheetbetweenthem hiding them from each other's view. This is a practice going back to the time when a couple did not see each other before marriage. A ball of wool is passed seven times round the couple, symbolically binding them together.The sheet is then dropped and, by tradition, whichever partner is first to shower the other with rice is thought to be the dominant partner. The couple then sit side by side facing the priest for the strictly religious part of the ceremony,the public affirmations of betrothal, admonitions,and blessingby the priests.r? Funerals The ceremonies associated with death have two main concerns: the restriction of the powerful pollution presentand the care for the soul. If the approachof death is foreseen, is traditional to move it the dying to a separatepart of the house kept specifically for the purpose. The priest is called and prayers are recited affirming the faith and seeking forgiveness for sins. When death has occurred,a fire is brought into the room and the prayers begin. The body is laid on the ground, the corpse bearerssummoned,and a member of the family washes the body before it is clothed in a clean, but used, sudre and kusti (a new one would be wasteful. and waste is

INDIA IN I82 / RELIGION MODERN holy. God created nothing unnecessarilyand the purpose of the vulture is to consume that which would otherwise cause unequalled pollution. In practical terms, Parsis argue, this method of disposal is swift, economic with land, hygienic, and, in short, that it is ecologically sensible. As one of the few Westernersnow permitted to visit the funeral grounds in Bombay perhaps I may be permitted a personal comment. Prior to my first visit I shared the typical but found them deeply moving centers, Westerner'sapprehension characterizedby an air of naturalnessand calm. The common Parsi horror of burial and consumptionby worms is, on reflection, understandable.rt Worship The practices described above are part of the daily life of the ordinary Parsi Zoroastrian.There are numerous other rituals: the "higher" or "inner" ceremonies of the temple, such as the yasna, which incorporates the haoma, of Indo-Iranian origin, and ntrangdtn, in which the bull's urine is consecratedfor use in purificatory ceremoniesand which also dates back to ancient times; the great nine-day purification ceremony, the barasnons; the initiarites for temples and tion ceremoniesof a priest; the consecration daxmas. But important though these undoubtedly are in the history of the religion, they are not part of the daily life of the ordinary Parsi today. There are other practices which are part of many people's lives-the birth ceremonies (surprisingly rather few in view of the importance of Zoroastrian attitudes to new life) and the jasan, a ceremony which with small modifications can be used in memory of the dead, in celebrationof family or community occasions, or as an act of petition. The devotional life of Parsis is so rich that it is impossible to provide a reasonableaccount of it within the confines of a chapter.What is more helpful is to consider the fundamental Parsi assumption as to the nature of prayer and worship. The protestantattitude to prayer can, simplistically but reasonably,be described as dialogue with God, relating to God one's hopes and fears, expressinggratitudeor penitence;listening for His response.These can be part of the ordinary Parsi's practice, but they are not the essenceof the traditional understanding. As described above, the necessaryprerequisite for worship is purity. The words of worship are the words of the sacred liturgy, the Avesta. It is important that the original Avestan words are

THE PARSI COMMUNITY/ I83 used. In part this is becausethey are considered the words of the prophet Zoroaster who had direct experienceof God, an experience the worshipper hopes to share. The words of prayer are considered dead while written down, but living forces of spiritual power when uttered, in purity and devotion, in the rites. The priest is a man whose life is dedicated to making real and present the spiritual powers referred to in the prayers. Thus in the yasna, as in other rites, there are present the representatives the seven creations of (man, fire, water, cattle, plants, waters, metals) overseenand protected by the seven divine forces, the Amesa Spentas.As the priest recites the prayers, the divine forces named in them are thought to be actually, not merely symbolically,present.His gaze consecrates the objects so that they have a sanctity they did not have previously. The words, the actions,the objectsall contributeto an actualization of holy power. Non-Zoroastrians are excluded from temples and many ceremonies(not initiations and weddings) because the fact that they do not observethe purity laws would inevitably disrupt the aura, the spiritual powerfield, of the religious activity. In worship, therefore, there may (or may not) be an idea of dialogue with God. More fundamentally, it is the individual Zoroastrian'simmediateexperience the divine forces. of

Parsi Religious Doctrine Zoroastrianismis, on the whole, characterizedby substantial continuity and the Parsis have typically been remarkably faithful to their heritage, despite living within easy reach of the "eclectic" atmosphereof India. They have, nevertheless, not remained unmoved by the changing spirits of time and place. There are some evident signs of acculturation such as the adoption of the sari by the women, the use of Gujarati, the adaptation numerous"folk cusof toms," and the garlanding and reverencepaid to pictures of religious heroes. If a religion is to be "relevant" and "meaningful" to the lives of its young practitioners,it is natural that, in part at least, it will be presentedin contemporaryterms. Most religious groups tend to be more tolerant of doctrinal differences than of variations in ritual practice. This is particularly true among Parsis, where the practices are seen as expressionsof ethnic identity in a way that patterns of belief are not. From the perspectiveof an outside historian, one can see three main periods of influence which

I84 / RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA have affected the way in which Zoroastrian ideas have been presentedin India. The First Millennium This millennium lasted from the time following their arrival in India when the Parsis lived in relative isolation from other communities. There were some adaptations,for example dress and language, and the gradual acquisition of some patterns of Indian thought, notably the perception of themselvesas a distinct caste. It may be that the concept of four classesof society was part of the Zoroastrian tradition inherited from Indo-Iranian times, but life in India does seem to have reinforced the sense of Parsi-Zoroastrian distinctiveness,for example, in attitudes to intermarriageand eating It and drinking with non-Zoroastrians. was the sense of identity which preserved the tiny community in a new culture and amid a sea of change. The Period of British Rule This can be subdivided into three periods. From the Parsi perspective, the period effectively begins with the British acquisition of Bombay in 1662. From then until the early nineteenth century Parsis, on the whole (a few individuals apart), remained socially and culturally distinct. At this stage, there appearsto have been relatively little change for Parsis in Gujarat from the earlier period. It was with acquisitionof wealth and power in the nineteenth century that the change occurred. The social dimension of Westernization among the Parsis was commented on above. A comparable developmentcan be observedin religious teaching,not so much in the traditional centers in Gujarat but certainly in cosmopolitan B o m b a y . I n t h e 1 8 3 0 s a n d 1 8 4 0 s t h e S c o t t i s h m i s s i o n a r yJ o h n Wilson attacked the religion of the Parsis with vigor. His onslaught on what he labeled Zoroastrian "dualism" (with reference to the teaching on good and evil) and "polytheism" (becauseof the reverence for the Amesa Spentas, the divinely created forces not unthough less mythologically described),his like Christian archangels, denial of the authority of the Avesta and the status of Zoroaster converted few, but produced shock waves through the community. The reaction was to develop a religious education system which would equip membersto rebut such allegations. the 1860s,the In German Protestantand Professorof Sanskrit at the Deccan College,

/ COMMUNITY I85 THE PARSI Poona, Martin Haug, produced an exposition of Zoroastrianism which seemedto many Parsis to harmonizethe religion and modcrn Western knowledge.It incorporateda range of fundamentally for example the rejection of later "mediProtestantassumptions, cval" teachingsas corruptionsof the pure teachingof the prophet; the rejection of elaboratepriestly rituals and an emphasison the religion of the heart; and the importanceof prayersin the vernacuthe lar and not in a "dead" language,so that one could understand rneaningof the words. Much Parsi religious literature of the late nineteenthcentury was concernedto purify Zoroastrianismfrom the "corruption" of The Reformand superstitions' what were seen as Hindu accretions ists were often alluded to within the community as "the Protestant party" becauseof the influencesseen to affect them. Two leading ) w P a r s it e a c h e r s e r e K . R . C a m a ( 1 8 3 1 - 1 9 0 9a n d t h e h i g h p r i e s t i n . K a r a c h i ,D a s t u r M . N . D h a l l a ( 1 8 7 5 - 1 9 5 6 )C a m a w a s a b u s i n e s s man who spent time during a Europeanbusinesstrip to study old Iranian languagesand history at Western universitiesand then devoted much of his life to teaching his fellow Zoroastrians in Bombay. Dhalla studied at Columbia University, New York, from p u 1 9 0 4 - 1 9 0 8 , n d e r t h e a c t i v e P r o t e s t a n t r o f e s s o ro f I r a n i a n l a n . guages, .V.W. JacksonDhalla was a prolific writer who sought A to give a perspectiveon Zoroastrian history and doctrine which but which also prewas consistentwith westernscholarlyresearch, served for his community the religious insights of Zoroastrianism. Both men led lives of simplicity and devotion which inspiredmany of their contemporaries.Though both were controversial, each played a vital role in passingon the religion to the next generation of in the major urban centersof Zoroastrianism that time, Bombay and Karachi.r' The third subdivisionof the British era is from the start of the This was a period of conflicting twentiethcentury to Independence. loyalties.Politically, most Parsis remainedpro-British, and among these Zoroastrians,the cultural and religious influencesremained, As on the whole, Western,specificallyProtestant. the Independence struggledeveloped,however,a numberjoined the nationalistcause rrnclamong them the influenceswere inevitably different. Commur r i s m w a s o n e f a c t o r , a n d s o w a s H i n d u i s m , e s p e c i a l l ya s i n t e r preted by Gandhi. A more potent force at this time was, however, the occult. The process of Westernization had gone so far so

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quickly that a reaction inevitably started.Theosophyprovided the rationale for many Parsis to preservesuch cherishedtraditions as prayers in Avestan and the rituals which formed part of the daily life for most people. Yet this did so through a teaching with a Western ancestry that gave it respectability among the Western Some of the leading intellectualsand reformers toward educated.2') the end of their life began to display an interest in Theosophical (notably K.R. Cama). In the early interpretations Zoroastrianism of twentieth century, however, with the move of Theosophicalheadquartersto Madras and the new leadershipof Annie Besant, Theosophy was identified by Parsis with nationalismand Hinduism. In t h e 1 9 2 0 s ,w h a t m i g h t l o o s e l y b e t e r m e d a Z o r o a s t r i a n i z e t h e o d s o p h i c a l m o v e m e n t b e g a n , I l m - i K h s h n o o m .l t w a s s t a r t e d b y BehramshahShroff, who claimed to have visited a secret race of giants in Iran who taught him their mystical inner paths Zoroastrian of spiritual knowledge,one opaqueto outsiders, especiallyto Western academics.The teachingsare not dissimilar from Theosophy: r e b i r t h , a s c e t i c i s mv e g e t a r i a n i s m , b e l i e f i n t h e i n d i v i d u a l a u r a , a , and the occult power of traditional prayers and ceremonies.2r But insteadof attributingreligious insight to Tibetan Masters,it traced its origins to the Zoroastrianhomeland which grew in attractiveness to many Parsisin the twentiethcentury as their fate in an Ind e p e n d e n tI n d i a s e e m e dt h r e a t e n e d y r e l i g i o u s c o n f l i c t a n d a s b Iran's new rulers,the Pahlavi dynastypromisedand provided Zoroa s t r i a n sw i t h r e l i g i o u s f r e e d o m .T h e l a s t h a l f c e n t u r y o f B r i t i s h rule, therefore, saw a cauldron of competing, sometimesconflictand allegiances. The religious literatureof the period ing, pressures reflects that diversity of influences.2? Independent India of The religious teachings Parsisin independent India continue to reflect a diversity of influences.The most obvious external intradition, so evident in the days fluence is no longer the Protestant (a of British rule. From an outsider'sperspective Parsi may argue differently), it seemsthat Hinduism is exerting a greater doctrinal influence,especiallythe Grta and some of the great teachers the of last century such as Ramakrishnaand Aurobindo, and such teachings as rebirth, yoga, spiritual unfoldment and super-consciousAt ness.2r a popular level, a number of modern holy men have attracted a Parsi following, in particular the Babas. The occult

teaching in Khshnoom continues to be popular. Indeed, my impressionis that it is gaining, rather than losing, influence. There are two new influencesin the 1970sand 1980s.One is the impact of a charismaticteacher,Khojesti Mistree, who runs an at Studies.He studiedZoroastrianism body, Zoroastrian educational Oxford and London and seeksto provide both an intellectualand a spiritual program. His work has been particularlyinfluential among P t h e y o u n g a n d w e l l - e d u c a t e d a r s i so f B o m b a y . I t h a s a l s o b e e n religious aunot least among some of the established controversial, thorities and also becasuesome fear that he is introducing "dualism," specificallythe idea that evil in the world is due to an indep e n d e n tf o r c e , A h r i m a n , a n d t h e r e b yq u e s t i o n i n gG o d ' s o m n i p o t h t e n c e .W e s t e r n a c a d e m i c s a v e g e n e r a l l yc o n s i d e r e d h i s t o b e a of doctrine characteristic the early religion. But it is felt by many Parsis that such a categorizationof Zoroastrianism results in a downgradingof the statusof their faith, somewhatin the way that m i W i l s o n d i s m i s s e d t a s a d u a l i s m .W h a t e v e rs c h o l a r s a y s a y , v i r tually no Parsis in India or the West, apart from those influenced by Mistree, nowadaysacceptthis doctirneof evil and are offended when it is attributedto Zoroaster.2a The second influence at work in the 1970s and 1980s is the or impact of the overseas, diaspora,communities,above all those settledin the United States.The patternof modern Parsi migration overseasis different from that of many other Indian communities. who successful and professionally Typically, it is the well-educated have migrated. In the United Statesand Canada,Zoroastriansare consciousof a need to provide an account of the tradition which will help their young maintain their heritagein the Western world. I n p a r t , t h i s i n v o l v e sp r o v i d i n g a n i n t e l l e c t u a le x p l a n a t i o nw h i c h w i l l b e f o u n d m e a n i n g f u li n t h e N e w W o r l d . C o n s e q u e n t l yt,h e d i a s p o r ac o m m u n i t i e sc o m m o n l y g i v e g r e a t e ri m p o r t a n c et o r e l i gious educationthan is general in India, where the young acquire the tradition by lit'e in the community rather than through formal a c l a s s e s T h e p r a c t i c e s n d d o c t r i n e sf o u n d a m o n g P a r s i s i n I n d i a . are not seen as relevant by those who have assumeda Western identity, especiallythe young, those brought up in the West and by the Zoroastrians who have migrated from Iran. There is, therefore, a growing tension between sectionsof the diaspora communities and sectionsof the Indian community.Becausethe Western groups are educated and highly literate, they are already producing a body

I88 / RELICION MODERN IN INDIA of religious literature, some of which is finding its way back to India and influencing sectionsof the community there. Interaction between"the old country" and the diasporais a two-way process.2s It is not necessarilythe case that the diaspora is introducing "new" teachingsand practices(though that may also be the case), but more that Zoroastrians overseas are choosingto emphasize different aspectsof their own history and doctrine. So, for example, the writings of M.N. Dhalla are widely quotedamong groups in the United Statesand Canadabecause his teachingis found helpful to them.26 The solutionshe found to his own religious strugglesto integrate Western knowledge and Zoroastrian devotion inspire fewer people in India than they do in the New World. Diasporareligion may prove influential in the long term not simply because it introducesnew elements,but also because may affect which asit pects of the tradition are preserved emphasized. or Another danger many are consciousof is the proliferationof different forms of Zoroastrianism. iversity is possiblein religions with millions of D practitioners, such as Hinduism, Christianity,Buddhism, and Islam. But Zoroastrianism, being the religion of such a tiny minority, cannot bear the divisions othersenjoy.

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history, but the dangers are enormous, not least in India. It is here that numbers are dropping most dramatically and the pressures of acculturation, though perhaps less obvious than in America, are no less real. Few, if any countries, would have provided Zoroastrians with such security for so long a period. The fact that Parsis have never experienced the equivalent of European anti-Semitism says a great deal about Indian society. Whether that security, identity, and success will last for another millennium is a question many Parsis are asking.

Notes l. For Western views see, for example, M. Boyce, A History of Z'oroastrianisn, Leiden, 1975 and 1982,vol. I, chapter7, amendedvol. II, pp. l-3; G. Gnoli, Zoroaster's Time and Homeland, Naples, 1980, ch. 5. For Parsi views see, for example, J.C.Katrak, The Age of Ttrathushtra, Bombay, 1968; H.D.K. Mirza, Outlines of Parsi History, Bombay, 1974, pp. 361-366. 2. Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their religious beliefs and practices, London, 1979, ch. 2. 3. S.H. Hodivala, Studies in Parsi History, Bombay, 1920, chs. l-4; R.B. Paymaster, Early History of the Parsees in India, Bombay, 1954, ch. l; P. Axelrod, "Myth and identity in the Indian Zoroastrian communily," Journal of Mithraic Studies, III, 1980, pp. 150is from the Qissa and the Sh/o/<as 65. A short selection of passages in Boyce, Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianisrn, Manchester, 1984,pp. 120-123. 4. D.F. Karaka, History of the Parsis, London, 1884, 2 vols.; J.R. Hinnells, "Anglo-Parsi commercial relations in Bombay prior to 184'7," Journal of the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute, (hereafter pp.5-19. "/COI), Bombay,46, 1978, 5. Hinnells, "Parsis and British Education in Bombay, 1820-1880," JCOI,46, 1978, pp. 42-64; C. Dobbin, Urban Leadership in Western India, Oxford, 19'12;C. Monk, "The Parsis and the emergence of the Indian Naitonal Congress," JCOI, 52, 1985, pp. ll5-243; D. Melton, "The Parliamentary Life of Dadabhai Naoroji," JCOI, 52, 1 9 8 5 , p p . l - 1 1 4 . O n W e s t e r n i s e dP a r s i s o c i a l i n t e r e s t s s e e Parsisand Sports,Bombay, 1935. H.D.Darukhanawala, 6. E. Kulke, The Parsees in India, Munich and Bombay, 1974, pp. 190216. 7. Hinnells, An Ancient Religion in Modern Exile : Contemporary Tnro' astrianism, Oxford (in preparation). 8. Hinnells, "Parsis in Britain," JCOI, 46, 1978, pp.65-84; Hinnells'

Conclusion The world's oldest propheticreligion is now practicedin more countriesaround the globe than at any time in its history. But with n u m b e r sd i m i n i s h i n g ,t h e c o n s e q u e n c ie t h a t , i n m a n y , i f n o t i n s all, centers,the numbersare being reducedto such a low level that what might be called "the necessary self-supportsystem" are becoming non-functional(for example the difficulties in finding suitable marriage partners,the supply of priests and the maintenance of temples).There is, perhaps,a minimal size at which community can perpetuateitself. One danger facing Zoroastrianismis that it has almost reachedthat minimal level. The combinationof a variety of factors, for example the diminution of dispersal,the consequencesof economic and social success, pressures acculturation of in various countries,the dramatic decline in numbersin the largest center of Zoroastrianism (namely India), and a senseof uncertainty for the future in lran, means that Zoroastrianism today (1987), is, under greater threat than ever before. It would be foolhardy to write off a religion with such a long, noble, and distinguished

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"Zoroastrian migration to Britain: Its history and impact." World Zoroastrian, London, 1986, pp. 3-24. 9 . J. Pavry, "Brief Summary of ZoroastriansAbroad," in The Zoroastrian Challenge in North America, Proceedingsof the Fourth North American Congress, Montreal, 1982,pp. 88-94. t 0 . Hinnells as quoted in n. 7. l l . P. Nanavutty,The Parsis,Delhi, 2nd ed., 1980. t2. M. Boyce, A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism,Oxford, 1977, ch. 5; K. Mistree, T,oroastianism: An ethnic perspective (hereaftersimply Mistree), Bombay, 1982, ch. 12. J.J. Modi, Religious Ceremonies and Custorns of the Parsees, 13. Bombay, 1937 (hereafter simply Modi), ch. 7; B.K. Karanjia,More of an Indian, Bombay, 1970 (a vivid novcl on the theme of Parsi Mistree, ch. l4; Hinnells, "Parsi attitudesto 'other intermarriage); religons"' in H. Coward (ed), Indian Attitudes to "Other" Relig l o n s ,N e w Y o r k , 1 9 8 7 . l 4 B.B. Patel, Parsi Religious Buildings, Bombay, 1906 (Gujarati); Modi, ch. 9; F.M. Kotwal, "Some observations the history of the on Parsi: Dar-i Mihrs," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African l9'74,3'1 pp. 664-69; Kotwal and J.V. Boyd, "Worship in Studie.s, , a Zoroastrian Fire Temple," Indo-lranian Journal, 1983, 26, pp. 2 9 3 - 3 1 8 :M i s t r e e . h . 1 8 . c 1 5 .M o d i , c h . 2 l M i s t r e e .c h . 1 5 . 1 6 .The figures vary in different surveys. The l96l Censusof India separate vcrlume on The Parsis of Greater Bombay, (p. 12) gave 26.55 as the averageage of Parsi women at marriage. 1 7 .M. Karkal, Survey of Parsi Population of Greater BonbaS'-1982, Bombay,1984. 1 8 . M o d i , c h . 3 ; M i s t r e e ,c h . l l . 1 9 . J . J . M o d i , K . R . C a r r a , B o m b a y , n . d . ( a p p r o x i m a t e l y1 9 4 0 ) ; N . N . Dhalla, Saga of a Soul, an Autobiography, (8.T. by B.S.H.J. Rustomji), Karachi, 1975. For an accountof Parsi religious developmentsat the turn of the century see Hinnells,"Social changeand religious transformation among Bombay Parsisin the early twentieth century" in Traditions in Contact and Change, P. Slater and D. W i e b e ,e d s . ,O n t a r i o ,1 9 8 3 ,p p . 1 0 5 - 1 2 6 . 20. K.J.B. Yadia, Fifty Years of Theosophyin Bombay, Madras, 1931. For an account of contemporary movements in India see J.N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movenents in India, 1914. A recent Parsi theosophical writer is Dastur K.S. Dabu, see for exampie his Handbook Information on Zoroastrianism, Bombay, 1969. 21. N.F. Mama, Bombay, A Mazdaznan Mystic, 1944; P.S. Masani, T-oroastrianism Ancient and Modern, Bombay, 191?; P.N. Tavaria, A 'Khshnoom', Manual of Bombay, l97l; M. Master Moos, Life of

IJstad Saheb Behramshah Nowroji Shroff, Bombay, 1981; K'N. Dastoor, hrasthushtra the Yazata,Bombay, 1984. 22 H. Langstaff, The Impact of Western Education and Political Changes upon the Religious Teachings of Indian Parsis in the twentieth century, Ph.D. Thesis,Manchester,1983 (unpublished). 23 For example, J.K. Wadia, The Inner Man, Calcutta' 1968; F.A. Bode' Sharing the Joy of Learning, Bombay, 1978' chs. 4-6' z + . Mistree, ch. 4. Two examples of publications opposed to his interpretations are the newsletters of the Zoroastrian Association in Montreal (Gavashni) and the Zoroastrian Centre, California, (the Zoroaslrian).

2 5 . The publication best reflecting this process is the Bombay based

lo.

monthly magazine,Parsiana. For example the newslettersof British Columbia, Ontario and The Zoroastrian.

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I
THE SINGH SABHAS AND THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN SIKHISM. L875.I925

N. Gerald Barrier

B e t w e e n 1 8 7 5 a n d 1 9 2 5 , S i k h i s m i n t h e P u n j a b u n d e r w e n ta s u b s t a n t i a lc h a n g e t h a t c r e a t e d n e w r e l i g i o u s i n s t i t u t i o n s a n d boundaries.Prior to that time, many observersbelieved that the religion had lost its focus and might soon becomeone of many sects within the broad Hindu spectrum.Maintenance the 5 Ks associof ated with Guru Gobind Singh and most recently with the Sikh regiments of Ranjit Singh, appearedto be lax. Sikhs and Hindus sharednumerouscustomsand social practices.The traditional Sikh religious leaders,however, showed little interest in articulating a separate and identifiable sets of doctrines and social practices. While one Europeanscholardeclaredthat "Sikhism is a waning religion, that will soon belong to History", while anotherwarned that like a boa constrictor,Hinduism might soon crush and absorb the fragile Sikh faith.l The reversalof this apparentdecline in less than half a century m a r k e d a d e c i s i v et u r n i n g p o i n t i n t h e e v o l u t i o n o f S i k h i s m . B y the early 1900s,Sikhs had experienced dramaticrevitalizationof a their doctrine, institutions,and spirit. The programs of a new and expanding network of organizations,loosely referred to as the Singh Sabhas, accounted for much of the transformation. The accepted view is that the Singh Sabhas halted the decline of Sikhism, reassertedtraditional Sikh values, and put the religion and its followers back on the path that originated with the ten Gurus. An increasinglypersuasiveinterpretation that the Singh Sabhas is

played a more complex role, and insteadof reviving a lost orthodoxy, put together elementsfrom diverse and often conflicting trad i t i o n s s o a s t o e n h a n c et h e d i s t i n c t n a t u r e o f t h e r e l i g i o n . A t tempting to minimize the diversity of practices and sects within S i k h i s m , t h e S i n g h S a b h a sg r a d u a l l yd o m i n a t e dS i k h p u b l i c l i f e , removed ideas and rituals seen as Hindu, and attemptedto set forth a coherent and authoritativeview of what it meant to be a Sikh. a A l t h o u g h n o t r e s o l v i n g a l l i s s u e s ,t h e s e o r g a n i z a t i o n s n d t h e i r view of Sikh identity, one contributedto a strengthened spokesmen with Sikhism today.2 commonly associated Understanding thesechangesfollowing the creationof the first S i n g h S a b h a i n 1 8 7 5 i n v o l v e s , f i r s t o f a l l , t h e h i s t o r i c a lc o n t e x t occurred.As Punjabi Sikhs atwithin which the Sikh resurgence arising ftom Westerndomito grapple with the challenges tempted with the Gurus they did so in light of teachingsassociated nation, Guru Granth Sahib, as well as recent religious experience. and This in turn led not to the steady spreadof agreedupon doctrines and practice, but rather to heated in-fighting among Sikhs and great conflict with other Punjabis also experiencingcultural revitalization, most notably the Arya Samaj. Despite these difficulties, a common set of ideas and institutionsbegan to emerge between promulgatedby a new 1902 and 1920, which were systematically t o r g a n i z a t i o n , h e C h i e f K h a l s a D i w a n . T h e d r a m a t i ca p central pearance the Gurdwarareform campaignafter 1920 brought into of prominencea fresh group of Sikh activists,the Akalis, whose heroic deeds fostered their claim to be the legitimate leadersof the community. While the Akalis and those Sikhs now controlling the shrines and major resourcesof the community opposed many of that the Singh Sabha leaderspolitically, the public consciousness undergird the successof the Akalis and their vision of Sikh religion and politics was due in large part to the earlier work of the S i n g h S a b h am o v e m e n t . Punjab Sikhs and the Challenges of Colonial Rule Sikh traditions and beliefs in nineteenthcentury Punjab reflected religious developmentsover four hundred years. The formative phase of Sikhism stretchedbetween the birth of the first Guru, Nanak, in 1469, and the death of the tenth and final Guru, Gobind Singh, in 1708. Guru Nanak emphasized the need for

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RELIGION IN MODERN INDIA THE SINGH SABHAS I Ig5

human beings to meditate on the Nam or name of God, while at the same time combined worship and deep reverencewith active s p a r t i c i p a t i o ni n d a i l y l i f e , i n c l u d i n g a f a m i l y r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e a n d others. His teachingswere transmittedand elaboratedby serving who investedthe Sikhs with a sacredscripture,the nine successors, compiled by Guru Arjan, a tradition of love and sacAdi Granth, with rifice, and numeroussacredshrinesand holy placesassociated events in the evolving tradition. In 1699, Guru Gobind important Singh transformedthe Sikhs into a disciplinedbody or order called the Khalsa, whose membersreceived a new name' Singh ("lion") and symbols (the 5 Ks: uncut hair, comb, bangle,sword and The authority and function of the Guru became vested breeches). Khalsa, the community gathered together (the sangat), and in the the scripture,the Guru Crunth Sahib.' rise of the Sikh ntisals and the control of the The subsequent were accompaniedby Punjab by Ranjit Singh (early 1700s-1839) the spreadof Sikh political and social dominancein north-western India. Although this turbulent period requires more research,the general outline of what was happeningseemsclear. First, a loose with local saints,and wise men, often associated band of teachers, a particular area or shrine, came to be seen as a major source of i n s p i r a t i o na n d a u t h o r i t y a m o n g S i k h s . T h e s e b h a i s , g y a n i s , a n d local dignitaries cooperated with the heads of the families descending from the Gurus, such as the Sodhis and Bedis, to cond u c t w o r s h i p , m a i n t a i n a s e n s eo f c o n t i n u i t y w i t h t h e p a s t , a n d Although a scatteringof litprovide spiritual an<lmoral leadership. erary works were produced, most notably the janamsakhis or traditional biographiesof the Gurus, Sikh culture tended to be transmitted orally.a with the spreadof the Sikh tradition in the rural Simultaneous areasand particularlyamong the Jats,the religious doctrinesfound and rein the Gurus' teachingswere given various interpretations flected local custom and social practices.Sikhs could be sahaidhari' clean-shavendevoteesof Guru Nanak who respectedthe Granth and worshipped regularly in the gurdwaras,or amritrlharis, those w w h o m a i n t a i n e dt h e s y m b o l s a s s o c i a t e d i t h G u r u G o b i n d S i n g h and the khalsa tradition and had undergonebaptism' Worship of local gods and saintswas common, and in terms of daily ritual and important events, many Sikhs acceptedthe role of Brahmins and lived a life style similar to that of other Punjabis. Sikhs had a

variety of identities,seeingthemselves one point as residents at of a village, then part of a lineage, and at other junctures part of a specific caste or belonging to a particular tradition. Boundaries were blurred, with Sikhs commonry worshippingrocargoddesses or saints, participating in local festivals,and going on pilgrimage to sacredspots associated with Hinduism. After the late tioos, some S i k h s a t t e m p t e dt o r e g i t i m i z e a p a r t i c u l a r v i e w o f h o w s i k h s s h o u l d l i v e b y e m p h a s i z i n g p e c i f i cg u i d e st o r i t u a r a n d p r a c r i c e s (rahitnamas).and opposingcasreand Brahmin participationin cer_ emonies.On the whole, however, there was no generally accepted set of traditions, religious beriefs and social noirn, o*ong siitrs, but rather, a diffuse and often competing group of traditions per_ petuatedby local custom and religious leaclers.s The transfer of Western institutions and ideology after lg49 contributedto the transformation the world in wnicir sittrs of and other Punjabis lived. The region had arwaysbeen an invasion zone characterized a numerouscultures and interactions, by with lavers o f r e l i g i o u s b e l i e f a n d a n a m a l g a mo f l i f e - s t y r ea n d v a r u e s . ihe B r i t i s h , h o w e v e r ,d i f f e r e d f r o m p a s t r u l e r s i n t h a t t h e i r p r c s e n c e e f f e c t e db a s i c c h a n g e si n p u n j a b s o c i e t y a n d c u l t u r e w h i c h c o n _ tinue to the present.The most obvious innovationsarose from the a d m i n i s t r a t i v es t r u c t u r e s n d t h e p o l i t i c a l o r i e n t a t i o nu n d e r l v i n s a them. Within two decadesthe colonial power introduced , o n"i bureaucratic system,completewith western-styleexecutiveand judicial branches. These opened new channelsof power and comie_ tition, accompanied emphasis.n western educationand by acquis i t i o n o f s k i l l s n e c e s s a r yb r n e w o c c u p a t i o n sn r a w , a d m i n i s i r a f i t i o n , a n d e d u c a t i o n .T h e i n t r o d u c t i o no f m u n i c i p a r a n d district c o u n c i l s c r e a t e do t h e r a r e a so f c o m p e t i t i o n ,w i t h s e a t sf i l l e d init i a l l y t h r o u g h p a t r o n a g ea n d l a t e r b y e l e c t i o n . T h e B r i t i s h used t h e s e i n s t i t u t i o n s ,a n d r e l a t e d m e a n s o f i n f l u e n c e s u c h as the g r a n t s , h o n o r s a n d p u b l i c c e r e m o n y ,t o d e v e l o p s u p p o r t groups u s e f u li n r u l i n g t h e p r o v i n c e . 6 The Punjab authoritiessoon came to see Sikhs as an important part of their coloniar strategy. sikhs were major recruits ior the army, provided stability in villages throughoutcentral punjab, and helped meet revenuedemandsby industriousagricurturalactivities. Assuming the centrality of religion for the Sikh population, offi_ cials carefully supervised administration holy placis, most notaof bly the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and gave numerousgrants to

INDIA IN 196 I RELIGION MODERN insuretheloyaltyoftraditionalSikhleaders.Britishofficersheaded named key officials' and in general' promonag"ment'committees, for the raj'1 videisupport and finances to buttress Sikh sympathy . TherapidspreadofChristianmissionaryactivitiesassociated the mosaic of with British rule also introduceda new element in Prior to the 1857 mutiny' the government Punjab religious patterns. Although the offiwit-trthe evangelicalmissionaries' op"nly slAJa the proselytizing cial linkage diminished thereafter,tacit support fbr grantsand specialadvantages' efforts continuedthrougheducational transplanted convertingPunjabis'missionaries Besidesaggressively concepts along with more effective means of western religious press' tract literature' communicating their message'The printing were disruptand Western models for organizationand propaganda just to attack Chrising elementsquickly adaptedby Punjabis'not tians, but each other.E penetration of One of the most significantconsequences British and their involveclchangesin the ways Punjabisviewed themselves political values traditions.Western social, religious' economic' and region' Individuals helped foster a new intellectualclimate in the and t a n d s e c t s r e - e v a l u a t e dh e i r h i s t o r y , c u r r e n t c i r c u m s t a n c e s ' agenda'In and strategyfor survival in terms of foreign categories of religion, for example, how missionariesand teachers questi"ons theologicalconapproachedmatterssuch as the analysisof texts' the debates clptr, ona the interactionof scienceand belief' shaped print culture had reu - o n g P u n j a b i s a n d w i t h i n s e c t s 'T h e n e w and openedup new methodsof communication structureddiscourse j o u r n a l i s m , t h e f o s t a l s e r v i c e 'a n d i m p r o v e d s y s t e m so f such as of ideas.By transportltion,which faciiitatedthe rapid transmission Punjab and in I 883, there were over a hundredprinting presses the Newspapers over five thousandbooks and tracts printed annually. printed material a n d j o u r n a l s a p p e a r e di n n u m e r o u st o w n s ' ' T h e stimulated,andsimultaneously,providednewpossibilitiesforselfpursuitsbrought together examinationand debate.These intellectual Western litEuropeanrationalismand Indian traditions'and mixed erary styles with local motifs, symbols,and concerns'r" such as The resulting cultural upheaval in key Punjab towns' 1860s onward' Amritsar and Lahore, affected the Sikhs from the by instruction Despite primary educationin gurdwara schools or frorntocalteachers,anemergingSikhintelligentsiabegantostudy discussingreligious and Western subjectsand joined associations

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social issues.In Lahore, for example, Sikhs were membersof G.W. Leitncr's orientalist Anjuman-i-Punjab,where they became skilled at literary criticism and debateover historical issues.One particularly prominent Sikh, Gurmukh Singh helped foster Sikh concerns about Punjabi literature and eventually taught the subject at the Lahore Oriental College.'r The introductionof the Arya Samaj in 1875 seemedto open up new vistas for reform and modernization. Some Sikhs sympathized with the energeticArya emphasison personal growth and simplified rituals. For a decadethey gave limited support to it before severing bonds in responseto Hindu aspersions on Sikhs traditionsand the Gurus.12 The atmosphereof critically examining theology and current practices reinforced the tendency of some Sikhs to question the w m i x t u r e o f t r a d i t i o n sa n d s u b - t r a d i t i o n s i t h i n t h e i r c o m m u n i t y . Differences between the Gurus' teachingsand contemporarypatterns were obvious, as was a felt need to revitalize and define Sikhism. These activists built on recent efforts to reform and refine Sikhism. Years earlier, for example,the Nirankari sect, descended from the followers of Baba Dyal Singh (1199-1862), opposed worship of Hindu icons and called for a simple messageof devotion and distinctly Sikh rituals.13 Similarly, the Namdharisor Kuka sect, founded by Bhai Balak Singh (1799-1862), were instructed to avoid marriage expenses and dowry, to reject meat, wine, and tobacco,and to lead moral lives. Under Balak Singh's successor, R a m S i n g h ( 1 8 1 6 - 1 8 8 4 ) ,t h e K u k a s b e c a m e m o r e m i l i t a n t a n d challengedBritish authority. Overturning the custom of worshipping at local shrinesand trying to protect the cow, the Kukas ran afoul of the governmentand were dispersed forcibly.'a The Kuka uprisingsin the late 1860sand continuedmissionary successin coverting Sikh studentsand ruling chiefs set the stage lor the creation of a new association 1873, the Amritsar Singh in Sabha.Unintendedby its founders,that Sabha and its successors were to inauguratea dynamic phase in the history of Sikhism that rcsolvedmany pressingissuesof Sikh identity and conflicting cusloms.

Divergent Perspectives within the Singh Sabha Movement On October I, 1873, Sikhs from Amritsar and surrounding .rreas formed the Amritsar Sinsh Sabha. The Sabha's mission

INDIA IN I98 / RELIGION MODERN of included propagation "true" Sikh religion, publishing periodicals the spread of Punjabi, editing and circulating and encouraging historical and religious books, developingsupport from well-wishF e r s ( m o s t n o t a b l y , t h e B r i t i s h ) , a n d e d u c a t i o n . 1 5i v e y e a r s l a t e r , Singh Sabha was formed in Lahore. By 1900 there were another approximately a hundred similar associationsin the Punjab and The neighbouringareas.16 spreadof the sabhaswas uneven,decentralized, and often the product of personalinterestsor ideological d i s p u t e s .T h e F e r o z e p u rS i n g h S a b h a , f o r e x a m p l e , e m p h a s i z e d scholarly research,female education,and improving of home life of because the influenceof Bhai Takht Singh, a regional leaderfor almost four decades.To the north in Tarn Taran, Bhai Mohan Singh Vaid's concern with health, the sanctity of shrines,and defense of Sikhism through tract literature,set the tone and program of the local group. In Bhasaur,Babu Teja Singh's efforts to prune Sikh doctrine and ritual from any hint of Hindu influence led to a and social experiments.rT resolutions, string of dramatic meetings, Two major constellations uncomfortably co-existed in the Singh Sabha universe.The founding Amritsar Sabha was led by a group of traditional leadersthat included gyanis, bhais and aristoKhem Singh men, such as Thakur Singh Sandhawalia, crats.ttThese Bedi and his son GurbakshSingh, and Kanwar Bikram Singh, had suffered some financial loss becauseof British conquest and felt increasingly under attack from the West and missionaries.They network of followers and resourcesto spread used an established Western education, love for Punjabi, preservation of historical S d o c u m e n t s ,a n d g e n e r a l l yt r i e d t o s t r e n g t h e n i k h i s m i n l i g h t o f new cultural challenges. As "sanatan Sikhs," however, the Amritsar following recognized the diversity of traditions within the contemporarySikhism and championedthe primacy of custom in providing answersas to who were Sikhs and their beliefs. Anyone acceptingthe teachings of Guru Nanak, from their viewpoint, was a Sikh, despiteany dec i s i o n o n m a i n t a i n i n gt h e f i v e K s , w o r s h i p o f r e g i o n a l s a i n t so r for deities,or social practice.A major theme in their discourse, example, was the danger to Sikhism posed by disregarding,custom and pollution through indiscriminate marriage alliances. Descendants of the Gurus were held in high repute, provided with cushions in worship services,and in general treated with reverence al"living" Gurus. Existing divisions among Sikhs most approximating

THE SINGH SABHAS

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were recognized and considered legitimate. Ildasis, followers of Guru Nanak who often dressed as Hindu mendicants and supervised central Sikh shrines,deservedrespect.Sahajdhari Sikhs were portrayed as "slow learners" within the Sikh tradition, who some day might undergo formal baptism and with it, the discipline, the rahit maintained by the bearded amritdharis. Those who accepted the outward symbols and conduct associatedwith Guru Gobind Singh were applauded, but were not seen as superior to other Sik}rs.re Sikhs associated with rhe Lahore Singh Sabhahad a quite different perspective on Sikhism. Drawn from various classes and castes,including aristocrats, lawyers, teachers, publicists,businessrnen, and officials,,the Lahore group was joined primarily not by economicor occupational interestsbut instead,by a sharedexperience in Anglo-vernacular educationand participationin intellectual debate in Lahore, the center of the new school system and the emerging print culture. Aware of Westerncriticism and the apparent vulnerability of a Sikh faith that containedcontradictionsand f'ew, if any, demarcated boundaries, they sought to presenta set of coherent principles and actions that would be adopted by most Sikhs. Their vision of a rejuvenated Sikh tradition came to be known as "Tat Khalsa", that is, a "true" Sikhism strippedof popular custom and clearly separate from Hinduism. As Harjot Oberoi's det'initive work on the Singh Sabha tradition has demonstrated, the Tat Khalsa made three core doctrines-Guru, Granth and Gurdwara -the test for authenticSikhism. As in the case of the Arya Samaj, which used Vedic teachings legitimize their program, the Lahore to activistschampioneda fiesh emphasis the teachings on and lives of the Gurus as models for religion and definable identity. Only God rrnd his ten messengers should receive particularrespect,not their rlescendants self-styledleaderswho claimed special knowledge. or Sirnilarly, only the Adi Granth and not other writings often accorded honor, such as the Dasam Granth of Guru Gobind Singh, ihould be seen as the source of theology and authority. Since the Oranth could not be housedin a spacepolluted by idols or licenlious activity, the Tat Khalsa emphasized a cleansing of (iurudwaras and the control of all sacred spots and shrines by Sikhs who shared a common commitment to rituals devoid of Ilrahmanical and Hindu influence.2(r Such a worldview also influ-

IN INDTA 2OO/ RELIGION MODERN enced the tone and direction of intellectual debate. Historical research and theological self-examination was to be encouraged,but only if such activities supportedthe principal tenetsof Tat Khalsa Sikhs.2l The Lahore and Amritsar Singh Sabhasoccasionallyattempted conciliation, but becauseof the divergenceof their views and a much of Sikh public life in the last seriesof heatedconfrontations, three decadesof the century was dominatedby internecinesquabbles. Sikhs fought in the press,in meetings,and in the courts. An attack might appear in a local paper or tract and then stir controversy and even a civil suit. In 1887, for example,a leading Tat Khalsa pubthe major Amritsar leadersin a lightly licist, Ditt Singh, lampooned such as one disguised play, Svapan Natak. Offensive passages, refering to a descendantof Guru Nanak as a pretentious "guru of Satan," resulted in a slander case that left wounds which festered Any topic or issue could become a battleground.One for years.22 favorite tactic was to tar opponents with the brush of "sedition" so that official patronagewould be withdrawn. The Amritsar Singh Sabha was the target of such a tactic in the 1880s when the efforts of the deposedson of Ranjit Singh, MaharajahDhuleep Singh, to return to the Punjab createdan explosivesituation.The location of the first Sikh instituteof higher education,Khalsa College, generated similar excitement,as did the proposal in 1897 to light the Golden Temple with electricity.23 The most hotly contested argument within the Singh Sabha movement was whether Sikhs were "Hindu." Sanatanistssaw Sikhism as an offshoot of a broadly defined "Hinduism." The Vedas and Hindu epics were judged to be important in understandw a ing the human predicament nd one's relationship ith God, although the Gurus' teachings,especially the Adi Granth, were to be given highest respect. Examples from the Granth and accompanying literature were used to "prove" that the Gurus had no intention of separatingSikhs from their Hindu roots or from revered Hindu gods and scriptures.Distinct social and ritual boundarieshad not been prescribed by the Gurus but were subsequentadditions to Arya the tradition. Therefore, they did not have to be honored.2a of Samajistssupportedthese views, criticizing the assumptions the group and ridiculing their scholarship. The tract warLahore-based fare over the issue was heated and prolonged.25 "Ham Hindu Nahin" (We are not Hindu) becamethe battle crv

THE SINCH SABHAS

2OI

of the Tat Khalsa Sikhs.26 They publishedat least a hundred tracts rrndbooks on the subject.Quotes from the scripturesand historical analyseswere used to combat what was seen as the most dangerous threat to Sikh survival. The Tat Khalsa raised the flag of "Sikhism in danger" and fought their opponentsat every turn. The divisions among Sikh associations ere not limited to w ideology. Most of the sabhashad their own agenda,and personal projects and conflicts surtacedfrequently regarding where confercnces would be held or the degree of respectto be shown to particular individuals. In addition, the race for control of institutions a n d h o n o r w a s c o m p l i c a t e db y t h e r e g i o n a l o r i e n t a t i o no f S i k h leaders.CompetitionbetweenSikhs from the Malwa and Majha regions was fiequent and bitter.rT Despite the time and resources devoted to such controversies, the Singh Sabhasdid manageto develop a broad network of new i n s t i t u t i o n sa n d p r o j e c t s .B y 1 9 0 0 , o r p h a n a g e sa s y s t e m o f S i k h , schools, institutionsfor training preachersand granthis, and other self-strengthening effbrts garneredbroad support from Sikhs in the Punjab and especially from migrant communities abroad.2E the In process,the Tat Khalsa interpretation Sikh history and religion of increasingly came to be viewed as legitimateby both Sikhs and the government.How this was accomplished deserves separate consideratron.

Ascendancy of the Tat Khalsa in Sikh Affairs The Sikhs identifyingwith the Tat Khalsa tradition defined Sikhism in terms of a theology separatefrom Hinduism, purified rituals, and distinct norms of behavior.Social and cultural boundaries had to be demarcated successfully in three separate, but sometimestangled, spheres.First, the Tat Khalsa messagehad to reach the Sikh population and be recognized as legitimate. This rneant confrontation with Sikh opponents, who had conflicting views and could draw upon time-honorednetworks of patronage and support.The Tat Khalsa and SanatanSikhs were engagedin a struggleto determinewho would control community resources and attain a place of authority. Secondly,the Sikh activistshad to delend themselvesand their institutionsagainstexternal attack, particularly that of the Arya Samajists ho allied occasionally ith w w sy'mpatheticSikhs. Finally, the program centering around the

INDIA IN 202 / RELIGION MODERN Lahore Singh Sabha had to be acceptedand supportedby the primary patronsin the Punjab political system,the British rulers. The governmentwas somewhatambivalenttoward encouragingthe resurgenceof Sikhism, but no matter what its strategy,official perceptionsand policies tended to be sympatheticto the maintenance The Tat Khalsa had to from Hinduism.?' of symbols and separation supportsuch as Srantsand recogniconvert that attitudeinto active tion of Sikh claims in legislativeand political arenas. The successof the Lahore group in meeting these challenges was due in large part to the zeal, sacrifice,and oratoricalability of i t s l e a d e r s h i p .M a n y e x c e p t i o n a li n d i v i d u a l s r a l l i e d t o t h e T a t Khalsa cause and, in doing so, have been recognizedas heroesby t a t h e i r c o n t e m p o r a r i e s n d b y s u b s e q u e nh i s t o r i a n s 'T w o d r i v i n g G u r m u k h S i n g h a n d D i t t S i n g h , b e c a m ea l m o s t forcesin Lahore, l e g e n d a r yf o r t h e i r p u b l i c s e r v i c e .W r i t i n g b o o k s a n d p u b l i s h i n g papers,they organizedmeetings,roamed acrossthe Punjab encourl a g i n g f r i e n d s a n d r e p e l l i n g a t t a c k s ,a n d s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a i d t h e Singh Sabhas groundwork fbr the creation of new organizations.r" generally had one or more such individuals who provided continuity, money, and spirit. For example,Bhai Takht Singh of Ferozepur who becameknown as the z.indashahid, the "living martyr", committed his life to female education.At one point, he left home on a world-wide tour and retusedto return until he had collectedsufficient funds to maintain his school for girls at Ferozepur.Takht Singh succeededafter six hard and often desperate months of s T t r a v e l . 3 r h e p o w e r f u l p r e s e n c ea n d s i n g l e - m i n d e d n e so f B a b u Overseerwas unmatched.The founder of the Bhasaur Teja Singh Singh Sabhaand later the Panch Khalsa Diwan, Teja Singh had the courage and willingness to give and receive abuse,which became The part of the folklore of the Singh Sabhamovement.32 list could go on to include dozensof talentedindividuals who, althoughdisagreeingon specificpoints, were held togetherby a commitmentto of a resurrection Sikhism in the Tat Khalsa image. Without such devoted Sikhs, the Singh Sabha messagewould have not taken root. At the same time, however, these individuals also were adroit at controlling the centersof powers and the netthat affecteddaily Sikh life. Whetherarisworks of communication or tocrat, businessman, official, they sharedcommon experiences and acquired new skills vital to their mission.The spreadof modern means of communicationpermittedcoordinationand continuity

THE STNGH SABHAS I 2O3 over time and space.The postal service, for example, facilitated regular contact.The diaries and correspondence prominent Tat of K h a l s a a d v o c a t e ss u c h a s M o h a n S i n g h V a i d , T a k h t S i n g h , a n d , Teja Singh Bhasaur,suggestthe importanceof the rnails in planning.33 The expansionof the railroad meant that leaderscould meet p e r s o n a l l yi n p r i v a t e g a t h e r i n g s r p u b l i c s e s s i o n sS u c h i n n o v a o . t i o n s a l s o f u r n i s h e dt h e b a c k d r o pf o r m a n y o f t h e n e w e x p e r i ments and organizedpublicity efforts of the Tat Khalsa. The Tat Khalsa createdand then dominatedthe rapidly evolvi n g c o m m u n i c a t i o n a c i l i t i e s l i n k i n g S i k h s t h r o u g h o u tt h e w o r l d . f Secretaries the Singh Sabhascirculatedannual reports and resoof l u t i o n s t h r o u g h t h e m a i l a n d t h e c e n t r a lb o d y i n L a h o r e h e l p e d publish local proceedings. The correspondent system was complemented by the circulationof preachingteamsand jatha-s,groups of Sikhs (often with a granthi and singers)who traveledwidely to encourage baptism, adoptionof outward symbols, and an end to mennrat ("un-Sikh") practices (such as the worship of local saints).3a The Tat Khalsa missionaryefforts followed the railroad l i n e s . A s s o o n a s t h e r a i l w a y e x p a n d e dp r e a c h e r s i s i t e d t h e d i s , v p e r s e d S i k h s a n d t r i e d t o i n f l u e n c et h e i r a c t i o n s . 1F e s t i v a l sa n d 5 meetingsalso becarne routinized.Sabhassponsored annual diwans, r n u l t i - d a yo c c a s i o n s h a t b r o u g h t t o g e t h e rl o c a l S i k h s a s w e l l a s t z e a l o t sf r o m o u t s i d e .T h e l a r g e r r e g i o n a la n d p r o v i n c i a l c o n f e r ences could attract as many as several thousandSikhs. Moreover, the regular celebrations the various gurpurabs (birth and death of anniversaries the Gurus) and relatedeventsin Sikh history were of p o p u l a r i z e d .S u c h a c t i v i t i e s p r o v i d e d t h e c h a n c e f b r d i s c u s s i o n , w o r s h i p , r a i s i n g f u n d s , a n d , i n g e n e r a l , c o n s o l i d a t i n gt h e T a t Khalsa position.16 S c h o o l s ,t o o , w e r e a n e s s e n t i a l l e m e n t i n t h e S i n g h S a b h a e program. Not only did Khalsa educationalinstitutionsequip Sikhs t o c o m p e t e s u c c e s s f u l l yi n t h e n e w o c c u p a t i o n s , u t t h e y a l s o b served to strengthenSikh identity. Mixing Western subject with the study of Punjabi and religious traditions,teachers were able to influence generations upwardly mobile students. of Foundedin 1g94, the Khalsa College at Amritsar becamea Tat Khalsa bastion.3T Although Sanatanists wrote tracts and published newspapers, both of those important ingredients of modern communication tended to be controlledby Sikhs of the Tat Khalsa persuasion. As in the case of the Christian,Arya Samaj, and Muslim missionary

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204 / RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA efforts, Sikhs produced an increasingnumber of small tracts and religious books. Founded in 1894, the Khalsa Tract Society published didactic and polemicalpamphletsregularly.Individuals often specialized that meansof disseminating in ideas,such as Ditt Singh and Mohan Singh Vaid who wrote over two hundred books and tracts.38 One variety of tract containedreligious scripture and sermons, often with emphasison an issue such as the non-Hindu nature of Sikhism. Another related set of pamphletsdescribed incidents or told storiesthat illustratedthe victory of Tat Khalsa arguments. A third popular type called for support of associations a or project. Appeals or benati were accepted elementsof Sikh life and could generatesubstantialcontributions.Finally, the polemic provided entertainment and contributedto literary exchanges that can only be describedas tract warfare.re While production of tracts was impressive,the evolving Sikh communication system revolved around an assortmentof journals and papers.Many were short-lived,but the newspapers that began to appearwith regularityfrom the 1880sonward reachedmore and more Sikhs. The Khalsa Akhbar, founded in 1883 and surviving until 1904, served as a basefor the Tat Khalsa. Many other papers championedspecific causesor aimed at particular audiencessuch as the Punjabi Bhain (Ferozepur,on domestic life and female education) and periodicals for one segment of the community, the Ramgarhias.() Approximately fifty Sikh newspapers and journals were published prior to 1900. Most served several related functions. First, the publicationscirculatednews on eventsand activities of institutions and individuals.In addition, newspapers offered an accepted channel for benati, appeal for aid. IncreasinglySikhs were called on to provide money for schools,societies, and specialevents.The papersalso servedas score-cards, routinely publishingaccountsand l i s t s o f d o n o r s .B e s i d e sp r o v i d i n g a c c o u n t a b i l i t y o r f u n d s s p e n t , f these reports celebratedpublic service and good deeds, key fundraising elements in a society where pride and honor were valued highly. The accountsalso kept record of how well particular Tat K h a l s a a c t i v i t i e sw e r e p r o g r e s s i n gs u c h a s t h e n u m b e r o f S i k h s , who had sopped smoking or quit cutting their hair.arFinally, journalism helped mobilize specific groups or the community as a whole on issuesand, in general,disseminated consistent a image of past eventsand current dangersfacing Sikhism.

THE SINGH SABHAS I 205 This diverse network for disseminating information and generating support strengthenedthe Tat Khalsa position among Sikhs. Dozens of meetings and large conferenceswere held each year and by 1900, over eighty Singh Sabhassympatheticto Ditt Singh and his colleagueswere active throughoutIndia. Tracts and newspapers applaudedvictory after victory, ranging from the scatS t e r e d c o n v e r s i o no f M u s l i m a n d a p o s t a t e i k h s t o d r a m a t i c i n c i dents such as occurredin Bakapur on June l3-14, 1903.At a large and diwan, Tat Khalsa leadersfiom all over the Punjab assembled gave baptism to 35 Muslims and sahajdhari Sikhs. Many of the convertsbecameprominentin Sikh education,religious debate,and Special committees produced the gurdwara reform movement.a2 " a u t h e n t i c " v e r s i o n s o f h i s t o r i c a l m a t e r i a l ,c o m m e n t a r i e s n t h e o Granth, and even went so far as to judge the validity of books The mounting pressure for reforms and tracts publishedby others.ar and an end to Hindu practicesled to public meetings,petitionsfor official holidays celebratingthe birthdaysof Guru Nanak and Guru l G o b i n d S i n g h , a n d s u c c e s s f u m i s s i o n a r ya c t i v i t i e s i n t o w n s a n d villages. Even foreign collaborators supported the Lahore Singh o S a b h a ' sc o n t e n t i o n sa b o u t t h e u n i q u e n e s s f S i k h t r a d i t i o n . T h e most notableexamplewas Max Arthur Macauliffe, a fbrmer British civil servantwho retired and devotedhis life to translatingand interpretingearly Sikh documents.His multi-volume work, The Sikh Religion, Its Gurus, Sacred Writing and Authors (Oxford Univerw s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 0 9 ) w a s p r e p a r e di n c l o s e a s s o c i a t i o n i t h S i n g h Sabha scholars such as Kahan Singh Nabha, and remains one of English languagestatements the Tat Khalsa of the most substantial view of their Sikh heritage.4 Despite the intensity and volume of such activities,the Lahore Singh Sabhaand its affiliates had not managedto supplantthe entrenched group of Sanatan Sikhs who controlled shrines and claimed to be the legitimate leadersof the community. The fights The struggleover locawere long, bitter, and usually inconclusive. tion of Khalsa College, for example, was won by the Amritsar Singh Sabha although the better educatedLahore Sikhs came to Intelligent and articulatededominatethe faculty and curriculum.as fenders of the Sanatanviews organized their own newspapersand joined in exchange of tracts. Most notable was Avtar Singh Vahiria, the author of influential guides to Sikh history and practice. He argued in voluminous and well documented books that

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RELIGION IN MODERN INDIA THE SINGH .SABHAS / 207

s i k h i s m w a s a n o u t g r o w t ho f H i n d u i s m a n d s h o u l d m a i n t a i n its roots within that religion. The Tat Kharsa innovationswere recenr a d d i t i o n s ,h e c l a i m e d , a n d a r t i f i c i a i l y s e p a r a t i n g h e t w o f a i t h s t meant confusion in rituar, inappropriate ites, and unnecessary r 'rhe schisms.a6 vehemence the attackson the Lahore leadersacof celeratedby the late 1890salso suggests their growing power and influence.Battles continued,but in terms of numbersani the abirity to control the center of Sikh news and communication, the Tat Khalsa were beginning to shape the wide range of Singh Sabha activities. A l s o a c c e l e r a t i n g e r e c o n f i o n t a t i o n sw i t h t h e A r y a S a m a j . w B o t h t h e S i n g h S a b h a sa n d t h e S a m a j l a u n c h e da c a m p a i g n of shuddhi (purification and conversionceremonies) after 1g90.Arvas o p e n l y c o n v e r t e dS i k h s a n d c u t t h e i r h a i r i n p u b l i c . r n e sittr s h u d d h i s a b h a i n L a h o r e c o u n t e r e db y h a v i n g M u s l i m s and low c a s t e S i k h s u n d e r g op u r i f i c a t i o n ,r e c e i v e b a p t i s m ,a n d t h e n have social relationswith Singh Sabha members.''rhe controversies raged, as did the tract warfare. The titles of typical tracts of the period suggest the tone and content of the works: "a mouthbreakingreply," "the exposureof haughtiness": crushing "a blow," "a real photo of the stupidity of Dayanancl," and ..as the-face, so the slap, or a face-breaking repry."rH colroquial Hindi and puniabi are storehouses insult and derogatoryterms and opponents of used them freely to attack sacred scriptures,readers,and positions. As t e n s i o n sm o u n t e d ,t h e m o m e n t u mc l e a r l y w a s o n t h e s i d e of the Lahore Sikhs. They managedto sharpen the lines between Sikhs a n d H i n d u s a n d , i n d o i n g s o , p r o v o k e d s u c h o p Q r ra t t a c k s on Sikhism that the Arya tracts probabry injured the position of their p r o - H i n d ua l l i e s . Tat Khalsa successwith the governmentwas also mixed, although there too the Lahore singh sabha tendetrto have high visibility and garnered supporr regularry.The British had reiiforced the legitimacy of the kesdhari Sikhs through military recruitment policy. Only Sikhs with the five Ks could join the army and part of their initiation was baptism and a pledge to maintain .,orihodox" practices. western officers encouragedthe cerebration of sikh holidays and, in general, tried to ensure the happinessand loyalty of their men.aeThe punjab government was quite aware of thl growing tension among Sikhs and tried whenever possible to steer clear of controversy. However, pafionage continued to be given to

key institutions such as Khalsa College and schools affiliated with local Singh Sabhas. a few instances, district officers also sympaIn thized with the Tat Khalsa campaignsto end misuse of gurdwara and to remove offensive symbols and arl'undsby Udasi managers t i f a c t s f r o m t h e v i c i n i t y o f s h r i n e s . 5 " i m i l a r l y , t h e p r o v i n c i a la n d S central governmentscooperatedin providing limited funds for the publicationefforts of Macauliffe and his Sikh friends.Assistingthe Singh Sabhapublishingproject was viewed by the British as a necessary corrective to a former act, arrangingfor Trumpp's translation of the Adi Granth in the 1870s. Trumpp had claimed that S i k h s w e r e H i n d u s a n d m a d e n u m e r o u ss c u r r i l o u sr e m a r k s a b o u t the Gurus and their teachings.Macauliffe's volumes were seen as r e s t o r i n g S i k h h o n o r a n d t r a d i t i o n d a m a g e db y t h e e a r l i e r work.51 By the end of the nineteenthcentury, Sikhs stood once again was at a critical juncture. Acceptanceof the Tat Khalsa tnessage d . b s p r e a d i n g u t a s y e t h a d n o t b e e n i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z ec o m p l e t e l yN u merous institutions had been created,but funding and administration often were haphazardand lacked coordination. A surge of energy and resourceswas evident, but so were persistentpatterns , h o f d i v i s i o n ,c o m p e t i t i o na n d c o n f l i c t .T h e S i n g h S a b h a s a d r a i s e d the cry of "Sikhism in danger" and highlightedthe many problems f a c i n g t h e c o m m u n i t y , b u t s o l u t i o n ss t i l l h a d t o b e w o r k e d o u t . W i t h o u t u n i f i c a t i o n a n d f o c u s , a s e d i t o r i a l si n S i k h n e w s p a p e r s noted, Sikhism still remainedvulnerableto both externaland internal threats.s2 The Chief Khalsa Diwan's Contribution to the Sikh Revival, 1903-1919 t l I n N o v e m b e ro f 1 9 0 , a m e e t i n go f p r o r n i n e n S i k h s d i s c u s s e d the need for a central body to coordinateand lead the Singh Sabha movement. Many of the earlier generationof leadershad died or passedon their mantles,thus making it easierto bind old wounds a and deal with problemsplaguing the Sikhs. Officially inaugurated year later, the Chief Khalsa Diwan began with a handful of affiliated Sabhasand by 1919, had over a hundred member institutions. During that period, the organizationwas involved in a spectrumof as old and new projectsand becameacknowledged the major voice for Sikhs.53

208 / RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA The CKD had a formal constitution, amendedfrequently, and a complex set of committeesand procedures. aims included pro_ Its moting the welfare of the Khalsa panth, spreadinggurbani or the teachingsof the Gurus, disseminating information on tradition and current issues, and safeguardingthe political rights of Sikhs. Be_ h i n d t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n , o w e v e r ,w a s i n p u t f r o m t h e m o s t a c t i v e h s a b h a s ,w h o s e l e a d e r s ,s u c h a s V i r S i n g h , M o h a n S i n g h V a i d , Takht Singh, and Teja Singh Bhasaur,participatedactively at one time or another.SundarSingh Majithia, a Sikh aristocratlong identified with the Lahore Singh Sabha, served as secretaryand also helped guide Khalsa College.5a C K D d e c i s i o n si n v o l v e d b o t h a s y s t e m o f c o n s u l t a t i o nw i t h m e m b e r a s s o c i a t i o n a n d a p a t t e r no f p r i v a t e d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g y s b twenty or so aristocrats and membersof westernprofessions. often q u e s t i o n sw o u l d b e c i r c u l a t e d i n j o u r n a l s a n d t r a c t s a n d t h e n d e c i s i o n sp u b l i c i z e do n a s p e c i f i c i s s u e ,s u c h a s w h e t h e r i t w a s appropriateto open the Adi Granth in public meetings.55 More con_ troversial decisions tended to be reachedin private or sometimes avoided totally if circumstances warranted. The Financecommittee tended to dominate both the public and private proceedings, insisting on full accountabilityfbr all CKD operarions. The goals and strategies the Diwan changecl light of im_ of in mediate or long-term problems. On the whole, its main function was the coordinationof sikh public activitiesand the building of a common base on which many, if not all, Sikhs might agree. This w a s i l l u s t r a t e d b y a n e d i t o r i a l t h a t p o r t r a y e d S i n g h S a b h a sa s s t o n e sf i l l e d w i t h b i t s a n d p i e c e s o f m a t e r i a l .l a c k i n g s t r e n g t h . Only if the elementswere fused could Sikhs move fbrward and be strong like iron. The CKD role was to try and assist cooperation, to pull togetherand lbcus efforts.56 T h i s t a s k i n v o l v e d i n s u r i n g t h e f i s c a l s t a b i l i t yo f S i k h e n t e r prises with a growing systemof checksand balances. nce ac_ O counts and reports were issued regularly,however, the Diwan turned to the more complex task of developing human resources. It elaborated the existingpracticeof sendingout teamsand preache r s , t r a i n i n g p e r s o n n e li n p r e a c h i n g ,s i n g i n g , a n d p u b l i c i t y . O u t reach was also enhanced more attentionto schedulinglocal and by regional meetings,with the result that attendance rose dramatically. Some conferences and diwans had as many as 4,000 - 8,000 Sikhs in attendance.JT

THE SINGH SABHAS

2O9

Concern with panthic resourceshelped generatenew initiaa t i v e s i n s t u d y i n gh i s t o r i c a ld o c u m e n t s n d p u b l i s h i n g" a u t h e n t i c " material. Committeesreviewed books and issuedcorrections,questo tioning references mythology and any link with "non-Sikh" custom. While encouragingdebate, the CKD urged that the duty of Sikhs "in days of transition" was the preparation of "standard books and references"based solely on the teachingsof the Guru Granth Sahib.58 Appreciating the importance of influencing communications the flow of information by imamong Sikhs, the CKD regularized and publishing more literature. proving links betweenorganizations Two newspapers- the Khalsa Samachar in Gurmukhi and the and asKhalsa Advocate in English - became its spokespersons The inpublic awareness. sistedin spreadingnews and heightening fluence of these and related journals was significant. Individuals read material aloud in villages and copiescirculatedwidely among students, the army, and emigrant groups throughout the world. Moreover, the Khalsa Tract Society expanded its operation and committedto influencing soon was joined by severalother societies Sikhs in areassuch as theology,ritual, and social observance.se The CKD mission of unifying Sikhs and putting self'-strengthcreating more instiening projectson a sound footing necessitated t u t i o n s . B e s i d e sp r o v i d i n g a i d t o o l d S i n g h S a b h a sa n d h e l p i n g a f o r m n e w o n e s , t h e D i w a n b u i l t h o s p i t a l sa n d o r p h a n a g e s n d l a u n c h e da d r i v e t o e x p a n d S i k h e d u c a t i o n a li n s t i t u t i o n s .S o m e schools fed into the regular educationalsystem, ending with high school or college degrees.Others such as the updeshak (preachertraining) school at Gharjakh and the girls schools at Ferozepur preparedSikhs fbr other tasks. The Sikh EducationalConference, first held in 1908, became an annual affair that brought together issues,the spreadof educational of thousands Sikhs who discussed Punjabi and related matters. The meetings moved fiom place to p l a c e , t h u s f o c u s i n g a t t e n t i o no n l o c a l a c t i v i t i e s .T h e r e s o l u t i o n s and speechesusually dealt with history, religion, and current affairs. Besides raising money, the Conferencebecame a symbolic gatheringof Sikhs who sharedcommon viewpointsand goals'n) The CKD also tried to expand the breadth of the community and at the same time overcome factionalism and conflict' Diwan leaders sponsoredthe formation of the Khalsa Biradari in 1908, an organization committed to modifying Sikh attitude towards un-

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touchability. Low caste Sikhs such as Mazbhis, Rahtias and Ramdasishad been particulartargetsfor Christianand Arya Samaj conversionattempts.Disturbedby this potential loss in numbers,as well as by the inherentconflict betweencurrent social attitudesand the message equalityamong all Sikhs, the CKD and the Biradari of h a d s o m e s u c c e s si n i m p r o v i n g s o c i a l c o n d i t i o n s a n d o p e n i n g gurdwarasto Sikhs who were consideredby some to be polluted. A price was paid, however, becausethis evoked a sharp reaction t h a t i n c l u d e d b o y c o t t so f C K D a c t i v i t i e s a n d p u b l i c c o n f r o n t a tions.6l Painfully awarethat because f "our self-murdering olicy", o p Sikhs were their own worst enemies(Khalso Samachar,August 16, 1 9 0 5 ) ,t h e C K D s o u g h tt o e n d d i s p u t e sa n d r e s o l v e i n r e r n a lc o n f l i c t s . C o n c i l i a t i o n t e a m s a s s i s t e dw h e n g r o u p s o r a s s o c i a t i o n s f o u g h t o p e n l y .I n 1 9 1 7 ,f o r e x a m p l e , v e n t h e E d u c a t i o n aC o n f e r e l ence becamean inflammableissue when the site was moved from Montgomery to Lahore.('2 Differencesof opinion, rivalries, and affronts to "honor" consumedmuch of the Diwan's time and energy. The CKD used its publicity and influenceto institutionalize the a c c e p t a n c e f S i k h i s ma s a s e p a r a t ee l i g i o n w i t h i t s o w n r i t u a l s , o r t r a d i t i o n s ,a n d s e n s eo f i d e n t i t y . G e n e r a l l yp u r s u i n gp o l i c i e s t h a t would further demarcate oundaries nd removelingering Hindu b a influence,the Diwan's etlorts helped facilitate the removal of idols from the Golden Temple in I905 and sparkedsimilar criticism of Hindu accretionsin other local shrines.Another CKD victory, the 1 9 0 7 p a s s a g e f t h e A n a n d M a r r i a g eB i l l l e g i t i m i z i n ga d i s t i n c t o S i k h m a r r i a g e c e r e r n o n yd e v o i d o f H i n d u t r a p p i n g s , m a r k e d a h i g h p o i n t i n t h e c a m p a i g nt o s p r e a dS i k h h o l i d a y s , r i t u a l s , a n d daily practices.6r A l t h o u g h t h e T a t K h a l s a t r a d i t i o nb e c a m ei n c r e a s i n g l y o m i d nant in all Sikh institutionsexcept fbr the gurdwaras,which genera l l y r e m a i n e di n t h e h a n d so f S a n a t a nS i k h s o r U d a s i m a n a g e r s , the CKD did not consistently argue that the only "true Sikhs" were kesdhari or amritdhari (baptized) and that others such as sahajdharis were in fact Hindu. Given the diversity still existing among Sikhs, the Diwan took the positionthat those who worshippedin gurdwarasand accepted that Sikhism was a separate religion should be consideredpart of the larger Sikh community. Fully aware of the persistentminority status of Sikhs (approxirnately lJ-l3%o of the Punjab population)and also sensitiveto the

devotion of many of the sahajdharis, the Diwan tried to accommotlate and be tolerant of diversity as far as possible.This came out continualfyin newspaper storiesabout prominentsahajdhari Sikhs, s u c h a s H a r k i s h e nL a l , a s w e l l a s i n d i s c u s s i o n s f p r o c e d u r e s o rvithin the Diwan itself.s Although only kesdharl Sikhs could serve tln CKD committees,special arrangements were made for regular consultationwith other groups. Moreover, the Diwan resolvedthat sahajdharis could play a full role in gurdwara at'fairs and read the To Guru Granth Sahib in services.65 clear up misunderstandings, the official paper of the CKD, the Khalsa Advocate, noted that c v e n s h o r n S i k h s w e r e o n t h e p a t h o f r e l i g i o u s s e a r c h i n ga n d should be kept within lhe panth and made part of Sikhism (July 15, 1904). The CKD leadersdid have a long-term goal ofseeing a l l S i k h s m a i n t a i nc o m m o n r i t u a l s a n d s y m b o l s ,b u t t o l e r a t i o na n d openness were necessary. community interestrequired such an approach.In the past,sahajdharis, such as Sewa Ram Singh and Teja Singh, M.A., had eventually been baptizedand contributedgreatly to Sikhism.66 Others could do the same in the future. Accommodationand tolerancedid little to reconcileSikhs who insistedthat they were Hindu. Some attackedthe CKD in the press or openly sided with Hindus, such as GurbakshSingh Bedi, son of K h e m S i n g h B e d i , t h e h e a d o f t h e e a r l i e rA m r i t s a r S i n g h S a b h a . Gurbaksh Singh servedas the presidentof the Punjab Hindu Coqferencein 1910. On the basis of the public record, however, it appears that most Sikhs tentativelyapprovedof the Diwan's posture. A few individuals and organizationsdid adopt a narrow and inc r e a s i n g l y l i t e r a l i n t e r p r e t a t i o no f S i k h t r a d i t i o n . T e j a S i n g h for Bhasaur denouncedhis former colleagues, example,and set up and tried to rewrite Sikh tradition. a rival Panch Khalsa Parliament, and later imprisonedfor publishingand edition Although ostracized of the Adi Granth with one section, the ragmakt, excised, Teja in Singh persevered his claim that only amritdharis who followed his leadwere Sikhs.6? its For a decade,the Chief Khalsa Diwan consolidated position at and had remarkablesuccess fosteringSikh identity and strengthening institutions.From approximatelyl9l2 onward, however, the organizationcame under attack fiom different quarters.The expans i o n o f t h e e l e c t i v e p r i n c i p l e i n m u n i c i p a l c o m m i t t e e sa n d t h e Punjab legislativecouncil placed fresh emphasisupon numbersand, from the Sikh perspective,underlined their permanent minority sta-

IN INDIA 2I2 / RELICION MODERN tus. The Diwan had a policy of working closely with the governwas seen as vital to the ment becausecontinuedBritish assistance future of Sikhism. This seemed to be effective, as for example, in 1907 when the British respondedpositively to the orchestratedSikh agitation supportingthe Anand Marriage Bill. Similarly, the Diwan was able to have more Sikh holidays placed on the official calendar, Punjabi became legitimized in educational and bureaucratic circles, and turbans acceptedin the Indian Medical Service and in However, growing militancy among Sikh the London Inns of law.68 and British uncertainty about Sikh loyalty created rift students with the colonial power that led to expandedBritish control over Khalsa College and decisionsthat limited the influence of Singh Sabhamembersin Golden Temple management.6e The atmosphereof confrontation changedto renewed friendship in 1913 and 1914, when the CKD helped negotiateat least a temby porary settlementto the crisis generated British damage to the Rikabganjgurdwarain New Delhi. The Singh Sabha'sopen denunciation of terrorism and, particularly, the activities of returned Sikhs belonging to the banned Ghadar party (a U.S. revolutionary group) strengthened ties with the British. The First World War also Sikhs and the governmentcloser together,at least in the brought broadbasedSikh support for the early years. The CKD spearheaded war effort and aided in acceleratedrecruiting for the army.?" Although the Diwan continued to be seen by many Sikhs as authority in political and religious matters,its prominenceand an close association with the British increasedthe vulnerability of CKD leaders.The militants who had urged direct action againstthe governmentover alleged sacrilegeat Rikabganj produceda stream of tracts,againstthe Diwan's moderatepolicies and were aided by two new papers, the Panth Sewak and the Khalsa Akhbar.lt By and other wartime in1917, Sikh concern over recruiting excesses justices led the CKD to launch a publicity counter-attack.More frequently,however, the charge was made that the Diwan had aband engagedin "unpanthic" activities.T2 rogatedits responsibilities The keystoneof CKD political strategy,influencingBritish paagitation and personalcontacts,sped tronagethrough constitutional up the demise of its central place in Sikh affairs. Open elections had not worked for the Sikhs. With only an occasional representative elected to the legislature, frustration over future threats to the Sikh minority becameapparenteven in Khalsa Samachar editorials.

THE SINCH SABHAS / 2I3 The CKD attempted to assert Sikh rights becauseof their war efl'ort and loyal support for the government, but as a significant transfer of power loomed ahead after the war, the campaign to have one-third seatsreservedfor Sikhs foundered.The British were being pressuredfrom all directions and could not meet Sikh expectations.T3 The CKD's close associationwith the administrationof Lieutenant Governor Michael O'Dwyer also proved disastrous.His excessiveresponsesto disturbancesin the spring of l9l9 led to the notorious massacreat Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. The shootings also destroyed much of the CKD's prestige. Still clinging to a policy of toleration and dependence on British support, the Diwan criticized officials but in less than stringent terms and far too late from the perspectiveof most Punjabis.Ta The gurdwara reform agitation grew out of the ashes of Jallianwala Bagh. Distrust of the British was rampant and Sikhs felt the time was right to wrest control of their sacred shrines form the hands of the managers,who generally sided with the government and pro-Hindu interests.Earlier the CKD had attemptedto control the gurdwarasthrough negotiations,legal maneuvers,and public pressure.Now, losing ground rapidly, its leading members attempted to play a role in a new militant organization, the Central Sikh League, but there, too, they lost out to more zealous Sikhs bent on confrontation.T5 Since the Diwan opposed the tactic of direct action and possible law-breaking to protect Sikh interests,they came to be seenas haplessand ineffectivereligious leaders,out of step with contemporary needs of the community. In a short span of time, the organization that had been at the heart of the Sikh resurgence came to be pictured by its successors, Akalis, as a threat the to Sikhism.T6

The Gurdwara Campaigns and the Future of Sikhism The rapid eclipse of the CKD and its allies brought to an end four decades intensesoul-searching of and intellectualgrowth. The Tat Khalsa Sikhs had championedSikhism as a separatereligion with distinct rituals and other boundaries. Under the leadershipof the Diwan, that view becameprevalentamong Singh Sabhasand influenced the development of modern Sikh institutions. At the same time, the intellectual excitement and marked degree of literary activity constituted a high point in Sikh cultural history.

2I4

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2I.5

Because of the zeal of the movement and the evaluation of its communication network, Sikhs became more conscious of both had their historical roots and emerging threats.That consciousness continued until the present,as have the diwans, the conferences, the new festivals and holidays, tracts, and journalistic endeavors that remain important in Sikh public life. The Chief Khalsa Diwan influenced the direction and tone of much that was written and done. Although firmly committed to Sikh identity, the Diwan supported of the strengthening a separate negotiaan open exchangeof ideas, a processof accommodation, tion and compromisewherever possible,so that differencescould be resolved and disunity averted. This accounts for the organissuesand tending to be ization's sometimesavoiding controversial unspecific and vague when debating doctrines. There were limits to toleration, particularly in areas such as editing the scriptures ot questioning beliefs about the Gurus that were considered sacrosanct.But on the whole, the Diwan avoideddrawing lines finely or excluding those who wanted to be counted as members of the panth. Such an approachmeant that many doctrinal issues were not resolved.The Diwan, for example,worked hard to develop a cons e n s u so n a s e t o f r i t u a l s a n d p r a c t i c e sa p p l i c a b l et o S i k h s ' b u t prior to 1920, no definitive rahitnama was published.Similarly, the relationship between kesdhari and sahaidhari remained cloudy, although there was a general sense of each Sikh being able to contribute in his or her own way. Similarly, in the external political arena, the CKD pursued a strategy combining active defenseof Punjabi and other Sikh priorities with an ongoing effort to create linkages and collaboration judged necesszuy ensurethe Sikh minority's continuedaccessto to resources.Sikh identity, from the Diwan's perspective, did not mean disrespectfor others' views or creating Permanentdivisions possibly injurious at a future time. When the trust and mutual assistance that had charcterizedSikh-British relations broke down a quickly in light of the l9l9 disturbances nd the new reforms, however,the Diwan could not adapt quickly. Some leaderssuch as Sundar Singh Majithia remained active in the Punjab politics and tried to help Sikh interest through alliances with other Punjabis and occasionally, with the British. As an organization, however, the CKD tended to avoid politics and instead emphasizededucation of and the spiritual dimensions Sikhism.TT

Acting as a catalyst, the Diwan and the Singh Sabhas had helped createthe institutions, the identity, and the fervor associated with a revived Sikhism. With their task completed,they virtually disappearedfrom the scene.During the next decades,except for interest in the EducationalConferenceand Sikh schools,the Diwan becameinactive in public debate.Without such a forum for focusing debateand exchange ideas,the intellectuallife of Sikhs sufof t'ered.There were significant developmentsin literature, such as the w r i t i n g o f V i r S i n g h , a n d i n s c h o l a r s h i ps u c h a s K a h a n S i n g h ' s , rnonumental Gurushabad Ratnakar Mahan Kosh (Encyclopaediaof Sikh religion, history and literature, 1930), but, on the whole, the q u e s t i o n i n ga n d t h e s t i m u l a t i o no f t h e S i n g h S a b h a p e r i o d l a n guished. Only after Partition and the creation of new centers of scholarly and religious discoursehas there been an attempt to recapture the vitality and literary renaissanceassociatedwith the Singh Sabhas.78 The Akalis dominatedSikh lif'e during the 1920s,capturingthe attention and support of Sikhs everywherewith their heroic deeds a n d r o a r i n g c h a l l e n g e s . Tn a s e n s e ,t h e y c o m p l e t e dt h e w o r k o f Ie the Singh Sabhasby controlling the centersof Sikh power and orthodoxy, the shrines.The operationof the 1925 GurdwaraAct ens u r e d t h e a s c e n d a n c y f t h e A k a l i D a l a n d S h i r o m a n iG u r d w a r a o Parbandhak Comrnitteeand permanentTat Khalsa control of Sikh institutions.After the Akalis, there was little doubt as to who were Sikhs, what they wore, and how they worshipped.Without the earl i e r w o r k o f t h e S i n g h S a b h a s ,h o w e v e r ,t h e A k a l i s ' s u c c e s s f u l c o n f i o n t a t i o nw i t h t h e B r i t i s h w o u l d h a v e b e e n i m p o s s i b l e .T h e s p r e a d o f S i k h c o n s c i o u s n e sa n d t h e e x i s t e n c eo f a s i g n i f i c a n t s communication network helped the Akalis spread their message q u i c k l y a n d e f f e c t i v e l y .T h e S i n g h S a b h a ' sm e s s a g e f s a c r i f i c e o and martyrdom paved the way for the Akalis to assumeleadership of the community. Although the Akalis became seen as the legitimate leadersof the Sikhs, their attemptsto win new political rights met with the same frustrationsexperienced earlier.The world in which they operated placed more emphasison populationpercentages and transf'er of power to majority groups or broad-based alliances.Driven by Akali zeal and growing fear of Muslim politicians, Sikhs tended to identify more quickly with militant action and intolerancefor opponents,especially those within the community who counseled

IN 216 I RELICION MODERN INDIA toleration or compromise.Legislative debate and court cases became pivotal events in determining who was a Sikh. Distrusting H i n d u s a n d , a f r a i d e i t h e r o f A r y a o r M u s l i m d o m i n a n c e ,t h e kesdharisinsisted that virtually all aspectsof community life be led by "orthodox" Sikhs, that is, those who maintained the five Ks Despite their posturand ostensiblyfollowed set form of action.8" ing, however, issues such as authority within the panth and who could legitimately speak for all Sikhs still remained unresolved and, to some extent, have not been settledtoday. The awkward relationship between custom and a set of accepted practices, rahit, continuesas a sourceof contentionwithin the Sikh community in Indian and abroad.sl While the definition of Sikh tradition was worked out in many respectsby the Singh Sabhasand finally institutionalizedby the Akalis, somewherein the process,the creative interactionbetween the and politicians that characterized Sikh renaissance intellectuals again stands at crossroads.Disbecame dormant. Sikhism today unity and conflict are evident, as is a renewed senseof challenge and imminent danger. Perhaps a re-evaluationof the recent past and failures of the Singh of and a careful assessment the successes provide guidancefor Sikhs as they struggle Sabha movement can with the implicationsof Sikhism as an evolving world religion.

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Notes reporls, observaadministrative the in l. Viewsrepresented the Punjab Captainl\'ltrrray, tions on Sikhsby John Malcolm,Major Leech, "The of and the Dalhousie, especially assessment Max Macauliffe, Reand its Present Condition." Calcutta underBanda Sikh Religion introduction his to pp. 167-68. Also Trumpp's view, CXLY, 1881, of translation the Adi Granth(1877). is 2. The most recentassessment Harjot SinghOberoi,The Construc' (Delhi: Oxford UniversityPress, tion of ReligiousBoundaries in The Sikhs is A 1994.) similarinterpretation summarized Barrier, (Delhi:Manohar, 1969). and TheirLiterature to 3. Usefulintroductions the periodof the Guruscan be found in W.H. McLeod,Guru Nanakand the SikhReligion(London:Oxford UniThe Sikhs: 1968); Own Cole,PiaraSinghSambhi, W. versityPress, (Delhi: Viking, 1978). Beliefs and Prac'lices Their Religious in for questions suggests freshdirections research and 4. McLeodraises (London:Oxfbrd University The Evolutionof the Sikh Cornrnunity is leadership foundin Oberoi's 1976). reviewof traditional A Press.

Constructionand his "Bhais, Babas and Gyanis: Traditional Intellectuals in Nineteenth Century Punjab," Studies in History, ll (1980), pp.32-62.The rahitnama lirerature, guides to correcr Sikh practice and ritual, is reviewed in McLeod, "The Problem of the Punjabi Rahit Namas," in S.N. Mukherjee, ed., India. History and Thought (Calcutta:Subarnarekha, 1982),pp. 103-126. 5. Customs are docurnentedin Denzil lbbetson, Edward Maclagan and H.A. Rose, A Glos.saryof the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province (Lahore: Superintendent, Government Printing, l9l9); articlcs in Punjab Notes and Queries.Evaluatedin Oberoi, Construction, pp. 92-257. 6. On early British administration and social change,see lan Kerr, "The Punjab Province and the Lahore District, 1849-72" (unpub. diss., University of Minnesota,1975); Andrew Major, "Return to Empire: The Sikhs and British in the Punjab, 1939-72" (unpub. diss., Australian National University, l98l). Political consequences and strategies are reviewedin Barrier, "Sikh Politics in British Punjab prior to the Gurdwara Reform Movement," in Joseph O'Connell, ed., Sikh History and Religion in the 20th century (Toronto: University of Toronto South Asia Monograph, 1988); Barrier, "The Punjab Governmentand Communal Politics." Journal of Asian Stutlies,27 (f967-8),pp. 523-39. 7. On administration thc Golden Temple, see Ian Kerr, "British Relaof tionships with the Colden Temple," The Intlian Econontic and S o c i a l H i s t o r y R e v i e w , 2 l ( 1 9 8 4 ) .p p . 1 3 9 - 1 5 1 . 8. The evolution of ninteenthcentury tract literatureis reviewedin Kenneth Jones and Eric Custafson, eds., Soarces on Punjab History (Delhi: Manohar, 1975); Barrier, The Punjab in NineteenthCentury Tiacts (East Lansing:Asian StudiesCenter,Michigan State University, 1969); Kenneth W. Jones,ed., Religious Controversyin British Indict (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992).On early trends, see Kenneth Jones,Arya Dharn (Berkeley: University of California Press, l 975). 9. Press data are found in Barrier and Paul Wallace, I'he Punjab Press, ( 1 8 8 0 - 1 9 0 5 E a s t L a n s i n g : A s i a n S t u d i e sC e n t e r , M i c h i g a n S t a t e University, 1970); Emmett Davis. Press and Politics in British (Delhi : Academic, 1983). WesternPunjab, 1836-1947 10. Theoreticalissuesand implicationsof the introductionof a print culture in the Punjab is presentedin Oberoi, Construction; Barrier, "Vernacular Publishing and Sikh Public Life in the Punjab, 18801910," in Jones, Religious,pp.200-228. ll. On the Anjuman, see Jeffrey Perrill, "Anjuman-i-Panjabas a Common Interest Association and Symbol of Socral Change in Nineteenth Century Punjab," Punjab Past and Present, l6 (1982), 3433 7 0 . G u r m u k h S i n g h ' s b a c k g r o u n di s r e v i c w e d i n O b e r o i , C o n -

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struction, pp. 203-205. Also see Gurmukh Singh's My Attempted Excommunicationfrom the Sikh Temple and the Khalsa Community at Faridkot in 1897 (privately pub., Lahore, t898). I am indebted to Harjot Singh Oberoi for a copy of this document. 12. Sikh-Arya relationsare treated in Jones, Arya Dharnt; Barrier, ^Sr,tls and Their Literature. 13. This is discussedfully in John Webster, The Nirankarl Si,tfts(New Delhi: Macmillan India, 1979). 14. On the Namdharis, consult the following: Oberoi, "World Recons t r u c t i o n , "p p . 9 3 - l 4 l ; W . H . M c L e o d , " T h e K u k a s , a M i l l e n a r a i n Sect of the Punjab,"in G.S. Wood, P.S. O'Connor. eds., W.P. Morrell: A Tribure (Dunedin: University of Otago, 1973). pp. 85103. Documentsin Nahar Singh, ed., Gooroo Ram Singh and the K u k u S i k h s , 3 v o l . ( N e w D e l h i : a u t h o rp u b . 1 9 6 5 - 7 1 ) . 15. Backgroundon the Lahore Singh Sabhacan be tbund in the Oberoi v o l u m e a n d e s p e c i a l l y" B h a i s " ; a l s o d e t a i l s i n H a r b a n s S i n g h , Heritage of the Sikhs. Other recent surveys of the Singh Sabha movement include Richard Fox, Lions of the Punjab (Berkeley: U n i v e r s i t y o f C a l i f o r n i aP r e s s ,1 9 8 6 ) ;a n d R a j i v A . K a p u r , S i t / r (London: Allen and Unwin, 1986). Separatisnr 16. The definitive work on the early Singh Sabhas,on which this study relies heavily, is Oberoi, Construction. The relevanttract and instiplus interpretation, reviewedin Barrier..Sii<lr. tutional literature, are 17. The following contain useful biographicalinformation: Attar Singh, Jinda Shahid Nun Moran Lai Vichar Te Tajviz (Amritsar: Wazir Hind Press, l9l6); Munsha Singh Dukhi, Jlvan Bhai Mohan Singlt Vairl (Amritsar: author pub., c. 1939); Aduti Jivan Britant Panth Rattan Babu Teja Singh Overseer(Bhasaur:BhasaurSingh Sabha, n.d.); HarbansSingh, "The BakapurDiwan and Babu Teja Singh of Bhasaur,"Punjab: Past and Present,9 (1975), pp. 322-332. 1 8 . O b c r o i ," B h a i s " . 1 9 . T h i s i s m o s t c l e a r l y e n u n c i a t c di n t h e f o l l o w i n g w o r k s b y A v t a r Singh Vahiria: Sikh Dharma Tat Darshan (Amritsar: Wazir Hind Press, 1899); Khalsa Dharma Shastra (Anandpur: Ram Narain Singh, 1914, and subsequent editions).Sanatanpositionson numerous issues discussedin Oberoi, Conslruction. 20. Background on individuals and the general milieu are found in Oberoi, Construction, pp. 306-377. Also, summary in Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Slkhs, pp. 234-239. 21. Op. cit. Also for a discussionof differing view in Oberoi, "A Histoof riographicaland BibliographicalReconstruction the Singh Sabha in the NineteenthCentury", Journal of Sikh Studies,l0 (198a), pp. 108-130.This comes out most clearly in the tracts of Ditt Singh. in Also discussed Barrier, "VernacularPublishing."

22. Amar Singh, Gycni Ditt Singh (Amritsar: Kirpal Singh, 1962), pp. 66-68; Oberoi, Construction, pp. 389-393. The personalitiesand conflict are summarized in Bhagat Lakshman Singh's personal account, edited by Ganga Singh, Bhagat Lakshman Singh Autobiography (Calcutta: Sikh Cultural Centre, 1965) 23. Episodes are detailed in Gurmukh Singh, My Excommunication; Ganda Singh, A History of Khalsa CoLlege(Amritsar: Khalsa College, 1949); Harbans Singh, Heritage of the Sikhs. 24. Tracts are cited in footnote 19. Also, see Narain Singh, Sikh Hindu ^Flcin(Amritsar: Matbakanuni Press, 1899). 25. Tract warfare is reviewed in several essays in Gustafson and Jones, Sources; Barrier, "Vernacular Publishing." 26. Written by Kahan Singh Nabha, first Punjabi edition, 1899. A recent translation with background in Jarnail Singh, ed., Sikhs, We are not Hindu (Toronto: Sikh Social and Educational Society, 1985). Also, background in W.H. Mcleod, Sikhism (New York: Barnes and N o b l e , 1 9 8 4 ) ,p p . 1 3 3 - 1 3 6 . 27. References to such conflicts are interspersedin the tract and newspaper accounts of the period. An especially important review is in Khalsa Samachar,August 19, 1913,pp. 5-6. Also see Chief Khalsa August 19, 1917.Originals of CKD documents Diwan proceedings, are in the Diwan headquarters,Amritsar, but copies are available with the author. 28. For a lengthy analysis of links between the Punjab and migrant Sikhs, see Barrier, "Sikh Immigrants and their Homeland: The Transmission of Information Resourcesand Values in the Early Twentieth Century," in Barrier, ed., The Sikh Diaspora (Columbia: 1992). South Asia Publications. 29. British policies are reviewed in Barrier, "Sikh Politics;" Fox, Lions of the Punjab; Kapur, Srki Separatism. Also useful is a confidential CID memo on Sikh politics and British strategy, D. Petrie, "Secret C.l.D. Memorandum on Some Recent Developmentsin Sikh Politics" Punjab Past and Present,4 (1970), 3Ol-379. 30. References are in footnote 17, and the treatment of publications are in Barrier, "Vernacular Publishing"; "Punjab Politics and the Press, 1880-1910," in Margaret Case and Barrier, eds., Aspects of India (Delhi: Manohar, AIIS, 1986), pp. 118-133; The Sikhs and Their Literature. 31. Publication of the Ferozepur Sikh Kanya Mahavidyala, and interviews in December, 1969, with Nahar Sigh, M.A. a close associateof Takht Singh and his family. 32. Life and works discussedin Harbans Singh, "Bakapur." 33. Lai Singh, Kalmi Tasvir; Dukhi, Mohan Singh Vaid. 34. Frequent missionary reports in Khalsa Akhbar, 1896-1901.

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35. For example, missionary activities in Hazwa, Ktursa samachar, February 6, 1913, p. 6. 36. The use of such institutions and the spreading network of contacts discussedin Oberoi, Construction: Barrier, ,,Sikh Immigrants.,, 37. Ganda Singh, Ilislory of Khatsa College. Also C.I.D. analysis in Petrie's overview. 38. Major tracts cataloguedin Barrier, The sikhs and rheir Literature: Eileen Dimes and Ganesh Gaur, Catalogue of punjabi printed Books Added to the India Office Library, 1902_1964 (London: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1975). Background in Barrier, "Vernacular Publishing." 39 Based upon extensive study of the major sikh tracts of the period. The network and particularry its abirity to generate funds from abroad is discussedin Barrier, .,Vernacularpublishing.,, 40. Information on sikh papers is found in Barrier and paul wallace, The Punjab Press, 1880-1905;Barier, Sikhsand Their Literature. 41. Virtuafly every issue of the Khalsa Akhbar, edited by Ditt Singh, had stories on contributions and instancesof Tat Khalsa success. 42' Harbans singh, "Bakapur." oberoi's various essays and dissertation contain examplesof similar activities. 43. Dukhi, Mohan Singh Vaid, pp. 16-lg; Harbans Singh and Jagjit Singh, "Singh Sabha Lahir," in Ganda Singh, ed., punjab Igig_ 1960 (Lu<lhiana:Punjabi Sahit Academy, 1962), pp. 127_128, 139. Discussion of the difficulties in preparing the Faridkot commentary and reaching agreement on other matters can be found in oberoi. Construcilon. 44. Background in Barrier, "Trumpp and Macauriffe: western Students of Sikh History and Religion,,' in Fauja Singh, ed., Sikh Hi.rtoriography (Dethi: Orientat, 1978),pp. 155_185. 45. The controversy is discussedin Bhagat Iakshman singh Autobiography, pp. 89-93; Ganda Singh, History of Khalsa College. Also piess clippings and manuscriprsof Bhagat Lakshman Singh with Dr. Ganda Singh, who has shared his substantialcolrectionind wisdom with me for over two decades. 46. His ideology and writings are discussedin Barrier, "Vernacular publishing"; Oberoi, Construction, pp. 102-103, 3g5_3g7. 47. Accounts in Shuddhi pattar, 1986-97. 48. Background is in Barrier, The Sikhs and Their Literature; Kenneth Jones "Ham Hindu Nahin," Journal of Asian Studies. 49. See, for example, R.W. Falcon, Handbook on the Sikhs for the IJse of Regimental Officers (Allahabad: pioneer press, lg96); A.H. Bingley, Sikhs (British Recruiting Manual, rep. patiala, 1970, De_ partment of Languages). Background in monographs by Fox and Kapur. 50. Teja Singh, Tlre Gurdwara Rrfor^ Movement and the Sikh Awaken_

ing (Jullundur: Desh Sewak Book Agency, 1922), pp. 85-l 19. 51. Correspondencein Government of India Home Public file 1924, August 1902; February 1908, 99-1024; March 1907, 23A; HomeBooks, June l9O7, l2l-22A. Background in Barrier, "Trumpp and Macauliffe." 52. Notes, letters and editorials in Khalsa Samachar and Khalsa Akhbar, October-December1901 ). 53. Background on Chief Khalsa Diwan in Surjit Singh Narang, "Chief Khalsa Diwan," in Paul Wallace, ed., Political Dynamics of Punjab (Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 1981), pp. 67-81; Surjit Singh Narang, "Chief Khalsa Diwan," Journal of Sikh Studies, 12 (1981), pp. 97-108; Surveys in Kapur and Fox volumes. Detailed treatment of CKD and politics is found in Barrier, "Sikh Politics." The primary documents for the period are reports of two newspapers, Khalsa Samachar (KS,) and Khalsa Advocate (KA), along with CKD proceedings. 54. Surjit Singh Narang essays, and biographical rnaterial in Mihar Singh Ravel, Sir Sundar Singh tuIajithia (Amritsar: no pub., 1942). 5 5 . C K D . A u g u s t5 , 1 9 1 5 . 56. KS, March 15, 1905,pp. 5-6. 57. Reports in KS, February-April, July-November 1906. Background and details are in Barrier, "Sikh Immigrants." 58. KA, February22. 1905, p. 3. 59. Role of the press is discussedin Barrier, "Punjab Politics" and "Sikh Immigrants." Examples of reports and appeals include material in KS, January 2, l9l3 and the special reports and Masik Pattar frequently publishedby the CKD. By 1911, the KTS had issuedover 400 tracts numbering at least a million copies. The Sikh Handbill Society issued a flood of small pamphlets,and other agencies,such as Sikh Book Club and the Panch Khalsa Agency, issued dozens of tracts a year. On the general milieu, see Dukhi, Mohan Singh Vaid. 60. Education efforts are reviewed in Narotam Singh, "Chief Khalsa Diwan in the Field of Education," Journal of Sikh Studies, 8 by (1981), ll8-129. Also useful is a dissertation GurdarshanSingh Dhillon, "Character and Impact of the Singh Sabha Movement on the History of the Punjab" (unpub. diss., Punjabi University, 1972). 61. The Khalsa Biradari published annual reports. One interesting note on the outcaste situation is in KS (October 12, 1904, pp. 4-5), which new Sikhs would stated that if outcasteswere given amrit, 5O,OOO be added. The Sanatanreaction is discussedin the Petrie CID note, and in the accountsin the KS and KA, 1909-1911. 62. Editorials, reports in KS, February-March 1917. Also CKD minutes. 63. Anand marriage agitation and related issues are examined in Oberoi, Construction. Also, background material is found in K.S. Talwar,

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222 I RELIGIONIN MODERNINDIA THE SINGH SABHAS / 223

"The Anand Marriage Acts," punjab past and present,2 (196g), 400-410. Extensive tract riteratureon the subject is risted in sa.rier, Sikhs and Their Literature. 64. KS, April29,1908, p.2. 65. CKD minutes, 1902-1906. ee also CKD, October l, l9t6; S KA comments,July 15, 1904, p. 3. 66. Background on Teja singh missionary efforts is in KS, 190g. Lala Sewa Ram had been important in the Khalsa youngmen Association and took amrit in 1904, KS, March 23, 1904, pp. 2-3. He played a key role in the Rikabganj negotiations and later CKD affairs. 67. Discussedin Harbans singh, "Bakapur." A typical tract conveying Teja singh's perspectivein Kharsa Rahit parkasrr (Bhasaur: panci Khalsa Diwan, 1908). Anarysis of ideas in Barrier, "vernacular Publishing." 68. KS, November 25, l9l}, p. 5; KS, September21, lg}4, p. 7; resolu_ tions, CKD, 1904-1908.Discussedin Governmentof India Home Public proceedings, 1903-1905. 69" KA, December 16, 1910,pp. 3-4. 70. On the Rikabganj agitation, Harjot Singh Oberoi, ,.From Gurdwara Rikabganj to the Viceregal palace," punjab past and present, 14 (1980), 182-198.War effort is reviewed in M.S. Leigh, The punjab and the War (Lahore: punjab Government. 1922); Barier, ..Ruiing India: coercion and propagandain British India During the Firsi World War", in De Witt Ellinwood, ed., India and WorM War One (Delhi: Manohar, 1978),pp. 174-10g. 71. Published in Urdu, the Lahore-based Kharsa Akhbar emerged as a strong opponent to the cKD during the Rikabganj agitation. Edited by chanda Singh, the panth Sewak rauncheda series of attacks on moderate sikhs and was warned repeatedly by the British for ailegations and pro-nationalist activities. Background in annual reports on the Punjab press,CID. 72' Many cKD discussionsin lgrT-rglg focused on these chailenges, which included attackson readerssuch as Bhai rakht sineh iho was chargedwith mismanaging his girls schoorin Ferozepui cKD, February 11, 1917. Attacks and replies appear frequently in the two major CKD newspapers. 73' cKD, June 3, october 14, r9l'r . Backgroundon constitutionar developments in GurdarshanSingh, ..Sikh politics in the punjab,,, punjab Past and Present, 3 (1970), pp. 67-7g; Mohinder Singh, the ALli Movement (New Delhi: Macmillan India, l97g). Recent analysis in Kapur, Si/<lrSeparatism. 74. Discussionin KS, September16, lg2}, p.3; CKD, August l, October 31, 1920. Also presscommentaryin early sum."r, 1919. 75. The Sikh League and related activities discussed in a series of

articles by Sukhmani Bal in the proceedingsof the Punjab History Conference, 1981-1983. Also, Bal, Politics of the Central Sikh Izague (Delhi, National' 1990) pp.86-100. Akali reaction to the CKD re?6. Kapur, Sikh Separatisrrl, ports on the period, especially V.W. Smith's memo, "The Akali Dal and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee, 192l-1922," Government of India Home Political file 459lll, 1922' 77. Background on Sikh politics during the 1920s can be found in books Uy Fox, Kapur, Mohinder Singh. Two new studies analyze the role politics and the legislative arena: Prem Raman of .ot.unul Uprety, Religion and Politics in Puniab in the 1920s (New Delhi: Sterling,1980);andSarfrazKhawaja,sikhsofthePunjab(Karachi: Modern Book DePot' 1985). 78. Based on a forthcoming study of twentieth century Sikh literature by N.G. Barrier, to be publishedin 1995. '17. on the Akali 79. Secondary sources include those cited in footnote literatureandBritishreactions,Barrier,Banned(Columbia,Mo': University of Missouri Press, 1974, pp' 91, 195-202); "The British and Controversial Publications in Punjab," Puniab Past and P r e s e n t , 8 ( 1 9 7 4 ) 'P P . 3 2 - 6 0 . g0. competition in elections and controversiesover the definition of ..Sikh''inthelegislaturereflectedsuchanorientation'Thisisdiscussed in the studies by Kapur, Khawaja, and Uprety' gl. The .,official" rahit maryada was only publishedin the early 1950s, and various editions still circulate. The issue of authority and the implicationsforcontemporarySikhpo|iticsassessedinRobinJeffriy, What's Happening to India.! (New York : Holmes & Meier' 1986). Also, see ongoing discussionin the World Sikh News'

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9
CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA

Eric J. Sharpe

On December 23, 1972, prime Minister Indira Gandhi spoke in New Delhi at the nineteenthcentenary celebrationsof St. Thomas, the Apostle of India. She said, among other things, that from the earliest times christianity had been acceptedas "part of the Indian mosaic," that as a group, Christians had made significant contribu_ tions to India's "composite religious heritage," and although at times christianity had been "erroneously associatedwith foreign rule in some minds," since then "Christian leaders have largely identified themselveswith nationalist aspirations,"and deservetheir place in the new India.' Each of these points was significant. There have been Christian communities in India for a great many centuries;christians have played their part-albeit a somewhat limited part-in the develop_ ment of the religious life of India. Christianity was for many years associatedin the Indian nationalist mind with foreign rule, as a mleccha dharma; and Christian leaders, beginning in the 1920s, have sought and found a place within the national movement. christian history in India is neverthelessa highly complex pattern of impulses, missions, churches, personalitiesancl problems, the overall story of which is certainly beyond the reach of any one writer to tell fully, and many parts of which have never been chronicled.2 The earliest beginnings of Christianity in India are shrouded in uncertainty. Syrian Christian tradition states that the Apostle Tho_ mas, one of Jesus' original twelve disciples, came ro the vicinity of Cochin in AD 52, and founded churches on both sides of India's south coast, finally suffering martyrdom twenty years later, in AD

72. But supporting evidence from outside India is almost entirely absent, and what there is, is contradictory or at least ambiguous.3 Similar problems are attached to practically the whole of India's earliest Christian history. Geographical referencesare fragmentary and uncertain, not to say confused. It is clear, however, that there was a Christian Church in India perhaps(on hard historical evidence) as early as the end of the second century, when Pantaenus of Alexandria visited "the land of the Indians." This is not to say that the Thomas Christians' own traditions are unreliable: merely that they are difficult to support from outside evidence. The intricacies of history aside, today's "Thomas" or "Syrian" Christians in India have a tradition at least as old as that of the greater part of northern Europe. These communities however have never shown any great desire to expand beyond their own natural frontiers. Of their essential"Indianness" there has never been the slightest question. The second,a Rotnan Catholis phaseof India's Christian history, began in the 1250s, with the arrival of the first missionaries of the Franciscan and Dominican orders.nThese however were not successful,and half a century later had disappearedalmost without trace. After 1500, following the Portugueseoccupation of parts of western India, there was fresh influx of missionaries, this time in strength.Vasco da Gama landed near Calicut in 1498, and although the Portuguese came chiefly for trading purposs, they were also concerned to extend Christianity in their dominions. In 1500 there arrived eight FranciscanFriars and eight "secular" priests-the first of many thousandsof such missionaries.The best known of these included Francis Xavier, who landed at Goa in 1542 and worked in India for ten years; and Roberto de Nobili, who arrived in Madura in 1606, adopted a wholly Indian style of life as a sannyasin, learning Sanskrit and being granted at least some access to the Vedas. De Nobili enjoyed some successin converting high-caste Hindus. but his work was too controversial to survive his retirement in 1645 and his death in the following year.5 In 196l C.B. Firth wrote that de Nobili's culture experiment, so controversial in his own day, "... is the only thoroughgoing attempt to Indianize Christianity that has yet been made."6 Sixty years after de Nobili's death there began the third phase of Christian history in India, with the arrival in July 1706 of the first Protestant missionaries, Ziegenbalg and Pltitschau, German by birth, but

226 I KELICIONINMODERNINDIA sent to India on the initiative of the King of Denmark and under the auspices of the (British) Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.?This minute mission was set up in Tranquebar, one of Denmark's two trading posts in India, and the first Tamil converts were baptized in September 1707. Generally it is true to say that Protestants at first were in no position to "Indianize" Christianity beyond the fairly obvious point of using Indian languageswherever possible. Their concern was rather to rescue "brands from the burning"-to press for individual conversions against an approachingDay of Judgment-than to operate within any larger cultural framework. But the situation in the first half of the eighteenthcentury was by no means that of the turn of the twentieth. The Tranquebarmission was tiny, and although it had some outstanding workers, chief among them C.F. Schwartz (in India from 1750 to 1798) who producedthe first Tamii-English and English-Tamil dictionaries and the first Tamil translation of the Bible, its field of influence was not large. The London-based East India Company, founded in 1600, gained political as well as commercial control over large areas of India in the middle years of the eighteenth century, and remained in control for a hundred years. Although many of the Company's servants were doubtless Christians of a sort, official policy was firmly against Christian missions, on the grounds that to interfere with the religious beliefs and practices of the people of India would endanger the trade which was the Company's sole official concern, and for which they were publicly accountable. This policy, which was maintaind until 1813, led to some interesting on consequences: the one hand, to extensive support for Hindu and Muslim institutions, and on the other, to the shutting out of Christian missionaries from the Company's territories. On the first count, most important was the Company's financing of publishing ventures,including the first English translation of the Bhagavadgita (1785) and Max Miiller's edition of the Sanskrit text of the Rig Veda (1849-1862). On the second, it meant that when the English Baptist missionary William Carey arrived in India-in effect, to inaugurate the most concentratedphase of ProtestantChristian ac1793 he was ultimately forced to work in Denmark's tivity-in other little trading post, at Serampore.8However, Carey a few years later was granted a measureof official Company recognition by being appointed to teach Bengali (and later Sanskrit and

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Marathi) at the College of Fort William. His chief work was in the field of Bible translation, and by the time of his death in 1834 he and his team of co-workers had translated the whole of the Bible into six Indian languages,the New Testamentinto twenty-three and smaller portions into ten other languages.e Some of these translations were highly defective. However, this activity, together with the printing pressesCarey established,was of considerable importance for the future of Indian literature generally. Following successiverevisions of the East India Company's charter in 1813 and 1833, the door was thrown open to Christian missionaries, though initially on a fairly small scale.r0 1830 the In first missionarysent by the Church of Scotland,Alexander Duff, arrived in Calcutta, and threw himself into educational work, on the belief (quite mistaken,as it turned out) that "Every branch of sound general knowledge which you inculcate, becomes the destroyer of some correspondingpart in the Hindu system."rr This "general knowledge" was to be communicatedin English, and on that point official policy agreed: in 1835 a protractedcontroversy on the issue of English versus vernacularhigher educationin India was resolved in favor of the "Anglicists." This decision was of momentousimportancefor India's future, and assuredone of the directionsin which Indian Christianitywas later to develop, in and around colleges and universities,most notable in the three centers of Calcutta,Bombay and Madras. Actual conversionsto Christianity from among college students were never common, once the initial period had passed,and by the end of the century had dried up almost completely. Most of the students were from the highest Hindu castes,and for these, the acceptanceof Christian baptism meant social ostracismand isolation from the Hindu community. By the 1850s, ProtestantChristian opinion in India had settled down into an attitude of total opposition to caste, a more lenient attitude being taken by the Roman Catholics and by a small number of German missionaries(Lutherans of the Leipzig Society) in South India.12 Controversyon this point was bitter for many years. Most Protestants, however, were adamant: to become a Christian one must renouncecaste, finally and publicly, whateverthe social consequences. They argued that caste as an institution amountedto legalizedinequalityunder Hindu religious sanction. The outcome was that although many individual Hindus in India might well be impressed, Rammohun Roy had as

228 / RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA been impressed, by the moral character of the teachings of Jesus, the vast majority remained detached from, and critical of, institutional Christianity. Those who did become Christians in a formal sense increasingly were those who had least to lose from caste exclusion. The great Rebellion (Sepoy Mutiny) of 1857-58had relatively little immediate effect on the situation of Christianity in India, though once over, it caused a great deal of soul-searching the in missionary community. The 1858 Madras missionary conference outlined the measuresthat needed to be brousht to bear on the Government to prevent further outbreaks: A l l w e r e q u i r e i s s i m p l e C h r i s t i a nc o n s i s t e n c y n a l l t h e i r i proceedingswhich have a bearing on religion; the introduct i o n o f t h e B i b l e i n t o a l l G o v e r n m e n ts c h o o l s ,t o b e r e a d daily by those of the pupils who do not object to it; and, especially,the entire cessationof all patronageand countenanceof idolatry and caste.13 J.W. Kaye urged in 1859 that "... what we have now to do is possess to ourselvesin faith, and with faith to have patience;doing rashly, nothing precipitately, est our own folly should I nothing good work, and retard the ripening of the harvest."ro mar the In 1858 the East India Company was dissolved, and Queen Victoria beame India's new sovereign.Although Christian in principle, from the first the new Governmentproclaimed a policy of religious impartiality, in which not even Christianity would enjoy official "most favored religion" status. Queen Victoria's proclamation of 1858 containedthe words: "Firmly relying Ourselveson the truth of Christianity, and acknowledgingwith gratitude the solace of religion, we disclaim the Right and the Desire to impose Our From this time Christianity convictionson any of Our subjects."r5 in India was neither favored nor actively opposed,while missionaries and Indian Christians alike generally lived in a world far rewith which they moved from that of India's British administration, had few direct cohtacts of any kind. This point is worth bearing in mind. Among European Christians working in India during the contact with heyday of the Raj, the only ones to have appreciable the seat of political power were Anglican chaplains to the European community. The remainerwould have enjoyed no such contact in Britain, nor did they generally do so in India: similarly with

IN CHRISTIANITY INDIA / 229 other Europeansand Americans. Held at bay by the unwritten conventions of the British caste system, the average missionary neither political muscle of any kind. sought nor possessed During the secondhalf of the nineteenthcentury, Christianity in India operated on two widely separatedlevels: directly at the bottom of society, and for the most part indirectly through the educational enterprise at the top. On the latter count, in the postRebellion years English-languagehigher education in India expanded rapidly, often (though by no means always) in institutions administered by missionary organizations,which included some Christian teaching as part of their general curriculum. Measured by of actual conversions Christianity,their impact was slight. They did on the other hand do a good deal to familiarize the upper strata of Indian society with Western ideas and values,social, political and religious. By 1900 the flow of converts from this source, never much more than a trickle, had dried up almost entirely. Sizeable numerical accessionsto Christianity did however take place during these same years as a result of "mass movements" in rural areas.r6 This has been a controversial subject in the history of Christianity in India. Doubtless the motives of those accepting baptism were mixed, though arguably the dominant one was a desire for social betterment and for protection on both "natural" and "supernatural"levels. Most of the initial waves of converts were ill-educated and ill-prepared,and in any case the decision was a collective rather than a personal one. In the short term, these mass movements improved missionary statisticsin a remarkable way, the size of the Christian community in India increasingfrom about a million in 1858 to almost 3 million in 1901 and almost 4 million ten years later. In the long term, on the other hand, the mass movements created serious problems, stretching the resourcesof churchesand missionary agenciesalmost to the breaking point. The supply of competentpriests, ministers,pastors and catechistsbecame a matter of pressing concern and many Christian village communities had to survive almost without regular pastoral care. Although most Protestant churches maintained their attitude of hostility to caste, there was little in these circumstancesto prevent the new Christian communities from coming to resemble sub-castes in all but name.rT a later stage it was also possible for the opAt ponents of Christianity to accuse the missions of aiming at indiscriminate conversionsby unfair means,ultimately for political pur-

INDIA IN 230 / RELIGION MODERN poses. In May 1866 Keshub Chandra Sen lectured in Calcutta on "Jesus Christ: Europe and Asia."r8 The tone of his lecture was remarkable. Like Rammohun Roy earlier, he expressedthe warmest appreciation of the moral character of Jesus, and held up his character as an antidote to racial contempt and violence' As Christians, he said, Europeans"... ought to be baptized into true Christian meekness; their rough nature will be thereby humanized, and their pronenessto indulge in violence and ferocity will be effectually curbed."reButpreviouslyhe had said that to Asiatics, "... Christ is doubly interesting,and his religion is entitled to our peculiar regard as an altogether Oriental affair."2oThis claim was to be heard very years: that JesusChrist was of the East frequently in subsequent rather than the West, and that Europeans had never been able to him. India, on the other hand, could, acceptinghim on understand her own terms as a moral teacher and even as an avatard-one among many. Attempts were also made before the end of the century to "prove" that Jesus had either been trained in India, or had died in India, or perhapsboth. The rise of the national movement in the last quarter of the nineteenthcentury affectedIndian Christianity in some ways, and not in others. It had practically no effect on the village communities. But at the other end of the social scale,the emerging alliance Hinduism createdserious betweenIndian nationalismand renascent m o v e m e n t sl i k e t h e A r y a p r o b l e m s f o r I n d i a n C h r i s t i a n s ,H i n d u Samaj and hybrids like the Theosophical Society (both founded in 1875) were generally anti-Christian.Anti-British feeling in India, especiallyafter the Ilbert Bill controversyin the 1880s,could and did spill over into anti-Christiansentiment.Before 1914, few Indian Christians became deeply involved in the national movement One who did, was Bhawani Charan Banerjea, later known as Brahmabandhav Upadhyay. A former member of the Brahmo becamea Christianin 1891.Arrested on a Samaj,Brahmabandhav chargeof sedition in 1907, he died of tetanusin prison a few days were generallycritical of the violent missionaries later.2rChristian side of the national movement, though some-most notably Charles Freer Andrews, later to become a close associateof both Tagore and Gandhi-were deeply in sympathy with its aspirations.In these same years, 1900-1914,there was a powerful missionary movement, led by the ScotsmanJ.N. Farquhar, to emphasizethe schol-

CHRISTIANITY IN INDI-A /

23I

arly and sympathetic study of Hinduism and Indian culture generally.22 Another influential Scottisheducational missionarywas A.G. Hogg (in India from 1903 to 1939), who, as well as being Radhakrishnan'sfirst teacher of philosophy, helped to create a new class of Christian intellectualin India from his chair at the Madras Christian College.23 More and more Indians assumedpositions of leadership.On ChristmasDay 1905 there was founded the Indian National Missionary Society (Bharat Christya Sevak Samaj) under Indian direction. It was never a very great success,but did give rise to many later initiatives, including that of the Christian ashram. The first Indian to be appointedPrincipal of a Christian college in India, S.K. Rudra, took up his duties at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, in 1907; the first Indian to become an Anglican bishop in India, V.S. Azariah, was consecrated 1912. in After l9l0 the political temperature India cooled somewhat, of though more as a result of government measures than because genuineagreement had been reached.Christianmissionaryapologetics were best representedat this time by J.N. Farquhar's book Z/re Crown of Hinduism (1913), which argued that Christ (not Christianity) came to "fulfil"-to bring to completion in a semi-evolutionary sense-all the highest spiritual and practical aspirationsof Hindu religion and culture.2a The outbreakof war in 1914 showedIndia that she could not be immune from world politics; many Indians fought in the war, and in the years between l9l4 and 1918 the internal political and religious struggle was partially suspended. However, the war itself did much to discredit the West, and Western religion, in Indian eyes-added to which, Muslim Turkey's alliance with Germany a g a i n s tB r i t a i n a f f e c t e dM u s l i m o p i n i o n i n I n d i a . W h e n t h e w a r came to an end, Indian leaders hoped for an improved political situation,partly as a reward for war service faithfully performed. This was not to be. Pre-war securitymeasures were continued,and on April 13, 1919 the Amritsar massacre took place. The officer responsible,Brigadier-GeneralDyer, was severely censured,but later in the year won the support of the House of Lords and the wing of the British press,and British opinion. Gandhi conservative denounced the British government as "satanic", and India was thrown into a period of fresh turmoil, in which politics took the upper hand of religious reflection. The events of l9l9 left a no less deep mark on the Christian

INDIA IN 232 / RELICION MODERN community in India than on Indian society generally. Certainly few Indian Christians were prepared to go as far as Gandhi had gone in his condemnation of the British governmentt but from that time on there appeareda new phenomenonon the Indian scene, t h a t o f t h e c o m m i t t e d C h r i s t i a n n a t i o n a l i s t .A n e w j o u r n a l , t h e Christian Patriot, was started. Articles devoted to the national cause began to appear in the. more liberal missionary journals, Their written by Indian Christianslike K.T. Paul and P. Chenchiah. angle of approachremainedconstantfor the next dozen years: that in the forms in which it had been presented to India, Protestant Christianity (Catholicsplayed less part in this debate)had been a denationalizingfactor, and neededto be reformed and reshapedin with Indian thought and Hindu spirituality. Some misaccordance sionaries, most notably C.F. Andrews and Stanley Jones, conwhile othersdid not. K.T. Paul wrote in the curred enthusiastically, International Review of Missions on "How Missions Denationalize Hindus," arguing that for Christianityto find its place in the emergent India, far more room than hitherto would have to be found for Eight years later Chenchiah Indian forms of cultual expression.2s statedwhat many Indian Christiansby then believed,that Christ comes to India deeply interwoven in the fabric of Western civilization. Christ and Western civilization, clearly in distinguishable their naturesand frequently fundamentally and radically opposedto each other, are cementedtogether by history and brought to India as a unified indivisible whole.26 was a more complex quesWhether the two could be disentangled tion. the The "Christian Patriot" group notwithstanding, most widely internationally, the Sikh convert Sadhu known Indian Christian Sundar Singh, deliberatety held himself aloof from politics.s?In 1920 and 1922 SundarSingh went on ambitiouspreachingtours to the West, being everywhere hailed as living proof that Christianity had at long last found a place at a deep level of Indian spirituality. He was best known as a preacher;he was also a visionary, and later in his life was for this reason drawn away from orthodox Much of what was Christianity and toward the Swedenborgians.rt (and he generated vast literature)in the 1920s a written about him But to the West he appearedin was of little lasting consequence.

CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA

233

the Iight of a Iiving Christian mystic, a near-martyr, a gified preacherand a saintly personality.His last years were saddened by a protracted controversy over his bona fides, and by ill health.2e In April 1929 he set olf on a last missionary tour to "Tibet," and was never seen or heard of again. He left a romantic image, but was too individualisticto leave a succession; nevertheless contribuhis tion remains to this day unique. Of more lasting importance was the "Christian Ashram" movement, which began and flourished, though on a fairly small scale, in these same years. Inspired by the tradition of St. Francis of Assisi (who was in many ways "rediscovered"in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries),by Tolstoy, by Social Christianity in Europe and North America, and above all by the example of Gandhi, during the 1920s and 1930s numerous Christian Ashrams were set up in India. Their prototype was the Christukula Ashram in Tirupattur, begun in l92l by two medical doctors, SavarirayanJesudason and Ernest Forrester-Paton.i0 1922 Jack In Winslow, together with five other Europeansand five Indians, began the Christa Seva Sanghain Ahmednagar,on Franciscanprinciples of fellowship and service.3r Many more were to follow. None was, however, large. It must be allowed, on the other hand, that t h e y h a d s o m e s u c c e s si n o v e r c o m i n g e a r l i e r o b j e c t i o n s t o t h e "foreignness"of Christianityin India. Those who becameconvinced after l9l9 that Christianity was in all essentialshe religion of a foreign power were not easily t p e r s u a d e d o c h a n g et h e i r m i n d s . S t i l l C h r i s t i a n i t yi n I n d i a w a s t greatly dependenton overseas support.The growing political crisis did nothing to improve matters.Politically-minded Christianswere on the whole few, a mixed company of radical Indian Christians and liberal missionaries, having very few contactswith the seat of political power. In 1925 an American missionary, Stanley Jones, stated the Indian case in his widely-read book The Christ of the Indian Road.32 Two years later a diametrically opposite point of view was taken by anotherAmerican, KatherineMayo, in her notorious book Mother India.1l Miss Mayo was not a missionary, and was widely suspected having written her book for political purof poses.But she, like Jones,was an American, and in the economic climate of the time, American support was becoming increasingly tmportant. Another significant American-based organization was the

234

RELICION IN MODERN INDIA

CHRISTIANITY INDIA / 235 IN which was-and still remains-perhaps the most stimulating symposium of Indian Christian writing ever assembled. Rethinking Christianity in India containedessaysby seven Indian Christians, Job, Chenchiah, Chakkarai, Devasahayam Jesudason, Asirvatham and Sudarisanam.It was not uncontroversial.In various ways it maintained the tone of the Cftristian Patriot of earlier years, while moving somewhatfurther in a Hindu direction: "Christ cannot oppose Hinduism nor does He," Chenchiah affirmed. And further: "Christianity is not going to drive a wedge in national solidarity. Nor is the Eastern Christian likely to be a good child and accept the theologyand the Church offered to him by his monitors.... Let it be clearly understoodthat we accept nothing as obligatory s a v eC h r i s t . . . . " 1 7 Disunity among Christianshas always been a problem in India, as indeed it has in most parts of the world. In the nineteenthcentury this began to be tackled by the setting up of local missionary conferences(which Indian Christiansgenerally were not expected to attend) and by the "comity" principle of allocating different areas to different missionaryorganizations. This clearly did not go far enough. The founding in 1905 of the National Missionary Society, under Indian leadership, was the most important step. Thereafter there followed more and more intricate schemesof union among ProtestantChurches,in both north and south India, stimulated equally by the situationsin India and in Europe.Although by 1938 the south Indian schemewas well advanced.Chenchiahwas not impressed: It appearsto a convert indescribablyfunny [he wrote] that anybody should entertainthe idea that by knocking together the Church of England,the Church of Scotland,Swedishand Lutheranand American churches, Indian Church would be an produced.sE The scheme did, however, reach fruition almost simultaneously with Independence 1947.The Church of South India, comprising in fourteen diocesesand about a million members spread over four major languageareas,came into being in the month following Independence, September on 27, 1947.3e It had taken twenty-eight years of hard work to bring the Church of South India into being. In North Atlantic terms, the experiment was a bold one. It was not able to be fully comprehensive, how-

Young Men's Christian Association(YMCA)' whose position as a The YMCA Christian agency in India had long been advantageous. but from New York.saIt was not from London, was administered, para-churchorganot a church, being rather a non-denominational preparedto advanceIndians to posinization. It had always been tions of leadership,and often individual YMCA men had taken a pro-nationalistposition. In 1920 J.N. Farquhar (himself a YMCA Secretary)had written that The Associationis ... at this moment the one form of Christian organizationwhich is trusted and welcomed everywhere. At the height of this menacingcrisis, it can be friendly with all the groups, can play the peacemakerbetween the races,and do the work of thc servantof India'rs During the troubled years that followed, the YMCA was often able to fill this role, through its student centers,conferencesand particularly its publishingprogramme.However, it was becomingprogressively secularizedthroughout the period, moving from worship In and evangelismto sport and "character-building." YMCA circles "secular dialogue" was practiced long before the term became fashionable.16 of It was quite natural,given the circumstances the time, that in the inter-war years christianity in India should have settled down into the role of a socio-ethical agency in which (apart from Sundar Singh) the practices of spirituality were little regarded' Little original theology was being written, and much of what was, followed western patterns rather closely-for instance in the work of A.J. Appasamy, in which, though the material was to a large extent Indian, the treatment owed far more to Hartford and Marburg than to Benares.Appasamy's best book was perhapshis christianity as Bhakti Marga (192'r.);worthy of mention is also his selectionof Hindu scripturesfor christian use, published in 1930 by the YMCA as Temple Bells- Here the argument was that if christ is to be regardedas the "fulfiller" of Hinduism as he was of the Jewish tradition, then logically at least parts of Hindu scripture might replacethe old Testamentin the Indian church. This move, however, won little favor among Indian Christians generally' MissionaryCouncil held an important In 1938 the International conferenceon the new campus of the Madras christian college, Tambaram. In preparation, various volumes were produced, one of

236 / RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA ever. Most notably it did not involve the Roman Catholics or the Lutherans. And although of importance for the future of Christianity in India on the organizational level, it in the end made a somewhat greater impact on Christianity in the West, as a prototype of what might be achievedin the ecumenicalage. A similar scheme was brought to fruition in North India some years later, in 1970. Back in 1926, W.E.S. Holland had criticized the Christian Church in India for its disappointingforeignness, summing up that "The foreign garb such a system wears is by no means its most disastrous consequence. The deadly thing is that a church so exotic in characterand expressioncan have little of creative life or expansive energy."a0 post-Independence In India every effort had to be made to overcomethat foreignness. the Protestant On side, what t h i s c h i e f l y i n v o l v e d w a s a c o n c e n t r a t i o n n s o c i o - e t h i c ails s u e s . o The new India was to be a secular state, in which the seeking of converts was always frowned upon, and often expressly forbidden. A n a l y z i n g C h r i s t i a n s o c i a l t h o u g h t i n p o s t - I n d e p e n d e n cIe d i a , n Bengt R. Hoffman drew attention to two focal points, "to expose improper motivationsfor Indian nationhood,and to strive for unity in the midst of plurality."a'Missionaries the old pattern were no on l o n g e r w e l c o m e i n I n d i a ( a n d s t i l l l e s s s o i n P a k i s t a n ) .S e c u l a r workers in a secular state, on the other hand, were. A new generation of Indian Christian theologiansemergedwithin the Protestant c o m m u n i t y ,c h i e f a m o n g t h e m P . D . D e v a n a n d a n n d M . M . T h o a m a s , f o l l o w i n g a l a r g e l y s o c i o - e t h i c alli n e a n d m a k i n g e x t e n s i v e use of sociologicalinquiry in the pursuit of its aims. The Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society in Bangalore, and its journal Religion and Societyassumed position of leadership a in this regard.From the early 1960son, a streamof valuablepublications emerged tiom this source. F o l l o w i n g t h e S e c o n dV a t i c a n C o u n c i l i n t h e m i d - 1 9 6 0 s ,t h e Roman Catholic Church in India, which for a century had lived its own life largely separate from Hindu society on the one hand, and from other Christian bodies on the other, was liberatedfrom many of its earlier restrictions. The Council having affirmed the principle of dialogue,numerousCatholicsthrew themselves into the practice and the theory of inter-religiousrapprochement, most notably on Many names might be mentionedin this the level of soirituality.a2 connection; special places were however occupied by Christian H. contemplatives: le Saux (who took the Hindu name of Swami

CHRISTIANITY INDIA / 237 IN Abhishiktananda)and Dom Bede Griffiths. On a different level, important contributions were also made by Raimundo Panikkar and Klaus Klostermaier, and by many contributors to the Journal of Dharma (first published in 1975). On the level of worship, many experimentswere made to Hinduize the Church's liturgy by the introduction of elements from the temple and bhakti traditions. At first thesemet with a mixed reception,but some have gradually gained wider acceptance. From an emphasison inter-religious dialogue and sharedspirituality in the late 1960s,in the 1970sone wing of Catholic opinion in India moved in the direction of social activism, in the style of Latin American "liberation theology." Father JosephVadakkan in Kerala asked: "What is the responsibilityof a priest of Christ ...? Will it be sufficient if he prays in streetcorners?Or should he fight for a Governmentwhich will feed the hungry and clothe the naked? This is the issue before me now."ar Some Protestantleade r s w e r e a s k i n g t h e s a m e q u e s t i o nu n d e r s i m i l a r i n f l u e n c e s , n e o going so far as to state categorically that in the modern world, Christianity has no other function than to place economicpower in the handsof the economicallypowerless. Since the 1970s,the situationof Christianity in India has been inextricably bound up with developments an increasinglycomin plex world order, and has reflectedin one way or anotherwhat has been taking placeelsewheren the world. In 1982 S.J. Samartha i wrote: We are in the processof reshaping ancient,powerful and an intricate civilization into new cultural and social patterns,in response not just to impersonaltechnologicalforces but also to the clear, vocal and aggressivedemands of oppressed people for a reasonablysatisfyinghuman life here and now. Basically it is a cultural strugglein which cunently the econ o m i c c o m p o n e n ti s c r u c i a l . N e w p o l i t i c a l i n s t i t u t i o n st o needed,as well bring about effective changeare desperately as spiritual resources undergird the struggle to redeem it to from self-righteousness and direct it toward a hopeful future.aa In 1980 there were some 27 million Christiansin India out of a total population of almost 700 million.asThis amountsto no more than 3.9Voof the population.But Christianity is arguably, for better or

I
238 / RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA worse, the most international religions.Christianityin India has of never been free from outside pressures, social, economic and political as well as religious in the narrower individual sense.Increasingly it has chosen an Indian way, to the extent to which it has been free to choose. But that freedom has been bounded by circumstancesover which it has never been able to exercise more than a limited control. But that the Christians in India have sincerely and successfullysought to serve India, often anonymously and with little or no public acknowledgement, beyond all doubt. is Statisticsa6 Year Christians Percentageof Population
CHRISTIANITYIN INDIA / 239 8. Ibid., pp. l87ff. Cf. E.G. Hinson, "William Carey and Ecumenical Pragmatism," in Journal of Ecumenical Studies (1980), pp. 73ff. 9. Firth, op. cit., p. 147. 10. On the 1800-1914period, see K.S. Latourette,A History of the Expansion of Christianiry, Vol. 6 (New York: Harper and Row, 1944), pp. 65-2t4. ll. A. Duff, Missionary Addresses(Edinburgh: Johnstoneand Hunter, p 1850), . 19. 12. On the caste question generally, see D.B. Forrester, Caste and Christianity: Attitudes and Policies on Caste of Anglo-Saxon Protestant Missions in India (London: Curzon Press, 1980). Cf. also E.J. Sharpe,"Church Membershipand the Church in India," in J. Kant and R. Murray (eds.), Church Menbership and Intercommunion (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973),pp. 155-179. 13. M. Winslow et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the South India Missionary Conference....i858 (Madras, 1858),p. xi. Cf. A. Duff,The Indian (London: Nisbet, 1858). Rebellion. Its Causesand Results 14. J.W. Kaye, Christianitl- in India: An Historical Narrative (London: Smith, Elder, 1859),p. 500f. Cf. J.B. Mozley, "lndian Conversion," in Essays, HistoricaL and Theological II (London: Rivingtons, p 1884), p.3l2ff. 15. Neill, op. cit.,II, p. 428f. 16. J.W. Pickett, Christian Mass Movements in /ndia (Cincinnati: Abingdon, 1933). 17. Cf. C.C. Delhi, Church and Shrine: IntermingLingPatterns of Culture in the Lifu of Some Christian Groups in South India (Uppsala, I 965). 18. K.C. Sen, The Brahmo Somaj: Four Lectures (London: W.H. Allen, 1 8 7 0 ) ,p p . 3 - 3 6 . t9. Ibid.,p. 3t. 20. Ibid., p. 26. 21. K. Baago, Pioneers of Indigenous Christianity (Bangalore:CISRS, 1969),pp. 26ff. 22. E.I. Sharpe, Not to Destroy but to Fulfil: The Contribution of J.N. Farquhar to Protestant Missionary Thought in India before 1914 ( U p p s a l a ,1 9 6 5 ) . 23. Idem, The Theologyof A.G. Hogg (Bangalore: CISRS, 197l). 24. Sharpe,Not to Destroy ..., pp.329 ff. 25. K.T. Paul, "How Missions DenationalizeHindus," in International Review of Missions (1919), pp. 510-521. 26. P. Chenchiah, "Present Tendencies in Indian Religions," in M. Stauffer (ed.), An Indian Approach to India (New York: Missionary EducationMovement, 1927), p. 60f. 2'1 A.L Appasamy, Sundar Singh: A Biography (Madras: Christian Lir . erature Society, 1966) is the most recent book-length study.

l88l l89l 1901 191I t92l i931 195 I l96l t9't I

1,862,634 2,234,380 2,923,241 3,876,203 4,754,000 6,296,763 8,392,038 10,728,086 t4,223,382

Notes

0.73 0.79 0.99 1.24 1.50 1.79 2.35 2.44 2.s96

l. Text circulatedby Bharat Sevak Samaj,New Delhi, January l,19'73. 2. The historical literatureis vast. Of recent works, see especiallyS.C. Neill, A History of Christianity in India I-II (Cambridge University Press, 1984-85), which however only covers the period down to 1858. A multi-volume history is also under preparation by the Church History Association of India. A useful one-volume summary is C.B. Firth, An Introduction to Indian Church History (Madras: Christian LiteratureSociety, l96l ). 3. L.W. Brown, The Indian Christians of St. Thonas (Cambridge University Press,1956). 4. The Capuchin Mission Unit, India and its Missions (New York: Macmillian, 1923),pp. 8lff. 5. V. Cronin, A Pearl to India (London: Hart-Davis, 1959). 6. Firth, op. cit., p.126. 7. On the Tranquebar Mission, see Neill, op. cit., ll, pp. 28ff.

INDIA IN 342 / RELICION MODERN Rammohun's opponentsnot only argued that his involvement in theological debates was inappropriate because of his g.rahstha life, they also argued that the open and public context in which he engaged in these discussions was inappropriate. In fact, Kavitaker said that the publication of Rammohun's books was undermining He dharma and causing uncountedevils and natural calamities.3s said that if Rammohun was genuinely concernedabout the good of the people he would recognize that most people were not competent to benefit from reading and hearing the translations of the Upani;ads which Rammohun was publishing. It was better for people to read the simpler Sastras, the Puranas, before they read the Ilpanisads. If they read the Upanisads without the proper predispositionthey would likely becomeconfusedand irreligious.36 Rammohun disagreed.He argued that most people were capable of understandingthat the world was created and governed by a Supreme Being who could not be adequatelyunderstood through the stories in the Puranas and who could not be properly worshipped through the use of images. Therefore, when he established the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 he inaugurateda form of worship conThe worship was congregational. sistent with these assumptions. The service consisted of readings from the Upani;ads' Brahma Sutra and Vedas, exposition of these readings, prayer, and singing. In the worship service there were no prohibitions against the attendance of any caste, religion, or nationality.3i The objections to Rammohun's translationsof the Upanisads and to the worship of the Brahmo Samaj were based on a fundamental disagreementover man's natural capacity to understandreligious truth. Hindu social and religious life is based on the premise that there are significant natural differences between individuals. This is expressedin the concept of adhikara-bheda, which denotes the differences in capacity or competencebetween people. The adhikara. competence,of one person may be significantly different from the adhikara of the next. Part of the elaboration of this concept of the uniquenessof individual inclinations has been the traditional distinction between the three (sometimes four38) ends of man: kama (pleasure), artha (wealth), and dharma (order). It is considerednatural that men may wish to pursue pleasure,wealth, or order' Some will pursue one more than the others, while other men may pursue all of these ends simultaneously or serially. It is assumed that the end which is

RAMMOHUN ROY / 343 pursued will be determinedby the individual's inclination and capacity. Another way in which this concept has been elaborated is through the discussionof the three basic qualities (gunas) of hu_ man beings: sattva (goodness),raTas(passion), and tamas (igno_ r a n c e ) .A g a i n , i t i s a s s u m e d h a t e a c h i n d i v i d u a l w i l l h a v e s o m e t unique combination of these qualities.These categoriesare broad but not restrictive.They acknowledge what might be cailed the different psychological dispositionsof people and describe appropriate life-stylesfor those in each category. This concept of adhikara-bheda is also at the basis of the so_ cial structure.The generalvarna structureof Indian society can be understood as a very basic sketch of several fundamentally different groups of people.Theseclassifications not intendedto limit are resourcefulness, they are intendedto point to generalcharacterbut istics of people in the different roles in society. T h i s r e c o g n i t i o no f v a r i e t y i s e q u a l l y i m p o r t a n t i n r e l i g i o u s matters.Radhakrishnan suggests that Indian religion and philosophy acknowledge the inherentvariety in human inclinationsby the very terminology which they use. He points particularly to the word darsana,which is customarilytranslated ..philosophy.,' as The word meansa view or a viewpoint, a perception; suggests it that all phi_ losophy is essentiallya particular view or vision of reality held by o n e p e r s o n o r o n e s c h o o l o f t h o u g h t .T h a t v i e w i s b a s e do n t h e particular capacitiesand experiences which that ..viewer" has had. This means,says Radhakrishnan, thar "the Hindu philosophyof re_ ligion, starts from and returns to an experimentalbasis. Only this basis is as wide as human nature itself."3e Aurobindo puts it in As The Foundations of Indian Culture, "Indian religion has always felt that since the minds, the temperaments, intellectualaffinities of the men are limited in their variety, a perfect liberty of thought and of worship must be allowed to the individual in his approachto the infinite."{) Rammohun sharedthe assumptionthat people had a great variety of dispositionsand capacities.But he statesrepeatedly that thesecapacities were being underestimated. his judgment, all but In a very small minority could understand the basic teachingsof the Upanisads.He did not expect everyone.to benefit fully from the teachings of the Upanisads, but he argued that the effect produced in each person would be proportionatelysuccessful"according to

INDIA IN 344 / RELIGION MODERN his state of mental preparation."a'Certainly he did not agree that people would be confused or made irreligious by hearing the Upani;ads read and exegetedin theological debate or worship' Rammohun's discussionsof qdhikara and the g.rhasthalife were challengesto the assumptionthat religious truth was esoteric. in This assumptionis widespread the Hindu tradition. One expression of it is the prohibition againstpermitting certain membersof society to hear the Vedas being recited. Another manifestationof is this assumption the distinctionmade betweenwhat can be taught to the initiated (dtksita) and to the uninitiated(ad*sita). Rammohun's introduction of congregationalworship, his public distribution of vernacular translations of Upanisads, and his defense of g.rhastha participation in theological discussionwere among the first signs of an egalitarianemphasisin religious and social reform movements in modern India. A third major theme which emerges from the life of Rammohun was identified very aptly by Kissory Chand Mitra when By he referred to Rammohun as a "religious Benthamite."a2 this Mitra seemedto mean that Rammohun evaluatedreligious beliefs and practiceslargely by whether they seemedto improve human life. There is ample evidenceof this in Rammohun'sworks. Even in the Tuhfatul, where Rammohun was most cynical that there was some utilabout religious beliefs, he acknowledged ity to religion. Two essentialreligious beliefs, he said, were a belief in a soul and a belief in an after-life during which the soul was rewarded or punished according to the deeds done in this He world.a3 acknowledgedthat the truth of these beliefs could not to but yet it was reasonable perpetuatethem. It be demonstrated, was reasonable,he said, becausethese beliefs heiped to restrain people from participation in immoral or illegal acts. Religion, in its essence,functioned to maintain social order. His concern for the social implications of religious doctrine contributed significantly to his interest in the teachingsof Jesus.As he wrote in his introduction to The Precepts of Jesus, "This simple code of religion and morality is so admirably calculatedto elevate men's ideas to high and liberal notions of God ... and is so well fitted to regulate the conduct of the human race in the dischargeof and to society,that I cannot but their various duties to themselves, hope the best effects from its promulgation in the present form."{ It was also largely his concern for the social well-being of his

RAMMOHUN ROY / 345 countrymenwhich made him so relentless his attack on polythe_ in ism and image worship. He was convincedthat polytheismand image worship resulted in the destructionof "every humane and social feeling."{' In the introductionof his Translationof an Abridgenrent of the Vedantat6he charged that the "rites introduced by the peculiar practice of Hindoo idolatry" destroy the ..textureof society." He acknowledged that significantreligious change neededto occur for the sake of his countrymen's"political advantage and social comfort." His campaign against .rdtr was a good example of his own determination bring about such change. to Rammohun also opposed polytheism and image worship because he u'as convinced that they led to immorality. Stories of the nudity, de&lna, he wrote, encouraged belief that uncleanness, bauchery,and murder were sanctionedby the example of Krsna. The worship of Kalr was even more offensive,since it includecl human sacrifice.aT There seemsto be ample evidenceto support a growing number of scholarswho have recently interpreted Rammohunprimarily as a religious utilitarian whose central concern was the well-being of society. SusobhanSarkar remarks that Rammohun's reason for "reviving public interestin the Vedantawas promptedby his desire to promote the comfort of the people and to unite the different groups into which society had split up. He considered the forms of direct worship as a liberationfrom priestly tyranny and a meansof r e a l i z a t i o n f h u m a n b r o t h e r h o o d . " a sa m m o h u n ' ss o c i a l c o n c e r n o R signaleda change from an emphasison "mystery and metaphysics t o e t h i c s a n d p h i l a n t h r o p y . " oT h i s c h a n g e o f e n r p h a s i sw h i c h , Rammohun's work expresses clearly is characteristic a subso of stantialamount of nineteenth-century Indian thought.Theology and rnetaphysics becametools of ethics and social change. R a m m o h u n ' sc o n t r i b u t i o n so m o d e r nI n d i a n r e l i g i o u st h o u g h t t are diverse.Some of thern,such as his emphasison the [Jpanisads irnd Brahnn Sutra, and his iconoclasm,are a continuing legacy maintainedby the Brahnro Samaj. Others have been more diffuse i n t h e i r i m p a c t :t h a t i s , i t i s d i f f i c u l t r o d e r e r m i n e h a t i n f l u e n c e w R a m m o h u n ' sp o s i t i o n h a s h a d o n s u b s e q u e ntth i n k e r s . W h e t h e r those continuitiescan be traced or not, severalsignificant features of his religious thought can be noted in summary. F i r s t , R a m m o h u n ' sr a t i o n a l i s t i ct h e i s m p r o v i d e d h i m w i t h a hermeneuticby which to evaluatecritically his own tradition and

346 /

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RAMMOHUN ROY /

347

Christianity. In the early years of the nineteenthcentury this was a useful means of refining the Hindu tradition and challenging the Christian.He could be a studentof "comparativereligion" without Second,Rammohun's making one tradition normative for others.50 arguments in support of the g.rhaslftcinvolvement in religious discussion,and his personalcampaignof publicationand debate,conof tributed to the individualization religious authority.To some exby tent he was assisted technology.Printing technologyhas made it possible for more individuals to read scripturesoutside the influence of religious leaders.Privately nurtured interpretationssoon began to question the accepted wisdom of traditional authorities. Rammohun not only took advantageof the possibility of doing this, he also argued strongly in favor of greater individualization of authority. Third, Rammohun's utilitarian approach to religious thought and social practice challengedthe establishedpriority of salvation (moksa) over social order (dharma). Rammohun wrote very little about salvationbut a great deal about the social order.rr Fourth, Rammohun shifted the focus of ethical discussionfiom asHe argued that the many regulations ceticism to humanitarianism. of food and drink were burdenswhich obscuredpeople's ability to see and respondto the needsof other people. developedthese asAlthough Rammohun never systematically pects of his thought into a unified philosophy, it is worth noting that these features of his thought provide adequatepremises for articulating a philosophyof a secularstate.

Notes L For example,DwarkanathTagore (1764-1846)was a dominant influence in early Indo-British commercial relationships.Radhakanta of in Deb (1784-1867)was instrumental the development numerous educationaland publishing projects.Mritunjay Vidyalankar (17621819) was an instructorat the College of Fort William and later a pandit attachedto the Supreme Court. 2. Rammohun's press was known as the Unitarian Press, establishedin the 1823. He used it to publish his pamphlets.His newspapers, Sambad Kaumudi and the Persian Mirat-ul-Akhbar, began in Bengali 1821 and 1822 respectivelyand were not published at his own press For more information about his publishing activities see Sophia Dobson Collet, The Life and lztters of Raja Rammohun Roy, 3rd ed' (Calcutta: SadharanBrahmo Samaj, 1962)' pp. 157-205passim'

3. Collet, Lift and Letters, pp. 25l-266,346,537. 4. Rammohun's most famous protests were against the press ordinance of March 14, 1823 (see Collet, Life and Leuers, pp. 423-454), and the Jury Act which became effective in lg27 (see colret, Life and Letters, pp. 266-269). His precise involvement in the establishment educationalinstituof tions such as the Hindu colrege has been questioned in recent years. See Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, On Ranmohun Roy (Calcutta:The Asiatic Society, 1972), pp. 20-39. But his commii_ ment [o a broadly basededucational system is not in dispute. He was aware that he was establishing precedcnt doing this. a by He remarks on this in "A Defence of Hindoo Theism" (lgl1.), in The English Works of Raja Rammohun Roy, eds. Kalidas Nag and Debajyoti Burman (Calcurta: SadharanBrahmo Samaj, 1946], 2 : 8-5.Hereafter this collection of his Engrish writings is referred to as Works. 7. A list of Rammohun's publications is incruded in colret, Life and Letters, pp. 525-41 More recently a lisr of Rammohun's ,"ligiou, . publicarionshas been included in Ajit Kumar Ray, The nefigious Ideas of RamrnohunRoy (New Delhi: Kanak publications, lb76), pp.99-103. 8. Two terms are used interchangeably here. Nastik refersto one who does not believe, an atheist.pasanda refers to a heretic or to one who falsely assumes the character a Hinou. of 9. The most extensivesummaries appcarthroughoutthe biographywritten by Collet; in Amitabha Mukherjee, Refornr and Rcgeneration in Bengal, 1774-1823(Calcutta: Rabindra Bharati University, l96g), pp. 125-202: and in several Bengali biographies, most notably Nagendranath Chattopadhyay, Malntnra Raja Rammohun Ray;r Jiban Clurit,5th ed. (Altahabad:Indian press Ltd.. l92g). 10. The most noteworthyanalyses are thoseby Ajit Kumar Ray, The Re_ ligious ldeas of Rammohun Roy; by Sisir Kumai Das, in Niharranjan Ray, ed., Rammohun Roy: A Bi_Centenary Tribure (New Delhi: National Book Trusr, 1914), pp.7l_91 and by several ; authors in V.C. Jo.shi,ed., Rammohun Roy and the process of Mod_ ernizationin India (New Delhi: Vikas publishing House, 1975). Il. one such issue is the deveropment religion in eighteenth-century of India For a brief description of how eighteenth-century rerigioui thought is usually dismissed,see JamesN. pankratz, ..The Religious Thought of Rammohun Roy" (ph. D. diss., McMaster Universitv. 1975)pp.7-10. . 12. This claim was made often during the 1972 bicentenary celebrations, most dramatically in a speech read on behalf of Indira Gandhi in Calcutta in June at the National Librarv.

I
348 I RELIGION MODERN IN INDIA 13. Majumdar, 40. p. 14. Published Englishas Tuhfatul in Muwahhiddin a Gift to Deists, or trans.Moulavi Obaidullah Obaide(Calcutta: el Sadharan Brahmo
Samaj, 1949). RAMMOHUN ROY / 349

-T

1 5 .Tuhfatul, n.p. 1 6 .I b i d . ,p . l l . t't. I b i d . , p p . l l - 1 2 , l 6 - t 7 . 1 8 .Ibid., pp. 6-7. 1 9 .Rdmmohun Ray, Rammohun Cranthabali, eds. Brajendranath
Bandyopadhay and Sajanikanta Das (Calcutta: Bangiya Sahitya Parishat, n.d.), 2 : 4l-64. Hereaftercited as Grantlmbalr. 20. "The Preceptsof Jesus:The Guide to Peaceand Happiness"(1820) in Works,5: l-54. 21. This is essentiallyhis point in his "Translationof an Abridgementof t h e V e d a n t "( 1 8 1 6 ) .i n W o r k s .2 : 5 7 - 7 2 . 2 2 . In fact, his involverrentin theologicaldebates with Christiansseemed to convince many of his contemporaries that he was probably inclined toward Christianityand thus a traitor to his Hindu tradition. 23. His responseto Christiansis containedin various publicationsnorv collected in Works, vols. 4-6. Christian criticisms were mostly directed against the sectarian rather than the philosophicalliterature, and Rammohun'sapproach diverted the criticismssubstantially. all This debate may be found at Granthabah, 2 : 6'l-93. 2 5 . Among the many examplesRammohuncited were Janaka,an ancicnt philosopher-king of Mithila; Yajfravalkya, a famous sage and teacher;and Vasistha. the sageof the Rg Verla,Epics, and Puranas. (1816) in Works, 2'. 26. See especially"Translationof the lshopanishad" 43-44; and "Brahmanistha Grhasther Lakshman" ( I 826), in Granhabalt, 4 : 29-33. 2 7 . Granthabalt,2 : 75. 28. BrajendranathBandyopadhyay,ed., Sangbad Putre Sekaler Katha, (1949), | : 327. 2nd ed. (Calcutta:Bangiya SahityaParishat, 29. GaurikantaBhattacharya. Jiiananjan,2nd ed. (Calcutta,1838), pp. 4,

38. The fourth end, moksa (liberation), is sometimes regarded as one of goal which this group and at other times is considereda separate involves turning away from the other three. 39. S. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Lde (London: Unwin Books, 1 9 6 0 ) ,p . 1 6 . 40. Sri Aurobindo, The Foundations of Indian Culture (Pondicherry: Sri A u r o b i n d oA s h r a m ,1 9 5 9 ) ,p . 1 3 8 . 41. Works,2 : 132. 42. Kissory Chand Mitra, "Rammohun Roy," Calcutta Review, 4 (JulyDecember,1845) : 388. 43. Tuhfatul, p. 5. 44.Works,5:4.
a J ,

/ <

tr h t: w { . ,, u

't
a ,

<Lt, J

46.[bid..2:60. 4'1.lbid..2 : 92. (New Delhi: and SarkarBengalRenaissance Other Essays 48. Susobhan
P H P e o p l e ' s u b l i s h i n g o u s e ,1 9 7 0 ) ,p . l l . Ro-v(Bombay:Asia PublishingHouse, 1958), 49. Iqbal Singh, Ramrnohun p. 78.

5 0 Many authorshave creditedhim with being the "first studentof comparativereligion."

5 l His most clear, althoughvery short, statementabout salvation/liberationis in Works,2: 197-198.

t4-t7. 30. Collet,Lift and ktters, p. 125,records how careful Rammohun was
not to give evidencefor this accusation.

3 t . Kavitakerraisesthis issueat Granthabalt.2

-t z.

:72-73. Tuhfatul,p. l. J J . Works. 2 : 88. 34.I b i d . . 2 : l 1 4 . 1 5 9 . J ) . Granthabalu2 : 7l-'12. 36. Ibid.,p. 78. 3'1.For a description of the establishmentof the Brahmo Samaj see Collet, Lift antl Letters, pp. 209-50. The Trust Deed outlining the . purposes the Brahmo Samaj is reprintedin ibid., pp. 468-471 of

SVAMIDAYANANDA SARASVATI 35I i Changing Ideological Patterns

t4
SVAMI DAYANANDA SARASVATI

To begin with, the main eventsof the life of Svami Dayananda ( 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 8 3 )m a y b e n a r r a t e d ,t h o u g h n e c e s s a r i l y i t h a c e r t a i n w economy. Dayananda was born into a Brahman farnily in a princely state of Gujarat, a section of western India relatively untouched by British cultural influence. His well-to-do father i n s t r u c t e dh i m i n S a n s k r i t a n d S h a i v i s m f r o m t h e a g e o f five, but Dayanandarevolted against idol-worship at fourteen, and to avoid being married ran away from home at nineteen to become a sannyasi(religious mendicant)of the Sarasvatiorder. He spent the next fifteen years as a wanderi n g a s c e t i c ,l i v i n g i n j u n g l e s , i n H i m a l a y a nr e t r e a t s , n d a t a p l a c e s o f p i l g r i m a g e t h r o u g h o u tn o r t h e r n I n d i a . A t o u g h , blind old teachercompletedhis educationby literally beating for the four Vedas and a disdain for all into him a reverence later scriptures. For the rest of his life Dayanandalectured in all parts of I n d i a o n t h e e x c l u s i v ea u t h o r i t y o f t h e V e d a s . T i m e a f t e r time he challengedall comers to religious debates,but few could withstand his forceful forensic attack. Idol-worship is not sanctionedby the Vedas, he pointed out, nor is untouchability, nor child marriage, nor the subjectionof women to unequal statuswith men. The study of the Vedas should be open to all, not just to brahmans,and a man's caste should with his merits. Such revolutionary teachbe in accordance ings evoked the wrath of the orthodox and numerous attempts were made on Dayananda'slife. His great physical strength saved him from swordsmen,thugs, and cobras,but . t h e l a s t o f m a n y a t t e m p t st o p o i s o n h i m s u c c e e d e dL i k e John the Baptist, he accuseda princely ruler of loose living, h a n d t h e w o m e n i n q u e s t i o ni n s t i g a t e d i s d e a t h b y h a v i n g g r o u n d g l a s sp u t i n h i s r n i l k . a An ideological-analyticalapproach, as opposed to a merely above, enablesone to distinone as presented biographical-factual guish six more or less clearly marked phasesin Dayananda'slife. the and represents peThe first one may be dated from 1824-1845 r i o d o f h i s s t a y w i t h h i s f a m i l y , d u r i n g t h e c o u r s eo f w h i c h h e

Arvind Sharma

Modern India, that is to say, the India of the nineteenthand the twentieth centuries, produced several remarkable thinkers to whose originality the other chaptersof this book bear witness.But when we speak of Svami DayanandaSarasvati,r are talking of we a case in which both the man and his messagewere not merely original but perhapsunique. He was unique as a man in the sense that while all the other thinkersof the period under discussionhad an effective knowledge of the English language,Svami Dayananda w a s i n n o c e n t o f i t . " W h e n K e s h u b e x p r e s s e dh i s r e g r e t t h a t d Dayananda id not know English,since if he had he could have become his companionon his next visit to Britain, Dayanandaretorted that it was a greater pity that the leader of the Brahmo S a m a j k n e w n o S a n s k r i ta n d s p o k e i n a l a n g u a g em o s t I n d i a n s could not understand."2 And his messagewas unique in the sense that while the other thinkersof his time were moving away, in one w a y o r a n o t h e r ,f r o m t h e d o g m a o f i n f a l l i b l e r e v e l a t i o n ,S v a m i Dayanandadeclared that "the Vedas were not only true, but they containedall truth, including the ideas of modern science."3 This essay,therefore,naturally falls in severalparts. The first part will deal with the man, especiallywith his changing ideological patternsand the directions of that change.This will naturally lead us finally to identify his more mature thought,chronologically and hopefully logically as well. In the rest of the essayhis views on Vedic revelation, attitudes to other religions, reconversionto Hinduism and social and political issueswill be considered.

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IN INDIA 352 I RELIGION MODERN formed an intensedesireto seek his personalsalvation-a decision to which the loss of his sister and f'avoriteuncle must have made its contribution.5 w T h e s e c o n dp h a s e m u s t b e d a t e d f r o m 1 8 4 5 - 1 8 6 0 , h e n t h e young man, now turned Svami, roamedthe sacredregions of north India,6and especiallythe Himalayas,in searchof salvationthrough yoga, during the course of which he temporarily took to using hemp as well.7 The third phase, which may be dated from 1860-1867,is repwhich was a turning resentedby his discipleshipof Virajananda,E point in his careeras it turned him from a private spiritual aspirant into a public religious crusader. by The fourth phaseis represented the period from 1867-1872 which witnessedDayananda'sfirst efforts in the direction of refbrming Hinduism. It was also a formative period in the growth of his new ideology. The climactic event during this phase was provided by the famous debateover the Vedic sanctionof idolatry at Banaras. is The fifth period, from 1872-1875, extremelysignificant,as it D a y a n a n d ac o m e i n c o n t a c t w i t h t h e H i n d u e l i t e o f saw Svami but Calcutta.This did not affect the content of his teachings,'! did his style. As a matter of fact Keshub ChandraSen much to change gave "the Svami two useful concrete pieces of advice, which he readily accepted," namely, that the Svami cover his body fully rather than appear in a loincloth, and that he lecture in Hindi rather than Sanskrit.It was also at Calcuttathat the Svami discoveredthe His importanceof public lecturesand publication.r') public lectures recetvedand the SatyarthaPrakaia, his wellwere enthusiastically in known work, appeared 1875." l T h e l a s t p h a s eo f t h e S v a m i D a y a n a n d a ' s i f e i s c o v e r e db y which saw the formation of the Arya Samaj the period 1875-1883, especiallyin the Punjab. It ends with his death in and its success, the course of his efforts to enlist the rulers of Rajputana on his side. During this period he also produceda revised edition of the Satyartha Prakaia, among other works. We will now concern ourselves with a few examples of the c h a n g i n gp a t t e r n so f h i s v a l u e s .I t m a y b e p a r t i c u l a r l yu s e f u l t o choosethose areasin which his thoughtschangedsignificantlyover the years. It may further be useful to choose aspectsof mature with Svami Dayananda thought in some important areasassociated

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w h i c h g i v e t h e i m p r e s s i o no f b e i n g s e t f r o m t h e v e r y b e g i n n i n g though they really underwenta processof gradualcrystallization. The last chapterof the SatyarthaPrakaia (last edition)t2cont a i n s a s t a t e m e no f S v a m i D a y a n a n d a ' s e l i e f s a n d d i s b e l i e f s . t t b I m i g h t b e i l l u m i n a t i n g t o s u b j e c ts o m e o f t h e s e t o t h e a n a l y t i c a l p r o c e s s u t l i n e da b o v e , o (l) "I hold that the four Vedas (the divine revealedknowledge and religious truth comprisingthe Samhitaor Mantras) as infallible and as authorityby their very nature."r3 Until 1870 Svami Dayananda seemsto have held the view that the B r a h m a n a s < l u l db e c o n s i d e r e d s V e d a a l o n g w i t h t h e S a m h i t a c a portions.r{As a matter of fact the processof the gradual narrowing of the focus on the Sarnhita and especially the Rig-veda-samhita on alone had been detected long ago by B.P. Pal, as the historianR.C. Majumdar pointed outr5when he observed: T h e a b s o l u t e l y a u t h o r i t a t i v ec h a r a c t e ro f t h e V e d a s , a n d Vedas alone, formed the fundamentalcreed of Dayananda. A t f i r s t h e i n c l u d e dw i t h i n t h e V e d a s b o t h B r a h m a n a s n d a but when it was pointedout that the Upanishads Upanishads, thernselves repudiated the authorityof the Vedas as the highe s t o r t h e o n l y r e v e l a t i o n ,D a y a n a n d a o d i f i e d h i s v i e w s . m Ultimately the Samhitaportion of the Vedas, and particularly the Rigveda Santhita, was alone held to be the real Vedic revelationat leastfor all practicalpurposes.'6 W e m a y n e x t t a k e a c a s e w h i c h e x e m p l i f i e sc h a n g ei n t h e o logicalorientation ver the years. o (2) "There are three things beginninglessnamely, God, : souls and Prakriti or the material cause of the universe."l7 This is a fairly standardposition in non-advairlcVedanta but in the first edition of the Sctyartha Prakaia Svami Dayanandahad propoundedwhat is a strikingly Christian idea: the concept of creation ex nihilolrt The Lord was regardedas being close to a crea t o r i n t h e C h r i s t i a ns e n s ei n 1 8 7 5 . B u t t h i s m e a n t t h a t t h e u n i verse was not beginningless and endless-and this is indeed what Svami Dayananda believed.The theologicaltransformation involved here has been discussed detail bv J.T.F. Jordens.re in

t,

INDIA IN 354 / RELICION MODERN (3) "Moksha or salvation is the emancipation of the soul and resumption of from all woes and suffering after the expiration of a fixed period of enearthly life joying salvation'"2{) had declaredmoksa to be In 1875, however Svami Dayananda time of the second edition of the But by the an eternal state.2r Satyartha Prakaia, Svami Dayanandahad departedfrom this position and come round to the view expressedabove. The logic underlying it seemed to relate to the logic of karma. J'T'F' Jordens points out: The second edition omits all these special powers of the he sannyasi'. remains bound by works. It clearly statesthat theiiva's knowledge,even in moksha,can never becomeunlimited, and goes as far as declaring that "the relation between the iiva and karma is an eternal one " The essenceof is argumentation as follows: mokshais achieved Dayananda's b y t h e a p p l i c a t i o no f c e r t a i n m e a n s ' t h e s e b e i n g r i g h t a c tions. Whatever change is affected by the application of means can be undone by the application of means of the same order. Moksha, a change of condition effected by human action, can be undone by human action' Man's activity itself is an eternal quality, but its effects,even its major efof fects, bondageand liberation,are necessarily limited durain time'22 tion'.moksha, therefore, must be limited Sometimes,even when the ideas themselvesdid not change' the logic underlying them was extendedor refined over time' In 1875 Svami Dayanandawas perhapsalready rnoving in the direction that the Sudras had a right to study the Vedas, but the argument had to be somewhatcircuitous.He began by maintainingthat ,.the shudras who in a properly structured society are those lacking from the study of the the necessaryintelligence,are excluded"23 that this did not "refer to vedas. It could, however,be understood the Shudras of the time, becausethe society has not yet been propTechnically, therefore,the Shudras were to be erly structured."2a but actually it may not be so' Subsequently'however' "*tlud.d, Svami Dayanandabecameforthright in the advocacy of the right of vesthe shudras to study the vedas and liberated himself from the arguing could God be "so tigial traces of the orthodox tradition by it biasedas to forbirJthe study of the Vedas to them and prescribe

SVAMIDAYANANDA SARASVATI 355 / for the twice-born?"25 also brings his familiarity with the Vedic He co{pus to bear on the point and quotesVedic versesindicating that Vedas could be studied by the Shudras. The verse quoted is YajurVeda 26.2.26 Thus it is clear that the thought of Svami Dayananda was molded by the experiences had, the men he met, and the situahe tions he encountered. His mental firmament, like that of any dynamic thinker, was in motion even while giving the appearance to being unchanging.If, however, there was any orientation to this cosmic movementof his thought,it is to be found in the polar role the concept of Vedic revelationcame to play in it. After a somewhat diachronic study of his ideas, it is to a synchronic study of this conceptof his to which we must now turn.

Scriptural Authority When the Arya Samaj was founded by Svami Dayanandato propagate his ideas, one of these was represented by the motto; "Go back to the Vedas."2? What then was Svami Dayananda'sattitude towards the Vedas as representative scriptural authority of within Hinduism?28 The "Veda is precisely the sign, perhaps the only one," of Hindu orthodoxy,2e distinguished from Hinduism, so that one as need not be surprised if Svami Dayanandaoffers the traditional salutationto the Vedas. But while "even in the most orthodox domains, to reverencethe Vedas ha[d] come to be a simple 'raising of the hat,' in passing,to an idol by which one no longer intends to be encumbered later on,"30 became,in the case of Dayananda, it a direct "source of inspiration."rrDayananda preachedin "favour of returningto an unqualifiedadherence the Veda, and claimed that to explicit principles of pure monotheismand of social and moral reform could be found in the hymns."32 key aspect,therefore,of A Dayananda's attitude towards spiritual authority is his wholehearted acceptance the Vedas, which he regardedvitally and not merely of formally as the "ultimate sourceof religious authority."rrThis attitude may be contrastedwith that of Ramakishna who "did not fear to teach that 'the truth is not in the Vedas, one should act according to the Tantras,"'x althoughelsewhere "is more moderate, he or let us say, indifferent."3s And although Vivekananda'sattitude was perhaps "more deferential"s6 even he is known to have remarketl

IN INDIA 356 / RELIGION MODERN of that "in India . . . if I take certain passages the Vedas, and I juggle with the text and give it the most impossiblemeaning These remarks may all the imbeciles will follow me in a crowd."3? be contrastedwith the forthright statementby Dayananda in his on statement of Beliefs and Disbeliefs (svamantavyamantavya) the acceptanceof Vedic authority quoted earlier. The intensiryof belief in the Vedas Dayanandaseemsto share alwith the Mimarhsa and Vedanta schoolsof Hindu philosophy,38 though the form of his belief seemsto be more in the tradition of of the Niyaya school, for he basesthe authoritativeness the Vedas but not on the doctrine of their eternal self-existence,3e on the Niyaya belief that "the Vedas were utteredby Isvara himself."{) agreeswith most of HinHowever, althoughSvami Dayananda much of it in duism in paying homageto the Vedas and surpasses his commitmentto them,4'he departsradically from tradition in his definition of the corpus of literaturewhich may legitimately be reThus, although, "In acceptingthe Vedas as garded as the Veda.a2 the only authority Dayanandawas practically on a line with Raja Rammohan Roy,"'tr he differed with him both in the definition of Rammohun Roy the corpus of the Veda and in its interpretation. turned to the Upanishads for inspiration, but though at first Dayananda "included within the Vedas both Brahmanas and them. Upanishads . . when it was pointed out that the Upanishads selves repudiatedthe authority of the Vedas as the highest or the modified his views."* only revelation,Dayananda Dayananda also held to "the four Brahmanas of the four Vedas, the six Angas and Upangas, the four Up-Vedas, and the ll27 Shakhasof the Vedas as books composedby Brahmas and other Ris/ris, as commentarieson the Vedas, and having authority of a dependentcharacter.In other words, they are authoritative inin sofar as they are in accord with the Vedas, whatever passages these works are opposed to the Vedas, I hold them as This unauthoritative."as rather "narrow" conceptionof the scriptural base of Hinduism is generallybelieved to have limited the appeal of his movement.4D.S. Sarma writes: It is regrettablethat, while insisting on the authority of the the has not sufficiently emphasized Veda, Svami Dayananda importance of the Upanishads,which explain and amplify what is really valuable in the Samhita,and that he has not of recognizedthe authoritativeness a scripturelike the Gita,

SVAMIDAYANANDA SARASVATI 357 / which is the essence all the Upanishads, of becausehe was apparentlyrepelledby the Puranic picturesof Krishna given in the Vishnu Purana and the Bhagavata. He could have strengthened hand a thousand-fold he had included the his if Gita in his canon and rightly interpretedits dynamic gospel of action so congenialto his own temper and outlook. As it is, Dayanandaarbitrarily limited the extent of the Hindu religious canon and thus to a certain extent stultified himself, as the leaders of the Brahmo Samaj stultified themselvesby their blatant rationalism and the right of private individual judgment at every step in going through the Hindu scriptures.But probably the very limitation of his canon addedto the powerfulnessof his messageand served his immediate purposeof purifying Hinduism and bringing all Hindus under one banner and enabling them to ward off the attacks of alien religions in India. For there is no doubt that the Arya Samaj, which Dayanandafounded, is the church militant in the bosom of Hinduism.aT The significanceof these developments may now be assessed. The attitude of Svami Dayanandamay be describedas "dogmatic" in that he acceptedthe doctrine of the infallibility of the Vedic authority in Hindu philosophicalspeculation.as According to B.C. pal, in this Dayanandawas following the example set by Christianity and Islam,ae although Dayanandacriticized severely the claims of Christianity and Islam to be regarded as revealed religions.s,) Dayanandawas in turn criticized severelyby Mahatma Gandhi for the severity of his criticisms.sr Mahatma Gandhi's criticism seems to stem at least in part from the fact that Dayananda's position seems to repudiate Hindu tolerance of other religions. One may note here, however, "the view of Jaimini and Kumarila (acceptable to all authorities such as Mankara and Ramanuja) that the Vedic faith is exclusive" which "shows that Hinduism is as exclusive as the Semitic faiths and brooks no rivals."52 Thus Dayananda'sdogmatic exclusiveness could as well be related to a strand within the Hindu tradition itself. It may be pointed out, however, that although Dayanandagave his own interpretationof the Vedas, "theoretically every member of the Arya Samaj is free to form his own conclusions,"though "in practice, the Sahhin of the Rigveda, as interpreted by Dayananda . . . formed the bedrock on which stood the entire structure of Arya Samaj."srIf, as will be shown later,

INDTA IN 358 / RELIGION MODERN by Dayananda(l) meant only the Sarirhitaportions of the Vedas karma and the term Veda;saand (2) also believed in the doctrine of then (3) if in the vedas and earlier Brahmana literature the rebirth55 one is doctrine of transmigrationis nowhere clearly mentioned,s6 of this Another consequence faced with somethingof a problem.5? came to recommendcerconceptof the Vedas was that Dayananda tain social usageswhich had gone out of vogue' Thus Rig-Veda Dayanadaallows it'5ealthough X.40.2 refers to Niyogaor levirate's8 for trying has it had gone out of vogue.d)Dayananda been criticized to revive an "immoral" practice.6' Dayananda'semphasisontheSarirhitaraisesnotonlythetheoauthority logical and sociologicalissues;his concept of scriptural thought the means of alio raises epistemologicalissues' In Hindu of valid knowle dge Qtramanas)constitute one list and the sources etc') a separatelist' Dharma (dhaiar-nrula) (see Manusmrti II'6', supreme' although in both cases Vedic authority is regarded as of Vedic auworking on the basis of the supremacy Dayan-anda, the name thority, it would appear,combines these two lists under and remarks: "There are of pa-rikhasor tests of knowledge into one fivekindsoftestsofknow|edge.Thefirstistheattributes,works The second is and nature of God, and the teachingsof the Veda' etc' The third is eight kinds of evidencesuch as direct cognition' .Laws of Nature.' The fourth is conduct and practice of aptas; the Every man fifth is purity and conviction of one's own conscience' these five tests' and should iift truth from error with the help of accept truth and reject error"'62 difbayananda's attitude toward the scriptures of Hinduism Hindu renaissancenot t'ered fiom that of many other leaders of the but also the only on the question of what these scriptures were Thus' while Raja runn", in *trich they were to be interpreted' Vedas as interRammohan Roy "'accepted the authority of the Dayananda altogether preted by the exegeticsof ancient Hinduism" not the commentariesof Sayanaand Mahidhara and did ieSectea on anyone' Dayananda consider any other commentaryas binding which' strikingly' though at thereforegave his own intepretation,"63 the modern approachesto the variance wittr Uottr the traditional and science' Vedas, tries to read in the Vedas the results of modern "scientific" in the scholarly Thus, Dayananda's approach is not his scholarship in sensebut is science-oriented the sensethat he uses in the Vedas' Such an interpretation of to show the presence science

SVAMIDAYANANDA SARASVATI 359 / of the Vedas is of profound significancein the context of his attitude towards scripturalauthority.This significancemay be summarized thus: The word Veda means "knowledge." It is God's knowledge, and thereforepure and perfect. This transcendent and heavenly knowledge embracesthe fundamentalprinciples of all the sciences. TheseprinciplesGod revealedin two ways: (l) in the form of the four Vedas . . . and (2) in the form of the world of nature, which was created according to the prin_ ciples laid down in the Vedas . . . The Vedas, then, being regarded as "the Scripture of true knowledge," the perfect counterpart God's knowledgeso far as basic principlesare of concerned, and the "pattern" according to which Creation proceeded, follows that the fundamental it principle of Veclic exgesiswill be the interpretation the Vedas in such a way of as to find in them the resultsof scientific investigation.M The significanceof this position, in the light of the traditional Hindu attitude towards scriptural authority, is nothing less than revolutionary. The traditionalHindu positionon scripturalauthority, especiallyas developedin the school of AclvaitaVedanta,has been t h a t s c r i p t u r a l a u t h o r i t y i s s u p r e m eo n l y i n t h e s u p r a - s e n u o u s realm. It is not supremein the realm of experiencerepresented by the senses, the mind, etc., for pramanassuch as perceptionand inferencesuffice to provide us with valid knowledgeof this realm of experience.It is in matters relating to dharma, or the determination of right and wrong, and brahman,or the natureof ultimate reality, that scriptural authority is supreme.Hence Mankara's wellknown statement that even if a thousandscriptureswere to tell us that fire is cold they will have to be disregarded because the script u r e h e r e i s m a k i n g a s t a t e m e n t u t s i d ei t s p r o p e rj u r i s d i c t i o n . 6 s o Whether fire is hot or cold is to be determined properly by pratyakha and not by sabda. Such an attitude towards scriptural authority disjoins religion and scienceand may in fact be one of the factors why the conflict betweenreligion and sciencewas felt less keenly within Hinduism than in certain other religions. Svami Dayananda, however, reversesthis position by bringing the results of scientific investigationwithin the scopeof scripturalinquiry. Svami Dayananda thus gave his own interpretation to the Vedas, defined as consistingof the Sahhita portion only.66 the If

INDIA IN 360 / RELICION MODERN been doubted6T sincerity of Dayananda'smotives has occasionally been criticized6swith his methods ancl results have far more often adversereIn varying degreesof intensity.6e view of this generally Miiller uses the exto1i, int".pretation, for which Max ""piioi ..incredible"70 and which Renou describesas "extremely prirrion aberrant''',butnotwithoutrealizingitsculturalsignificance,itis remarkable that Sri Aurobindo should remark: ThereisthennothingfantasticalinDayananda'sideathatthe Veda containstruths of scienceas well as truths of religion. contains I will even add my own conviction that the Veda world does not at other truths of a science which the modern and, in that case, Dayanandahas rather underall possess, Vedic wisstated than overstatedthe depth and range of the is fixed in the dom. Immediately the characterof the Veda senseDayanandagave to it, the merely ritual' mythological' collapses'and the of polytheistic interpetation Sayanancarya interpretation meiety mateological and materialistic European of the collapses. We have, instead, a real scripture' one of a lofty and world's sacred books and the divine word noble religion.T2 remarkOne circumstancerenders Aurobindo's endorsement and Western culable. While Dayanandawas innocent of English when he was ture, Aurobindo "was sent by his father to England year' afonly seven..' and returnedto India only in his twenty-first He became ter iompleting his education in London and Cambridge' marks in these lana scholar in breek and Latin and got record learned in the Indian Civil Service examination' He also t*"t Goethe in Dante and ir"n'"tt, German and Italian and could read theorigina|.,,7]lnasmuchasthemodernWesterninterpretationof that Aurobindo' notthe Vedas draws on comparativelinguistics' with classicaland modern lanwitfrstandinghis wide acquaintance (or for that g""g"t st oitO not have opted for the Western method stands absolutely "who itu,Lr, the traditional Indian) but for one be interpreter of the Veda"?ais remarkable' It should alone as an beliefs to be "in himself regardedhis noted,however, that Dayananda down to with the Ueiiefs of a'll the sagesfrom Brahma comformity it a mere coinciNow back once more to Aurobindo' Is Jaimini."?s in the interpretation of dence that Dayananda incorporated science Aurobindo' incorporated the Vedas and his admirer in this respect'

SVAMIDAYANANDA SARASVATI 36I / evolution into the interpretationof Hinduism? Be that as it may, Aurobindo "shares a return to the Vedic hymns with Dayananda Sarasvati, whom he admired for his attempt 'to re-establishthe Veda as a living religious scripture,' though rejecting the detail of Dayananda'sinterpretation."?6 take an extremeexample of such To detail, Dayananda interpretedfg-Veda L2.7, usually regardedas an invocation to Mitra and Varuna to mean that "water is generated by the combination of hydrogen and oxygen."77 The attitude of Svami Dayanandatowards scriptural authority also differs in another crucial respectfrom that of his forebearsand peers. It was shown earlier how he establishes their correspondence with nature. It was also shown how he regards the Vedas as the sole revelationof God. Accordingly, Svami Dayanandaargued that the Vedas were "the fountainheadof science and religion for all mankind."78 Thus, the "principle that all the sciences have their revealed source in the Vedas is enlarged by the further principle that all religions have their original and inspired source in the same early literature."Te

Attitudes toward other Religions At this point the attitude of Dayanandatoward other religions and his attitude toward scriptural authority intersect.Before one proceeds further, however, the attitude of Dayananda toward other r e l i g i o n s c a l l s f o r a c l a r i f i c a t i o n .D a y a n a n d a s b e l i e v e dt o h a v e i been hostile toward religions other than Hinduisms')-perhaps more so than any other leaderof the Hindu renaissance--but position his needsto be analyzed with greater care than seemsto have been bestowed on it.8r He clearly statesin his autobiography that "My sole object is to believe in what is true and help others to believe in it. I neither accept the demerits of different faiths whether Indian or alien, nor reject what is good in them."s2It is noteworthty that D a y a n a n d a" a t t a c k s w h a t h e c a l l s ' u n t r u e e l e m e n t s ' i n I s l a m o r Christianity the same way as he does in regard to Hinduism. He shows no leniency to the latter on accountof its being his own, or that of his fore-fathers' religion."83It is well-known that Svami Vivekananda attendedthe Parliament of World Religions at Chicago in 1893; it is not as well-known that Svami Dayananda "went so far as to invite a conferenceof the representatives all reliof rions on the occasionof the Delhi Durbar in 1877. Keshub

INDIA IN 362 / RELICION MODERN ChandraSen, Sir Syed Ahmed, and Munshi Alakhdari were among those who respondedto the invitation. Dayananda'sproposal was of premature,but his idea that the exponents various faiths should to evolve a formula of united activity was put their heads together In unique in those days."*o the introduction to Saryartha Prakafu "At present there are learned men in all religions' If he writes: acceptall those broad principleson which they give up prejudices, all religions are unanimous,reject differences and behave affectionately towards each other, much good will be done to the world' The differences of learned people aggravatethe differences among the common masseswith the result that miseriesincreaseand hapIt piness is lost."85 is also noteworthy that he concludeshis statement of beliefs and disbeliefswith the following comment; In short, I acceptuniversalmaxims: for example,speakingof by truth is commended all, and speakingof falsehoodis condemned by all. I acceptall such principles'I do not approve of the wrangling of the variousreligions,againstone another their creeds,misled the people for they have, by propagating another'senemy' My purposeand and turned them into one aim are to help in putting an end to this mutual wrangling' to preach universaltruth' to bring all men under one religion so that they may, by ceasing to hate each other and firmly loving each other, live in peaceand work for their common welfaie. May this view through the grace and help of the Almighty God, and with the support of all virtuous and pious men, soon spreadin the whole world so that all may easily wealth, gratificationof legitimate deacquire righteousness, salvation, and thereby elevate themselvesand sires and attain This alone is my chief aim''o live in happiness. These are noble sentiments.However, to argue on their basis "all truth is that Dayananda had moved from his position that ..truth, wherever it is position that to found in the Vedas''s? the For the one reliis found, is of the veda."E8 perhapsunwarranted. live in harmony seems to have had gion under which all were to for him both a moral and a revelatory component. Men of all religions could act together on the moral plane but if they were to beIn Iong to one true religion it had to be the Vedic revelation.8e orgoal it was the duty of the Arya deito accomplish this latter ..(a) to recall India to the forsaken vedic paths and (b) to Samaj pr"o.h the Vedic gospel throughout the whole world''q

SVAMIDAYANANDA SARASVATI 363 / Reconversion to Hinduism Before the gospel could be preachedto the world, however, it had to be preachedin India. But this presented problem. Hindua ism, especially in the nineteenthcentury, was regardedas a non_ missionaryreligion.et existed, however,in the midst of religions It which were actively missionary,especiallyIslam and Christianity. This meant that these two religions, to the extent that their mis_ sionary activities were successful,continued to gain adherentsat the expenseof the Hindu community. This state of affairs did not go down well with Svami Dayananda,e2 the logic of his position as unfolded itself. First, if the Vedic message had to be broadcast in the world one had to begin with India. Second, if the Vedic religion was meant to purify Hinduism, should it not also be used to purify those Hindus who had ceasedto be Hindus, that is, had become Muslims or Christians but could now be purified and readmitted into the Hindu fold? Thus the themesof conversionof the world to Vedic Hinduism and the reconversion the Indian Musof lims and Christiansto Vedic Hinduism converged-indeed, the latter in a sensegeographicallyif not necessarily logically preceded the other. It was in the Punjab that Svami Dayanandareconverted some Christiansand accordingto J.T.F. Jordens"this was the only area where Dayanandashowed an active interest in shuddhi, although he occasionally reiterated his stand that shuddhi was a proper and necessary procedure."er Although Svami Dayananda did not pursue the idea with particular zeal, it was to become a major element in the activities of the Arya Samaj, which he fbunded, in years.q subsequent The repercussions the Suddhi movement were far-reaching; of on the one hand it infused a missionaryspirit in Hinduismes by but t h e s a m e t o k e n , i t c o n t r i b u t e dt o t h e i n c r e a s ei n c o m m u n a l t e n sion,e6 especiallyin the Punjab.eT

Social and Political Issues S v a m i D a y a n a n d a ' s i e w s o n s o c i a l a n d p o l i t i c a l i s s u e sm a y v now be briefly considered.Dayanandaemphasizedthe value of education,especiallywith a Vedic orientation for all, irrespective of caste and sex. As for English he "advocatedits study for one hour a day and the rest of the time was to be devoted to the study

IE