"i looked into a hindu temple this morning while i was walking about," said louis belgrave, after the jugglers had been discussed a while. "i saw some very ugly-looking idols; and i should like to ask if they really represent individuals, or are creatures of the imagination."
"both," replied sir modava with a smile; "there are, as you have been told before, a great many different sects, and a system of mythology. about all the gods and goddesses known to the greeks and romans have an existence in the indian mythology more or less similar to them. indra, the counterpart of apollo in some of his functions, drives the chariot of fire that lights the day.
"rhemba was born of the sea, and is the indian venus; cama is cupid; parvati, whose image you saw at elephanta, is ceres; and so on to the end of the chapter. these divinities are represented in the temples, but they are without form or comeliness."
"they are not much like the beautiful statues of the greeks," added louis.
"the most prominent indian sects are the saïvas, or worshippers of siva; the vaïshnavas, who bow down to vishnu under his several incarnations, like krishna, whom you could not greatly respect; and the jaïns, allied to the buddhists, found mostly in the northern sections of india. they occupy important positions, and possess wealth and influence. there are subdivisions into sects among them, and it would be quite impossible to follow them through the mazes of belief to which they adhere. there is a great deal of philosophy among many of the sects."
"but what are the buddhists?" inquired dr. hawkes.
"buddhism is quite as much a philosophy as a religion. it is not as prevalent in india proper as formerly; though it is still dominant in ceylon, napaul, burma, and in the more northern countries of asia. its history is somewhat indefinite. gautama, of whom a great many pretty stories are told, is sometimes regarded as the founder; though some who have studied the history of the sect, or order, do not believe that the buddha was a real person, but an allegorical figure.
"those who give a personal origin to the system, now said to be the religion of one-third of the human race, begin with prince siddhartha, a young man disposed to be an ascetic, and inclined to retire from the world. in order to wean him from his meditative tendency, his father, in order to cure him, and prevent him from forsaking his caste, married him to a beautiful princess, and introduced him to the splendid dissipation of a luxurious court. a dozen years of this life convinced him that 'all was vanity and vexation of spirit,' and he became a sort of hermit, a religious beggar, and spent his time in dwelling upon the miseries of human life.
"he used up years in this manner, and after much reasoning, came to the conclusion that ignorance was misery. he gave himself up to study, and at last came to believe that he had reached the perfection of wisdom. the tree under which he sat when he reached this result was then called bodhidruma, or the tree of intelligence; and the buddhists believe the spot where it grew to be the centre of the earth. a tree that passes for this one was discovered by a chinese, still standing twelve hundred years after the death of the buddha; and the bo-tree of ceylon is regarded as its legitimate descendant. you have been told something about it.
"in benares, having ascertained the cause of human misery, and learned the remedy for it, the buddha began to preach his peculiar salvation. in the phrase of his religion he 'turned the wheel of the law.' one of his titles is chakravartin, which means 'the turner of a wheel.' the doctrines of the buddha are written out on a wheel, which is set in motion with a crank, though it is sometimes operated by horse-power; and such machines are sometimes seen in front of religious houses in thibet, and the monks have portable ones."
"i thought the religion of thibet was the worship of the grand lama," suggested louis.
"that is a form of buddhism. the most important of the converts of the buddha was the rajah of magadha, or behar, on the ganges, which gave him a good start, and it has since made almost incredible progress. it would take too long to state the doctrines in detail of this sect, and you get an idea of what it must be from what i said of its founder. its leading doctrine is the transmigration of souls, also called by that tough word, metempsychosis, though other hindu systems adopt this belief. it seems to include the recognition of the immortality of the soul, which at the death of the body passes into another form of existence,--a man, a woman, a lower animal, or even a tree or other plant. the buddha claims to have been born five hundred and fifty times,--a hermit, a slave, a king, a monkey, an elephant, a fish, a frog, a tree, etc. when he reached his highest condition of perfection, he could recall all these different states of being; and he has written them out.
"some of the negroes of africa have this belief, and when a child is born they decide upon the ancestor whose soul has returned to the flesh in this world. there are one hundred and thirty-six buddhist hells, regularly graded in the degree of suffering experienced and the length of time it endures, the shortest term being ten million years. a good life secures an elevated and happy life on earth, or as a blessed spirit in one of the many heavens, where existence is continued for a bagatelle of ten billion years. when the karma is exhausted"--
"what in the world is that?" asked mrs. blossom, who was struggling to understand the subject.
"it is the allotted term of existence, including the manner of living, whether in bliss or misery. the person must be born again, and then become a god, or the vilest creature that crawls the earth, according as he has behaved himself. the buddhists do not appear to have any idea of a personal god; and they are practically atheists, though there are many good things in their system. they recognize no omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful supreme being, who presides over the universe and all that is in it. they are pessimists, and believe that life, on the whole, is misery, a curse rather than a blessing. i have given you only a faint outline of what buddhism is. it has points in which it resembles christianity. buddha is dead and gone; but his followers put up petitions to him, though there is no one to hear and answer their prayers. but i must stop for the want of time rather than because there is nothing more to be said; and i have done no more than touch the subject."
"but it is not very different from brahminism," suggested professor giroud.
"you are quite right, professor," replied sir modava. "brahma means the universal spirit; but it is not a personal divinity to be worshipped. i believe there is not an idol or sculpture in all india that represents brahma. something that passes for this mystic spirit is represented with four heads."
"but is there not a new church or philosophy of recent date--i mean brahmo somaj?" inquired dr. hawkes.
"rammohun roy, or rajah ram mohan rai, was a hindu ruler in the presidency of bengal, born in 1772. his ancestors were brahmins of high birth. he studied sanskrit, arabian, and persian, and was a profound scholar and philosopher. when he began to have some doubt about the faith of his fathers, he went to thibet to study buddhism, where he was so outspoken that he offended the priests and others, and his religious belief brought upon him the enmity of his own family. in 1803 he lived in benares, and held a public office at one time. he published works in the languages with which he was familiar, directed against idolatry, which he labored to uproot.
"he succeeded to abundant wealth at the death of his brother in 1811. his influence assisted in the abolition of the suttee, and in bringing about other reforms. he published 'the precepts of jesus,' accepting his morality, but denying his divinity and the truth of the miracles. more than fifty years ago he started an association which became the brahmo somaj, which is a living and working society still. he went to england in 1831, and was received with great respect and friendliness. i have great reverence for the man, though i do not accept all his religious views."
"lord tremlyn informed this company in regard to the divisions of caste, so that i think we have a tolerable idea of the matter," said captain ringgold, reading from a paper in his hand. "but all these sects and castes are divided again into tribes and trade societies. then there is a considerable portion of the people who, though they are fully recognized as hindus, are outside of the pale of this multiform organization."
"i should say that all this would make endless complications in business and society. each of these societies, or whatever you may call them, is independent, and has its own regulations. none of its members can marry into another caste, or even eat with those of a lower rank. a man born into one of these associations having a particular business cannot take up another calling without being pinched by the social law in all that he holds dear in life. his wife deserts him, his children refuse to acknowledge him as their father, and his property is absorbed by his society or caste. all this for no crime, no immorality; and he may be a noble and true man. if he chooses to be a tinker, instead of a trader, all the gods of hindu antiquity light upon his head, and worry him to the funeral pyre by the shore."
"that is quite true, captain, and i join with you in condemning this grossly heathen institution," added sir modava. "but time and christianity will yet do their work, and my country will be saved. but i submit, my dear captain, that there is another side to the question."
"quite true, and i was about to state it. the man who remains faithful to the requirements of the society is protected and supported. wherever he goes, at whatever distance from his country he may be, he finds a roof and a hearthstone which he may make his own for the time. if gone for years, he will find the house and the field of his fathers undisturbed, of which he may take possession. this institution may remove care and anxiety from the mind of the man, and make him, as we find here, calm and contented, but without the ambition of the business-man. i have taken most of this from a book i found in bombay."
"the most influential caste here are mostly jains and buniahs; and though they belong to different tribes, they are united in business matters. they wear their own costumes; but they have done more than any others for the prosperity of the place," said lord tremlyn. "they are the speculators in cottons and other goods, and many of them have immense wealth. the buniahs are always intelligent, and somewhat aristocratic. you may know one of them by his tall turban, like a shako, though sometimes it is rolled like a conch-shell. around his dress he wears a red band, which he twists about his limbs, and has a long calico tunic closely fitted to his chest. his chosen calling is that of a commercial broker.
"these rich hindus, while adhering to everything required by their religion, adopt english fashions, and revel in british luxuries. you will see them late in the afternoon on the public roads, in elegant carriages, drawn by the finest horses, and attended by servants in rich liveries. their houses are magnificent, furnished like the parsee's we visited the other evening. the social intercourse between them and their european neighbors is very limited.
"the mohammedans here are an important class of people, and some of them are very wealthy, and are honest and upright merchants. they are very strict in the observance of their religion, and not one of them would eat pork or drink wine or liquors. if it were the beginning of their year, which is different from ours, you might witness a celebration of the day. it is called the mohurrum, and takes place on the shore of the back bay. they construct a great number of temples of gilt paper, and after marching with them in procession through the city, they cast them into the sea. i do not quite understand what it means; but the first month is usually a time of mourning and fasting in commemoration of the sufferings of the two nephews of the prophet. the ceremony at the water is very ancient."
"the wives of mussulmans here have more liberty than in most eastern countries. they go about the streets with their faces uncovered, and are clothed for the most part like the hindu women. as they appear in the street they are not so neat as the other native females, who spend much time in bathing, and are always clean and tidy. i have nothing more to say at present."
"i have an announcement to make," said captain ringgold. "to-morrow forenoon we shall return to the guardian-mother, and sail for surat."
the party spent the rest of the day in excursions about bombay in three parties, each under the direction of one of the hosts.
