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The great triad, Carey, Marshman, and Ward, however, did far more to wake the Indian intellect than the Govern ment of India. The actual baptism of Brahman converts was an unspeakable shock : what else could have so effectu ally roused the Hindu ? By literature more than by speech the missionaries started the effective diffusion of Christian teaching in North India ; they scattered the Bible broadcast over the peninsula in the vernaculars ; they began the print ing of Indian literature in both Sanskrit and the vernaculars ; they began the use of Bengali prose, and published the first vernacular newspaper ; they were the pioneers of widespread education ; and lastly, their bold exposure of the cruelties and immoralities of customary Hinduism, though crude and harsh to us to-day, was absolutely necessary to wake Hindus to a consciousness of the glaring faults of their religion. Apart from the foundation of the Christian Church of 154 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY Bengal, the one noticeable religious outcome of these thirty years is the life and work of Raja Ram Mohan Rai, who set a fine example in his study of Hinduism ; who stood by the missionaries in their attack on sati and other cruelties ; and who founded the Brahma Samaj. His influence has been continuously felt down to our own days. B. Since Duff's work colours all the religious history of the middle of the nineteenth century, we begin our second subdivision, 1830-75, with the year of his arrival in Calcutta. In 1834 the Government of India, largely under Duff's influence, decided to favour Western instead of Oriental education. Henceforward both Government and the missionary societies pressed forward the foundation of High Schools and Colleges. The Universities of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were founded in 1857 amid the throes of the Mutiny. Government continued to put down immoral abuses in Hinduism and Indian life. During these decades Protestant Missions in India developed several new methods, and laid firmly the founda tions of their future work. Apart from the Higher Education, which as a missionary method was largely the fruit of Duff's genius, the chief new creations were work by women for women and medical Missions. The Brahma Samaj is a Unitarian reforming movement, which arose within Hinduism under Ram Mohan Rai, but renounced caste and other Hindu forms of life during this subdivision of our period under Devendra Nath Tagore and Keshab Chandra Sen. The movement is strictly theistic and strongly opposed to idolatry. Its moral ideas and forms of worship are practically Christian. By far the most powerful religious influences during those years were missionary effort, especially as exerted through High Schools and Colleges, and the Brahma Samaj. The WESTERN INFLUENCE 155 Protestant Church of India had its foundation laid strong and deep through the accession of groups of students won from the heart of Hinduism by Duff and other educational missionaries. Another stream of awakened men passed into the Brahma Samaj, chiefly in Bengal, but to some extent also in Bombay, Madras, and Lahore. Yet, sad to say, in Bengal at least, a far larger number of young men became atheists or agnostics, and led a rather reckless social revolt against the restrictions of Hinduism. The new illumination did not by any means lead to spiritual results in all cases. C. About 1875 a remarkable change makes itself manifest in the Indian spirit. Until then it seemed to have been at school. Now it seems to reach maturity and begins to act with all the vivacity and spontaneity of youth. An extraordinary number of fresh movements, educational, political, religious, social, economic, have arisen all over the country. Educated men are everywhere alive, filled with excitement, ambition, new capacities, new activities. We choose 1875 as the dividing line, because in that year both the Arya Samaj and the Theosophical Society were founded. Government has increasingly given itself to the effort to better the material and moral well-being of the people, especially by means of education, irrigation, railways, and famine-relief, but has been compelled to adopt a cautious policy towards the political aspirations of the educated, and thus has seemed on the surface to be more critical than sympathetic towards the National Movement. Missions during these years have exercised a powerful influence through the conversion of vast masses of the depressed classes, who throughout the centuries have been considered too unclean for contact with pure Hindus. (See sections 45 and 120.) Largely through these mass move- 156 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY ments the Protestant Church in India has increased in numbers much more rapidly than any other religious body. The great feature of these decades, however, is the revival of Hinduism. As a result of the attack of Protestant Christianity, on the one hand, and of the rise of interest in Oriental religions in the West, on the other hand, Hindus have been roused to a great rally in defence of their ancestral faith. Every one will remember the parallel revival of the pagan faiths of the Roman Empire in the second and following centuries. The revival is found wherever there are educated Hindus, and it has taken many forms, but four organizations stand out above all others as leading the movement. (a) The first of these is the Arya Samaj, founded by Dayananda Sarasvati in the Punjab. It is strictly theistic and denounces idolatry. The founder also denounced caste, but the members of the Samaj do not practise what he preached : they remain within Hinduism. The A^edas are the only sacred book acknowledged ; and even portions of them are not accepted as inspired. The Samaj is vehe mently anti-Christian, and has shown strong political leanings. It has grown very rapidly during the last twenty years, but only in the Punjab and the United Provinces. (&) The second organization is the Theosophical Society, which was founded by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in New York in 1875, but removed its head-quarters to India in 1878. It has three aims : 1. The formation of a real brotherhood amongst men of all nations and religions. 2. The study of Aryan, and especially of Oriental, re ligions. 3. The investigation of the occult powers of man. Madame Blavatsky pretended to have intercourse with certain supernatural beings called Mahatmas, and all sorts WESTERN INFLUENCE 157 of wonders were performed at the head-quarters in Madras. But the trickery was exposed, and Madame Blavatsky fled from India, never to return. The Society, however, has continued to grow and nourish in India, first under Colonel Olcott, and then under Mrs. Besant. The position maintained is that every re ligion is legitimate and right, and that anything like pro- selytism is to be condemned. Yet Theosophy teaches Karma and Transmigration, and thus proclaims itself a friend to Hinduism and Buddhism and alien to all other faiths. It has been vehemently anti-Christian throughout its history in India. There can be no question that it has gained its position in India because it has defended Hindu idols and caste as well as philosophy. It came just at the moment when the Hindu wanted a champion, and multitudes of Hindus to-day feel safe behind its sophistries. The Society has done considerable service to India in the matter of educa tion . Like the Islamia College at Aligarh, the Central Hindu College at Benares is modelled on missionary lines. In all earlier Hindu colleges for Western education no religious training was given, but in Benares Hinduism is taught, as Muhammadanism is taught at Aligarh. (c) The third organization sprang from an interesting ascetic named Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who lived in a temple near Calcutta. He had had no serious education either Hindu or Western, but was full of mother-wit and practical common sense. Gauging well the tendencies of the time, he took up the old Hindu proverb, that as all rivers run to the sea, so all forms of Hinduism lead to salvation, and applied it to all the religions of the world. He was ready to accept and to practise any aspect of Hinduism, and he imagined himself now a Christian, now a Muhammadan. He gathered a band of disciples around him and exercised considerable influence over the Brahma 158 OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY leader, Keshab Chandra Sen. By far the greatest of his disciples was Svami Vivekananda, who spoke at the Chicago Parliament of Religions, and then lectured with great success all over India.