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Hence the burning of the dead, M 2 iSo HINDUISM AS A SYSTEM which is called antyeshli, the last sacrifice, is polluting, and all the ceremonial connected with it is inauspicious ; while the worship of ancestors is called sraddha, an act of faith, and all the ceremonies that come under that head are auspicious. Yet the same fundamental belief and practice are visibly present in both. The Funeral Ceremonies last ten days. The essential element in each day's ceremony is the offering of a pinda, i. e. a ball of cooked rice, to the spirit of the deceased. The first is offered on the first day, before the body is burnt, and one is offered each of the other days. The belief is that the spirit of the deceased through feeding on this food acquires a gross body, sthula sarira, and is thereby trans formed from a preta or wandering ghost into a pitri, a father, one of the company of glorified ancestors. Sraddha Ceremonies, A man's relatives, male and female, on both his father's and his mother's side, for three genera tions upward and three generations downward, are called his sapindas, i. e. ' sharers in the pinda ', because they take part in the sraddha ceremonies with him. On the eleventh day, all the sapindas gather in the house of the person who is holding the ceremony, and an elaborate ceremony is con ducted, the central element of which is the offering of a pinda to every deceased person within the circle of sapindas. A feast follows the ceremony. This is repeated monthly for one year, and then annually. These are obligatory. There are many other forms of sraddha which may be undertaken if one choose. (d] WORSHIP OF THE GODS. Rules about worship vary very much amongst the lower castes of Hinduism, but among the upper castes they run on the following lines : — (i) Daily prayers, connected with bathing and teeth- cleaning, and daily sacrifices* These are all observed by THE HINDU OF TO-DAY 181 strictly orthodox Hindus, but are often altogether neglected by educated men. (2) The daily iv or ship of the household gods. Usually the women see to this. (3) The recurrent festivals, fasts, and holy days. These vary very greatly in different parts of the country and in the different sects. No Hindu can avoid taking part in these from time to time. (4) The worship of the temple. This takes a large place in the lives of all Hindus except modern educated men, who very seldom go near a temple at all, at least in the North. 113. Belief is altogether free. A Hindu is generally understood to believe that the Vedas are inspired, that the Brahmans are divinely appointed priests, and that caste is a divine institution, but a man may declare that he believes none of these things and yet remain a good Hindu, provided he conforms. Yet the stability of Hinduism depends in the last resort on the existence of these beliefs. Conformity, however, involves a practical acceptance of the Vedas, the Brahmans, and caste ; for the Vedas are quoted frequently in the domestic ceremonies, and the presence of Brahmans is necessary for the right performance of each one of them. 114. Although Hinduism has many gods, many theologies, and many sacred books, a man may remain an orthodox Hindu without believing in any god or any theology, and without knowing or acknowledging a single sacred book. He must give some sort of practical recognition to some god or gods in the domestic ceremonies and family festivals, but the divinities thus reverenced vary all over India ; there is no uniformity. Nor are there any theological conceptions which he need hold : an orthodox Hindu may be an atheist, an agnostic, or a Christian in his conception of the world. The sacred books of Hinduism are not read in the services of the temples, nor is the ordinary Hindu expected to i8a HINDUISM AS A SYSTEM study them. They are for the priest and the philosopher. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, however, are very largely read in the homes of the people. 115. But, although there is no set of beliefs which the Hindu as a Hindu is expected to hold, there are certain ideas or convictions which all or nearly all Hindus except those permeated by Western thought will be found to hold. There are perhaps three which may be classed together as being nearly as universal as Hinduism. They are, first, the validity of caste and the authority of the Vedas and the Brahmans ; second, the doctrine of transmigration ; and third, the sacredness of the cow. Perhaps it may be said that a further general characteristic of Hinduism is to be found in a tendency of thought, feeling, and aspiration of which the logical issue is a mystic pantheism ; but the degree in which pantheistic belief is explicit seems to vary very greatly. Most Hindus are also touched at least in some degree with ascetic ideas. The villager, no matter how worldly his own life may be, is ready to affirm that the things of the world are worthless, that nothing is of any final value except God and the knowledge of God. He therefore holds that the man who does not give up the world in its entirety and become an ascetic does not really love God. He regards the preservation of animal life (ahimsa) as meritorious. (See section 23.) 116. Hindus are under the sway of innumerable super stitions. With the exception of the cultured few, the whole people live in terror of evil spirits. A great deal of the ordinary worship of the home and the temple is directed against their malign designs and influences ; while at every step one meets the magic word and the magic spell, the charmed act and the charm hung round the neck, to prevent or repel the assault of the bhnta> the evil spirit. Amongst THE HINDU OF TO-DAY 183 the uneducated everywhere the Brahman also is regarded with extreme superstitious fear : there is no limit to the powers of evil he is believed to control ; so that the humble villager is kept in subjection and terror. Though the simplest Hindu is ready to express belief in one God only, his prac tical daily religion is a very vivid conviction that the idol in his village is alive, and not only eats, drinks, and sleeps but has power to bless or curse him in every detail of his life. The actual belief of to-day still is that the gods subsist on the sacrifices and offerings made to them, just as the spirits of dead ancestors are believed to live on \hepindas offered in the srdddha and the tarpana, water, offered in the daily ceremonies. The souls of the kids offered in sacrifice to the goddess Kali are believed to go straight to heaven. Vishnu is believed to be present in great power in every salagrama stone, a kind of black ammonite found in the Gandak river, and in every tulsl plant. £iva and the other gods have similar superstitions attached to them. Indeed, there is no limit to the animals, trees, stones, rivers, wells in which divinities are believed to reside. The belief in holy times and places is quite as vigorous. Nor are these merely the picturesque fancies of Arcadian simplicity : they are powerful beliefs, sanctioned in very large measure by the highest Hindu authorities, taught in the literature and by the priests, and governing men's lives. NOTE. — The text at the bottom of the page summarizes THE RELI GIOUS DUTY OF THE HINDU : ' Let him worship according to the rule, the sages by the private recitation of the Veda, the gods by burnt oblations, the fathers by funeral offerings, men by gifts of food, and the spirits by the ball offering.' Mdnava Dharmatastra, iii. 81. CHAPTER XV THE RELIGION OF THE LOWER CLASSES 117. The lower orders of the population of India fall into two great classes, those who have lived in close contact with Hindu society, and those who have lived apart in the moun tains and forests. The latter have retained their old religion and social organization, but the former have all succumbed to the influence of caste and have absorbed large elements of Hindu theology, mythology, and superstition. 118. Those peoples who have lived an isolated life and have in consequence not come under Hindu influence need be only mentioned here, as they do not naturally come into a study of Hinduism. We may just mention the names of the chief tribes.