Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Hinduism" to "Home, Earls of"
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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Hinduism" to "Home, Earls of"
Author: Various
Release date: March 23, 2012 [eBook #39232]
Language: English
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Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE HINDUISM: "But, in this respect, we also meet in the epics
with the first clear evidence of what in after time became the
prominent feature of the worship of Siva and his consort all over
India ..." 'respect' amended from 'repect'.
ARTICLE HINDUISM: "Though the Lingayats still show a certain
animosity towards the Brahmans, and in the Census lists are
accordingly classed as an independent group beside the Hindus ..."
'classed' amended from 'classes'.
ARTICLE HINTERLAND: "In the purely physical sense 'interior' or
'back country' is more commonly used, but the word has gained a
distinct political significance." 'or' amended from 'on'.
ARTICLE HIPPODROME: "... so that the width was far greater, being
about 400 ft., the course being 600 to 700 ft. long." 'course'
amended from 'cource'.
ARTICLE HIRSAU: "C. H. Klaiber, Das Kloster Hirschau (Tubingen,
1886); and Baer, Die Hirsauer Bauschule (Freiburg, 1897)."
'Hirsauer' amended from 'Hirsauers'.
ARTICLE HOBBES, THOMAS: "In politics the revulsion from his
particular conclusions did not prevent the more clear-sighted of
his opponents from recognizing the force of his supreme
demonstration of the practical irresponsibility of the sovereign
power ..." 'particular' amended from 'particuar'.
ARTICLE HOFFMANN, JOHANN JOSEPH: "His Japanese grammar (Japanische
Sprachlehre) was published in Dutch and English in 1867, and in
English and German in 1876." 'Sprachlehre' amended from
'Sprechlehre'.
ARTICLE HOFMEYR, JAN HENDRIK: "He was editor of the Zuid Afrikaan
till its incorporation with Ons Land, and of the Zuid Afrikaansche
Tijdschrift." 'Tijdschrift' amended from 'Tidjschrift'.
ARTICLE HOHENLOHE: "... which was to exercise an important
influence on his political activity. As the younger son of a cadet
line of his house it was necessary for Prince Chlodwig to follow a
profession." 'political' amended from 'politcal'.
ARTICLE HOLLAND: "The height of the boezem peil ranges between
1(1/3) ft. above to 1(5/6) ft. below the Amsterdam zero ..."
'between' amended from 'beween'.
ARTICLE HOLLAND: "... Nieuwe Wandelingen door Nederland, by J.
Craandijk and P. A. Schipperus (Haarlem, 1888) ..." 'Wandelingen'
amended from 'Wanderlingen'.
ARTICLE HOLLAND: "... agreed to accept the sovereignty of the
Netherlands provinces, except Holland and Zeeland." 'Netherlands'
amended from 'Netherland'.
ARTICLE HOLLAND: "left England on the 22nd of August for
Sainte-Mere Eglise in Normandy." 'Eglise' amended from 'Eglide'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XIII, SLICE V
Hinduism to Home, Earls of
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
HINDUISM HODY, HUMPHREY
HINDU KUSH HOE, RICHARD MARCH
HINDUR HOE
HINGANGHAT HOEFNAGEL, JORIS
HINGE HOF
HINGHAM HOFER, ANDREAS
HINRICHS, HERMANN WILHELM HOFFDING, HARALD
HINSCHIUS, PAUL HOFFMANN, AUGUST HEINRICH
HINTERLAND HOFFMANN, ERNST THEODOR WILHELM
HINTON, JAMES HOFFMANN, FRANCOIS BENOIT
HIOGO HOFFMANN, FRIEDRICH
HIP HOFFMANN, JOHANN JOSEPH
HIP-KNOB HOFMANN, AUGUST WILHELM VON
HIPPARCHUS HOFMANN, JOHANN CHRISTIAN KONRAD VON
HIPPASUS OF METAPONTUM HOFMANN, MELCHIOR
HIPPEASTRUM HOFMEISTER, WILHELM FRIEDRICH BENEDICT
HIPPED ROOF HOFMEYR, JAN HENDRIK
HIPPEL, THEODOR GOTTLIEB VON HOFSTEDE DE GROOT, PETRUS
HIPPIAS OF ELIS HOGARTH, WILLIAM
HIPPO HOGG, JAMES
HIPPOCRAS HOGG, THOMAS JEFFERSON
HIPPOCRATES HOGMANAY
HIPPOCRENE HOGSHEAD
HIPPODAMUS HOHENASPERG
HIPPODROME HOHENFRIEDBERG
HIPPOLYTUS (Greek legend hunter) HOHENHEIM
HIPPOLYTUS (Church writer) HOHENLIMBURG
HIPPOLYTUS, THE CANONS OF HOHENLOHE
HIPPONAX HOHENSTAUFEN
HIPPOPOTAMUS HOHENSTEIN
HIPPURIC ACID HOHENZOLLERN
HIPURNIAS HOKKAIDO
HIRA HOKUSAI
HIRADO HOLBACH, PAUL HEINRICH DIETRICH
HIRE-PURCHASE AGREEMENT HOLBEACH
HIRING HOLBEIN, HANS (the elder)
HIROSAKI HOLBEIN, HANS (the younger)
HIROSHIGE HOLBERG, LUDVIG HOLBERG
HIROSHIMA HOLBORN
HIRPINI HOLCROFT, THOMAS
HIRSAU HOLDEN, HUBERT ASHTON
HIRSCH, MAURICE DE HOLDEN, SIR ISAAC
HIRSCH, SAMSON RAPHAEL HOLDERLIN, JOHANN CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH
HIRSCHBERG HOLDERNESSE, EARL OF
HIRSON HOLDHEIM, SAMUEL
HIRTIUS, AULUS HOLGUIN
HISHAM IBN AL-KALBI HOLIDAY
HISPELLUM HOLINSHED, RAPHAEL
HISSAR (district in Asia) HOLKAR
HISSAR (Indian town & district) HOLL, FRANK
HISTIAEUS HOLLAND, CHARLES
HISTOLOGY HOLLAND, SIR HENRY
HISTORY HOLLAND, HENRY FOX
HIT HOLLAND, HENRY RICH
HITA, GINES PEREZ DE HOLLAND, HENRY RICHARD VASSALL FOX
HITCHCOCK, EDWARD HOLLAND, JOSIAH GILBERT
HITCHCOCK, GEORGE HOLLAND, PHILEMON
HITCHCOCK, ROSWELL DWIGHT HOLLAND, RICHARD
HITCHIN HOLLAND (country)
HITTITES HOLLAND, COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF
HITTORFF, JACQUES IGNACE HOLLAND (Michigan, U.S.A.)
HITZACKER HOLLAND (cloth)
HITZIG, FERDINAND HOLLAR, WENZEL or WENCESLAUS
HIUNG-NU HOLLES, DENZIL HOLLES
HIVITES HOLLOWAY, THOMAS
HJORRING HOLLY
HKAMTI LONG HOLLYHOCK
HLOTHHERE HOLLY SPRINGS
HOACTZIN HOLMAN, JAMES
HOADLY, BENJAMIN HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL
HOAR, SAMUEL HOLMFIRTH
HOARE, SIR RICHARD COLT HOLOCAUST
HOBART, GARRET AUGUSTUS HOLOCENE
HOBART, JOHN HENRY HOLROYD, SIR CHARLES
HOBART PASHA HOLSTEIN, FRIEDRICH VON
HOBART (capital of Tasmania) HOLSTEIN (duchy of Germany)
HOBBEMA, MEYNDERT HOLSTEN, KARL CHRISTIAN JOHANN
HOBBES, THOMAS HOLSTENIUS, LUCAS
HOBBY HOLSTER
HOBHOUSE, ARTHUR HOBHOUSE HOLT, SIR JOHN
HOBOKEN (town of Belgium) HOLTEI, KARL EDUARD VON
HOBOKEN (New Jersey, U.S.A.) HOLTY, LUDWIG HEINRICH CHRISTOPH
HOBSON'S CHOICE HOLTZENDORFF, JOACHIM FRANZ PHILIPP VON
HOBY, SIR THOMAS HOLTZMANN, HEINRICH JULIUS
HOCHE, LAZARE HOLUB, EMIL
HOCHHEIM HOLY
HOCHST HOLY ALLIANCE, THE
HOCHSTADT HOLYHEAD
HOCHSTETTER, FERDINAND VON HOLY ISLAND
HOCKEY HOLYOAKE, GEORGE JACOB
HOCK-TIDE HOLYOKE
HOCUS HOLYSTONE
HODDEN HOLY WATER
HODDESDON HOLY WEEK
HODEDA HOLYWELL
HODENING HOLYWOOD
HODGE, CHARLES HOLZMINDEN
HODGKIN, THOMAS HOLZTROMPETE
HODGKINSON, EATON HOMAGE
HODGSON, BRIAN HOUGHTON HOMBERG, WILHELM
HODMEZO-VASARHELY HOMBURG-VOR-DER-HOHE
HODOGRAPH HOME, EARLS OF
HODSON, WILLIAM STEPHEN RAIKES
HINDUISM, a term generally employed to comprehend the social
institutions, past and present, of the Hindus who form the great
majority of the people of India; as well as the multitudinous crop of
their religious beliefs which has grown up, in the course of many
centuries, on the foundation of the Brahmanical scriptures. The actual
proportion of the total population of India (294 millions) included
under the name of "Hindus" has been computed in the census report for
1901 at something like 70% (206 millions); the remaining 30% being made
up partly of the followers of foreign creeds, such as Mahommedans,
Parsees, Christians and Jews, partly of the votaries of indigenous forms
of belief which have at various times separated from the main stock, and
developed into independent systems, such as Buddhism, Jainism and
Sikhism; and partly of isolated hill and jungle tribes, such as the
Santals, Bhils (Bhilla) and Kols, whose crude animistic tendencies have
hitherto kept them, either wholly or for the most part, outside the pale
of the Brahmanical community. The name "Hindu" itself is of foreign
origin, being derived from the Persians, by whom the river Sindhu was
called Hindhu, a name subsequently applied to the inhabitants of that
frontier district, and gradually extended over the upper and middle
reaches of the Gangetic valley, whence this whole tract of country
between the Himalaya and the Vindhya mountains, west of Bengal, came to
be called by the foreign conquerors "Hindustan," or the abode of the
Hindus; whilst the native writers called it "Aryavarta," or the abode
of the Aryas.
But whilst, in its more comprehensive acceptation, the term Hinduism
would thus range over the entire historical development of Brahmanical
India, it is also not infrequently used in a narrower sense, as denoting
more especially the modern phase of Indian social and religious
institutions--from the earlier centuries of the Christian era down to
our own days--as distinguished from the period dominated by the
authoritative doctrine of pantheistic belief, formulated by the
speculative theologians during the centuries immediately succeeding the
Vedic period (see BRAHMANISM). In this its more restricted sense the
term may thus practically be taken to apply to the later bewildering
variety of popular sectarian forms of belief, with its social
concomitant, the fully developed caste-system. But, though one may at
times find it convenient to speak of "Brahmanism and Hinduism," it must
be clearly understood that the distinction implied in the combination of
these terms is an extremely vague one, especially from the chronological
point of view. The following considerations will probably make this
clear.
Connexion with Brahmanism.
The characteristic tenet of orthodox Brahmanism consists in the
conception of an absolute, all-embracing spirit, the Brahma (neutr.),
being the one and only reality, itself unconditioned, and the original
cause and ultimate goal of all individual souls (_jiva_, i.e. living
things). Coupled with this abstract conception are two other doctrines,
viz. first, the transmigration of souls (_samsara_), regarded by Indian
thinkers as the necessary complement of a belief in the essential
sameness of all the various spiritual units, however contaminated, to a
greater or less degree, they may be by their material embodiment; and in
their ultimate re-union with the _Paramatman_, or Supreme Self; and
second, the assumption of a triple manifestation of the ceaseless
working of that Absolute Spirit as a creative, conservative and
destructive principle, represented respectively by the divine
personalities of Brahma (masc.), Vishnu and Siva, forming the _Trimurti_
or Triad. As regards this latter, purely exoteric, doctrine, there can
be little doubt of its owing its origin to considerations of theological
expediency, as being calculated to supply a sufficiently wide formula of
belief for general acceptance; and the very fact of this divine triad
including the two principal deities of the later sectarian worship,
Vishnu and Siva, goes far to show that these two gods at all events must
have been already in those early days favourite objects of popular
adoration to an extent sufficient to preclude their being ignored by a
diplomatic priesthood bent upon the formulation of a common creed. Thus,
so far from sectarianism being a mere modern development of Brahmanism,
it actually goes back to beyond the formulation of the Brahmanical
creed. Nay, when, on analysing the functions and attributes of those two
divine figures, each of them is found to be but a compound of several
previously recognized deities, sectarian worship may well be traced
right up to the Vedic age. That the theory of the triple manifestation
of the deity was indeed only a compromise between Brahmanical
aspirations and popular worship, probably largely influenced by the
traditional sanctity of the number three, is sufficiently clear from the
fact that, whilst Brahma, the creator, and at the same time the very
embodiment of Brahmanical class pride, has practically remained a mere
figurehead in the actual worship of the people, Siva, on the other hand,
so far from being merely the destroyer, is also the unmistakable
representative of generative and reproductive power in nature. In fact,
Brahma, having performed his legitimate part in the mundane evolution by
his original creation of the universe, has retired into the background,
being, as it were, looked upon as _functus officio_, like a venerable
figure of a former generation, whence in epic poetry he is commonly
styled _pitamaha_, "the grandsire." But despite the artificial character
of the _Trimurti_, it has retained to this day at least its theoretical
validity in orthodox Hinduism, whilst it has also undoubtedly exercised
considerable influence in shaping sectarian belief, in promoting
feelings of toleration towards the claims of rival deities; and in a
tendency towards identifying divine figures newly sprung into popular
favour with one or other of the principal deities, and thus helping to
bring into vogue that notion of avatars, or periodical descents or
incarnations of the deity, which has become so prominent a feature of
the later sectarian belief.
Under more favourable political conditions,[1] the sacerdotal class
might perhaps, in course of time, have succeeded in imposing something
like an effective common creed on the heterogeneous medley of races and
tribes scattered over the peninsula, just as they certainly did succeed
in establishing the social prerogative of their own order over the
length and breadth of India. They were, however, fated to fall far short
of such a consummation; and at all times orthodox Brahmanism has had to
wink at, or ignore, all manner of gross superstitions and repulsive
practices, along with the popular worship of countless hosts of
godlings, demons, spirits and ghosts, and mystic objects and symbols of
every description. Indeed, according to a recent account by a close
observer of the religious practices prevalent in southern India, fully
four-fifths of the people of the Dravidian race, whilst nominally
acknowledging the spiritual guidance of the Brahmans, are to this day
practically given over to the worship of their nondescript local village
deities (_grama-devata_), usually attended by animal sacrifices
frequently involving the slaughter, under revolting circumstances, of
thousands of victims. Curiously enough these local deities are nearly
all of the female, not the male sex. In the estimation of these people
"Siva and Vishnu may be more dignified beings, but the village deity is
regarded as a more present help in trouble, and more intimately
concerned with the happiness and prosperity of the villagers. The origin
of this form of Hinduism is lost in antiquity, but it is probable that
it represents a pre-Aryan religion, more or less modified in various
parts of south India by Brahmanical influence. At the same time, many of
the deities themselves are of quite recent origin, and it is easy to
observe a deity in making even at the present day."[2] It is a
significant fact that, whilst in the worship of Siva and Vishnu, at
which no animal sacrifices are offered, the officiating priests are
almost invariably Brahmans, this is practically never the case at the
popular performance of those "gloomy and weird rites for the
propitiation of angry deities, or the driving away of evil spirits, when
the pujaris (or ministrants) are drawn from all other castes, even from
the Pariahs, the out-caste section of Indian society."
Caste.
As from the point of view of religious belief, so also from that of
social organization no clear line of demarcation can be drawn between
Brahmanism and Hinduism. Though it was not till later times that the
network of class divisions and subdivisions attained anything like the
degree of intricacy which it shows in these latter days, still in its
origin the caste-system is undoubtedly coincident with the rise of
Brahmanism, and may even be said to be of the very essence of it.[3] The
cardinal principle which underlies the system of caste is the
preservation of purity of descent, and purity of religious belief and
ceremonial usage. Now, that same principle had been operative from the
very dawn of the history of Aryanized India. The social organism of the
Aryan tribe did not probably differ essentially from that of most
communities at that primitive stage of civilization; whilst the body of
the people--the _Vis_ (or aggregate of _Vaisyas_)--would be mainly
occupied with agricultural and pastoral pursuits, two professional
classes--those of the warrior and the priest--had already made good
their claim to social distinction. As yet, however, the tribal community
would still feel one in race and traditional usage. But when the
fair-coloured Aryan immigrants first came in contact with, and drove
back or subdued the dark-skinned race that occupied the northern
plains--doubtless the ancestors of the modern Dravidian people--the
preservation of their racial type and traditionary order of things would
naturally become to them a matter of serious concern. In the extreme
north-western districts--the Punjab and Rajputana, judging from the
fairly uniform physical features of the present population of these
parts--they seem to have been signally successful in their endeavour to
preserve their racial purity, probably by being able to clear a
sufficiently extensive area of the original occupants for themselves
with their wives and children to settle upon. The case was, however,
very different in the adjoining valley of the Jumna and Ganges, the
sacred _Madhyadesa_ or Middle-land of classical India. Here the Aryan
immigrants were not allowed to establish themselves without undergoing a
considerable admixture of foreign blood. It must remain uncertain
whether it was that the thickly-populated character of the land scarcely
admitted of complete occupation, but only of a conquest by an army of
fighting men, starting from the Aryanized region--who might, however,
subsequently draw women of their own kin after them--or whether, as has
been suggested, a second Aryan invasion of India took place at that time
through the mountainous tracts of the upper Indus and northern Kashmir,
where the nature of the road would render it impracticable for the
invading bands to be accompanied by women and children. Be this as it
may, the physical appearance of the population of this central region of
northern India--Hindustan and Behar--clearly points to an intermixture
of the tall, fair-coloured, fine-nosed Aryan with the short-sized,
dark-skinned, broad-nosed Dravidian; the latter type becoming more
pronounced towards the lower strata of the social order.[4] Now, it was
precisely in this part of India that mainly arose the body of literature
which records the gradual rise of the Brahmanical hierarchy and the
early development of the caste-system.
The problem that now lay before the successful invaders was how to deal
with the indigenous people, probably vastly outnumbering them, without
losing their own racial identity. They dealt with them in the way the
white race usually deals with the coloured race--they kept them socially
apart. The land being appropriated by the conquerors, husbandry, as the
most respectable industrial occupation, became the legitimate calling of
the Aryan settler, the _Vaisya_; whilst handicrafts, gradually
multiplying with advancing civilization and menial service, were
assigned to the subject race. The generic name applied to the latter was
_Sudra_, originally probably the name of one of the subjected tribes. So
far the social development proceeded on lines hardly differing from
those with which one is familiar in the history of other nations. The
Indo-Aryans, however, went a step farther. What they did was not only to
keep the native race apart from social intercourse with themselves, but
to shut them out from all participation in their own higher aims, and
especially in their own religious convictions and ceremonial practices.
So far from attempting to raise their standard of spiritual life, or
even leaving it to ordinary intercourse to gradually bring about a
certain community of intellectual culture and religious sentiment, they
deliberately set up artificial barriers in order to prevent their own
traditional modes of worship from being contaminated with the obnoxious
practices of the servile race. The serf, the _Sudra_, was not to worship
the gods of the Aryan freemen. The result was the system of four castes
(_varna_, i.e. "colour"; or _jati_, "gens"). Though the Brahman, who by
this time had firmly secured his supremacy over the _kshatriya_, or
noble, in matters spiritual as well as in legislative and administrative
functions, would naturally be the prime mover in this regulation of the
social order, there seems no reason to believe that the other two upper
classes were not equally interested in seeing their hereditary
privileges thus perpetuated by divine sanction. Nothing, indeed, is more
remarkable in the whole development of the caste-system than the jealous
pride which every caste, from the highest to the lowest, takes in its
own peculiar occupation and sphere of life. The distinctive badge of a
member of the three upper castes was the sacred triple cord or thread
(_sutra_)--made of cotton, hemp or wool, according to the respective
caste--with which he was invested at the _upanayana_ ceremony, or
initiation into the use of the sacred _savitri_, or prayer to the sun
(also called _gayatri_), constituting his second birth. Whilst the Arya
was thus a _dvi-ja_, or twice-born, the Sudra remained unregenerate
during his lifetime, his consolation being the hope that, on the
faithful performance of his duties in this life, he might hereafter be
born again into a higher grade of life. In later times, the strict
adherence to caste duties would naturally receive considerable support
from the belief in the transmigration of souls, already prevalent before
Buddha's time, and from the very general acceptance of the doctrine of
_karma_ ("deed"), or retribution, according to which a man's present
station and manner of life are the result of the sum-total of his
actions and thoughts in his former existence; as his actions here will
again, by the same automatic process of retribution, determine his
status and condition in his next existence. Though this doctrine is
especially insisted upon in Buddhism, and its designation as a specific
term (Pali, _Kamma_) may be due to that creed, the notion itself was
doubtless already prevalent in pre-Buddhist times. It would even seem to
be necessarily and naturally implied in Brahmanical belief in
metempsychosis; whilst in the doctrine of Buddha, who admits no soul,
the theory of the net result or fruit of a man's actions serving
hereafter to form or condition the existence of some new individual who
will have no conscious identity with himself, seems of a peculiarly
artificial and mystic character. But, be this as it may, "the doctrine
of _karma_ is certainly one of the firmest beliefs of all classes of
Hindus, and the fear that a man shall reap as he has sown is an
appreciable element in the average morality ... the idea of forgiveness
is absolutely wanting; evil done may indeed be outweighed by meritorious
deeds so far as to ensure a better existence in the future, but it is
not effaced, and must be atoned for" (_Census Report_, i. 364).
In spite, however, of the artificial restrictions placed on the
intermarrying of the castes, the mingling of the two races seems to have
proceeded at a tolerably rapid rate. Indeed, the paucity of women of the
Aryan stock would probably render these mixed unions almost a necessity
from the very outset; and the vaunted purity of blood which the caste
rules were calculated to perpetuate can scarcely have remained of more
than a relative degree even in the case of the Brahman caste. Certain it
is that mixed castes are found referred to at a comparatively early
period; and at the time of Buddha--some five or six centuries before the
Christian era--the social organization would seem to have presented an
appearance not so very unlike that of modern times. It must be
confessed, however, that our information regarding the development of
the caste-system is far from complete, especially in its earlier stages.
Thus, we are almost entirely left to conjecture on the important point
as to the original social organization of the subject race. Though
doubtless divided into different tribes scattered over an extensive
tract of land, the subjected aborigines were slumped together under the
designation of Sudras, whose duty it was to serve the upper classes in
all the various departments of manual labour, save those of a downright
sordid and degrading character which it was left to _vratyas_ or
outcasts to perform. How, then, was the distribution of crafts and
habitual occupations of all kinds brought about? Was the process one of
spontaneous growth adapting an already existing social organization to a
new order of things; or was it originated and perpetuated by regulation
from above? Or was it rather that the status and duties of existing
offices and trades came to be determined and made hereditary by some
such artificial system as that by which the Theodosian Code succeeded
for a time in organizing the Roman society in the 5th century of our
era? "It is well known" (says Professor Dill) "that the tendency of the
later Empire was to stereotype society, by compelling men to follow the
occupation of their fathers, and preventing a free circulation among
different callings and grades of life. The man who brought the grain
from Africa to the public stores at Ostia, the baker who made it into
loaves for distribution, the butchers who brought pigs from Samnium,
Lucania or Bruttium, the purveyors of wine and oil, the men who fed the
furnaces of the public baths, were bound to their callings from one
generation to another. It was the principle of rural serfdom applied to
social functions. Every avenue of escape was closed. A man was bound to
his calling not only by his father's but also by his mother's condition.
Men were not permitted to marry out of their gild. If the daughter of
one of the baker caste married a man not belonging to it, her husband
was bound to her father's calling. Not even a dispensation obtained by
some means from the imperial chancery, not even the power of the Church
could avail to break the chain of servitude." It can hardly be gainsaid
that these artificial arrangements bear a very striking analogy to those
of the Indian caste-system; and if these class restrictions were
comparatively short-lived on Italian ground, it was not perhaps so much
that so strange a plant found there an ethnic soil less congenial to its
permanent growth, but because it was not allowed sufficient time to
become firmly rooted; for already great political events were impending
which within a few decades were to lay the mighty empire in ruins. In
India, on the other hand, the institution of caste--even if artificially
contrived and imposed by the Indo-Aryan priest and ruler--had at least
ample time allowed it to become firmly established in the social habits,
and even in the affections, of the people. At the same time, one could
more easily understand how such a system could have found general
acceptance all over the Dravidian region of southern India, with its
merest sprinkling of Aryan blood, if it were possible to assume that
class arrangements of a similar kind must have already been prevalent
amongst the aboriginal tribes prior to the advent of the Aryan. Whether
a more intimate acquaintance with the manners and customs of those rude
tribes that have hitherto kept themselves comparatively free from Hindu
influences may yet throw some light on this question, remains to be
seen. But, by this as it may, the institution of caste, when once
established, certainly appears to have gone on steadily developing; and
not even the long period of Buddhist ascendancy, with its uncompromising
resistance to the Brahman's claim to being the sole arbiter in matters
of faith, seems to have had any very appreciable retardant effect upon
the progress of the movement. It was not only by the formation of ever
new endogamous castes and sub-castes that the system gained in extent
and intricacy, but even more so by the constant subdivision of the
castes into numerous exogamous groups or septs, themselves often
involving gradations of social status important enough to seriously
affect the possibility of intermarriage, already hampered by various
other restrictions. Thus a man wishing to marry his son or daughter had
to look for a suitable match outside his sept, but within his caste. But
whilst for his son he might choose a wife from a lower sept than his
own, for his daughter, on the other hand, the law of hypergamy compelled
him, if at all possible, to find a husband in a higher sept. This would
naturally lead to an excess of women over men in the higher septs, and
would render it difficult for a man to get his daughter respectably
married without paying a high price for a suitable bridegroom and
incurring other heavy marriage expenses. It can hardly be doubted that
this custom has been largely responsible for the crime of female
infanticide, formerly so prevalent in India; as it also probably is to
some extent for infant marriages, still too common in some parts of
India, especially Bengal; and even for the all but universal repugnance
to the re-marriage of widows, even when these had been married in early
childhood and had never joined their husbands. Yet violations of these
rules are jealously watched by the other members of the sept, and are
liable--in accordance with the general custom in which communal matters
are regulated in India--to be brought before a special council
(_panchayat_), originally consisting of five (_pancha_), but now no
longer limited to that number, since it is chiefly the greater or less
strictness in the observance of caste rules and the orthodox ceremonial
generally that determine the status of the sept in the social scale of
the caste. Whilst community of occupation was an important factor in the
original formation of non-tribal castes, the practical exigencies of
life have led to considerable laxity in this respect--not least so in
the case of Brahmans who have often had to take to callings which would
seem altogether incompatible with the proper spiritual functions of
their caste. Thus, "the prejudice against eating cooked food that has
been touched by a man of an inferior caste is so strong that, although
the Shastras do not prohibit the eating of food cooked by a Kshatriya or
Vaisya, yet the Brahmans, in most parts of the country, would not eat
such food. For these reasons, every Hindu household--whether Brahman,
Kshatriya or Sudra--that can afford to keep a paid cook generally
entertains the services of a Brahman for the performance of its
_cuisine_--the result being that in the larger towns the very name of
Brahman has suffered a strange degradation of late, so as to mean only a
cook" (Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_). In this
caste, however, as in all others, there are certain kinds of occupation
to which a member could not turn for a livelihood without incurring
serious defilement. In fact, adherence to the traditional ceremonial and
respectability of occupation go very much hand-in-hand. Thus, amongst
agricultural castes, those engaged in vegetable-growing or
market-gardening are inferior to the genuine peasant or yeoman, such as
the Jat and Rajput; whilst of these the Jat who practises widow-marriage
ranks below the Rajput who prides himself on his tradition of ceremonial
orthodoxy--though racially there seems little, if any, difference
between the two; and the Rajput, again, is looked down upon by the
Babhan of Behar because he does not, like himself, scruple to handle the
plough, instead of invariably employing low-caste men for this manual
labour. So also when members of the Baidya, or physician, caste of
Bengal, ranging next to that of the Brahman, farm land on tenure, "they
will on no account hold the plough, or engage in any form of manual
labour, and thus necessarily carry on their cultivation by means of
hired servants" (H. H. Risley, _Census Report_).
The scale of social precedence as recognized by native public opinion
is concisely reviewed (ib.) as revealing itself "in the facts that
particular castes are supposed to be modern representatives of one or
other of the original castes of the theoretical Hindu system; that
Brahmans will take water from certain castes; that Brahmans of high
standing will serve particular castes; that certain castes, though not
served by the best Brahmans, have nevertheless got Brahmans of their
own whose rank varies according to circumstances; that certain castes
are not served by Brahmans at all but have priests of their own; that
the status of certain castes has been raised by their taking to
infant-marriage or abandoning the re-marriage of widows; that the
status of others has been modified by their pursuing some occupations
in a special or peculiar way; that some can claim the services of the
village barber, the village palanquin-bearer, the village midwife,
&c., while others cannot; that some castes may not enter the
courtyards of certain temples; that some castes are subject to special
taboos, such as that they must not use the village well, or may draw
water only with their own vessels, that they must live outside the
village or in a separate quarter, that they must leave the road on the
approach of a high-caste man and must call out to give warning of
their approach." ... "The first point to observe is the predominance
throughout India of the influence of the traditional system of four
original castes. In every scheme of grouping the Brahman heads the
list. Then come the castes whom popular opinion accepts as the modern
representatives of the Kshatriyas; and these are followed by the
mercantile groups supposed to be akin to the Vaisyas. When we leave
the higher circles of the twice-born, the difficulty of finding a
uniform basis of classification becomes apparent. The ancient
designation Sudra finds no great favour in modern times, and we can
point to no group that is generally recognized as representing it. The
term is used in Bombay, Madras and Bengal to denote a considerable
number of castes of moderate respectability, the higher of whom are
considered 'clean' Sudras, while the precise status of the lower is a
question which lends itself to endless controversy." ... In northern
and north-western India, on the other hand, "the grade next below the
twice-born rank is occupied by a number of castes from whose hands
Brahmans and members of the higher castes will take water and certain
kinds of sweetmeats. Below these again is rather an indeterminate
group from whom water is taken by some of the higher castes, not by
others. Further down, where the test of water no longer applies, the
status of the caste depends on the nature of its occupation and its
habits in respect of diet. There are castes whose touch defiles the
twice-born, but who do not commit the crowning enormity of eating
beef.... In western and southern India the idea that the social state
of a caste depends on whether Brahmans will take water and sweetmeats
from its members is unknown, for the higher castes will as a rule take
water only from persons of their own caste and sub-caste. In Madras
especially the idea of ceremonial pollution by the proximity of an
unclean caste has been developed with much elaboration. Thus the table
of social precedence attached to the Cochin report shows that while a
Nayar can pollute a man of a higher caste only by touching him, people
of the Kammalan group, including masons, blacksmiths, carpenters and
workers in leather, pollute at a distance of 24 ft., toddy-drawers at
36 ft., Pulayan or Cheruman cultivators at 48 ft., while in the case
of the Paraiyan (Pariahs) who eat beef the range of pollution is no
less than 64 ft."
In this bewildering maze of social grades and class distinctions, the
Brahman, as will have been seen, continues to hold the dominant
position, being respected and even worshipped by all the others. "The
more orthodox Sudras carry their veneration for the priestly class to
such a degree that they will not cross the shadow of a Brahman, and it
is not unusual for them to be under a vow not to eat any food in the
morning, before drinking _Bipracharanamrita_, i.e. water in which the
toe of a Brahman has been dipped. On the other hand, the pride of the
Brahmans is such that they do not bow to even the images of the gods
worshipped in a Sudra's house by Brahman priests" (Jog. Nath Bh.). There
are, however, not a few classes of Brahmans who, for various reasons,
have become degraded from their high station, and formed separate castes
with whom respectable Brahmans refuse to intermarry and consort. Chief
amongst these are the Brahmans who minister for "unclean" Sudras and
lower castes, including the makers and dealers in spirituous liquors; as
well as those who officiate at the great public shrines or places of
pilgrimage where they might be liable to accept forbidden gifts, and, as
a matter of fact, often amass considerable wealth; and those who
officiate as paid priests at cremations and funeral rites, when the
wearing apparel and bedding of the deceased are not unfrequently claimed
by them as their perquisites.
As regards the other two "twice-born" castes, several modern groups do
indeed claim to be their direct descendants, and in vindication of their
title make it a point to perform the _upanayana_ ceremony and to wear
the sacred thread. But though the Brahmans, too, will often acquiesce in
the reasonableness of such claims, it is probably only as a matter of
policy that they do so, whilst in reality they regard the other two
higher castes as having long since disappeared and been merged by
miscegenation in the Sudra mass. Hence, in the later classical Sanskrit
literature, the term _dvija_, or twice-born, is used simply as a synonym
for a Brahman. As regards the numerous groups included under the term of
Sudras, the distinction between "clean" and "unclean" Sudras is of
especial importance for the upper classes, inasmuch as only the
former--of whom nine distinct castes are usually recognized--are as a
rule considered fit for employment in household service.
Theology.
The picture thus presented by Hindu society--as made up of a confused
congeries of social groups of the most varied standing, each held
together and kept separate from others by a traditional body of
ceremonial rules and by the notion of social gradations being due to a
divinely instituted order of things--finds something like a counterpart
in the religious life of the people. As in the social sphere, so also in
the sphere of religious belief, we find the whole scale of types
represented from the lowest to the highest; and here as there, we meet
with the same failure of welding the confused mass into a well-ordered
whole. In their theory of a triple manifestation of an impersonal deity,
the Brahmanical theologians, as we have seen, had indeed elaborated a
doctrine which might have seemed to form a reasonable, authoritative
creed for a community already strongly imbued with pantheistic notions;
yet, at best, that creed could only appeal to the sympathies of a
comparatively limited portion of the people. Indeed, the sacerdotal
class themselves had made its universal acceptance an impossibility,
seeing that their laws, by which the relations of the classes were to be
regulated, aimed at permanently excluding the entire body of aboriginal
tribes from the religious life of their Aryan masters. They were to be
left for all time coming to their own traditional idolatrous notions and
practices. However, the two races could not, in the nature of things, be
permanently kept separate from each other. Indeed, even prior to the
definite establishment of the caste-system, the mingling of the lower
race with the upper classes, especially with the aristocratic landowners
and still more so with the yeomanry, had probably been going on to such
an extent as to have resulted in two fairly well-defined intermediate
types of colour between the priestly order and the servile race and to
have facilitated the ultimate division into four "colours" (_varna_). In
course of time the process of intermingling, as we have seen, assumed
such proportions that the priestly class, in their pride of blood, felt
naturally tempted to recognize, as of old, only two "colours," the Aryan
Brahman and the non-Aryan Sudra. Under these conditions the religious
practices of the lower race could hardly have failed in the long run to
tell seriously upon the spiritual life of the lay body of the
Brahmanical community. To what extent this may have been the case, our
limited knowledge of the early phases of the sectarian worship of the
people does not enable us to determine. But, on the other hand, the same
process of racial intermixture also tended to gradually draw the lower
race more or less under the influence of the Brahmanical forms of
worship, and thus contributed towards the shaping of the religious
system of modern Hinduism. The grossly idolatrous practices, however,
still so largely prevalent in the Dravidian South, show how superficial,
after all, that influence has been in those parts of India where the
admixture of Aryan blood has been so slight as to have practically had
no effect on the racial characteristics of the people. These present-day
practices, and the attitude of the Brahman towards them, help at all
events to explain the aversion with which the strange rites of the
subjected tribes were looked upon by the worshippers of the Vedic
pantheon. At the same time, in judging the apparently inhuman way in
which the Sudras were treated in the caste rules, one has always to bear
in mind the fact that the belief in metempsychosis was already universal
at the time, and seemed to afford the only rational explanation of the
apparent injustice involved in the unequal distribution of the good
things in this world; and that, if the Sudra was strictly excluded from
the religious rites and beliefs of the superior classes, this exclusion
in no way involved the question of his ultimate emancipation and his
union with the Infinite Spirit, which were as certain in his case as in
that of any other sentient being. What it did make impossible for him
was to attain that union immediately on the cessation of his present
life, as he would first have to pass through higher and purer stages of
mundane existence before reaching that goal; but in this respect he only
shared the lot of all but a very few of the saintliest in the higher
spheres of life, since the ordinary twice-born would be liable to sink,
after his present life, to grades yet lower than that of the Sudra.
To what extent the changes, which the religious belief of the Aryan
classes underwent in post-Vedic times, may have been due to aboriginal
influences is a question not easily answered, though the later creeds
offer only too many features in which one might feel inclined to suspect
influences of that kind. The literary documents, both in Sanskrit and
Pali, dating from about the time of Buddha onwards--particularly the two
epic poems, the _Mahabharata_ and _Ramayana_--still show us in the main
the _personnel_ of the old pantheon; but the character of the gods has
changed; they have become anthropomorphized and almost purely
mythological figures. A number of the chief gods, sometimes four, but
generally eight of them, now appear as _lokapalas_ or world-guardians,
having definite quarters or intermediate quarters of the compass
assigned to them as their special domains. One of them, Kubera, the god
of wealth, is a new figure; whilst another, Varuna, the most spiritual
and ethical of Vedic deities--the king of the gods and the universe; the
nightly, star-spangled firmament--has become the Indian Neptune, the god
of waters. Indra, their chief, is virtually a kind of superior raja,
residing in _svarga_, and as such is on visiting terms with earthly
kings, driving about in mid-air with his charioteer Matali. As might
happen to any earth-lord, Indra is actually defeated in battle by the
son of the demon-king of Lanka (Ceylon), and kept there a prisoner till
ransomed by Brahma and the gods conferring immortality on his conqueror.
A quaint figure in the pantheon of the heroic age is Hanuman, the
deified chief of monkeys--probably meant to represent the aboriginal
tribes of southern India--whose wonderful exploits as Rama's ally on the
expedition to Lanka Indian audiences will never weary of hearing
recounted. The Gandharvas figure already in the Veda, either as a single
divinity, or as a class of genii, conceived of as the body-guard of Soma
and as connected with the moon. In the later Vedic times they are
represented as being fond of, and dangerous to, women; the Apsaras,
apparently originally water-nymphs, being closely associated with them.
In the heroic age the Gandharvas have become the heavenly minstrels
plying their art at Indra's court, with the Apsaras as their wives or
mistresses. These fair damsels play, however, yet another part, and one
far from complimentary to the dignity of the gods. In the epics
considerable merit is attached to a life of seclusion and ascetic
practices by means of which man is considered capable of acquiring
supernatural powers equal or even superior to those of the gods--a
notion perhaps not unnaturally springing from the pantheistic
conception. Now, in cases of danger being threatened to their own
ascendancy by such practices, the gods as a rule proceed to employ the
usually successful expedient of despatching some lovely nymph to lure
the saintly men back to worldly pleasures. Seeing that the epic poems,
as repeated by professional reciters, either in their original Sanskrit
text, or in their vernacular versions, as well as dramatic compositions
based on them, form to this day the chief source of intellectual
enjoyment for most Hindus, the legendary matter contained in these
heroic poems, however marvellous and incredible it may appear, still
enters largely into the religious convictions of the people. "These
popular recitals from the Ramayan are done into Gujarati in easy,
flowing narrative verse ... by Premanand, the sweetest of our bards.
They are read out by an intelligent Brahman to a mixed audience of all
classes and both sexes. It has a perceptible influence on the Hindu
character. I believe the remarkable freedom from infidelity which is to
be seen in most Hindu families, in spite of their strange gregarious
habits, can be traced to that influence; and little wonder" (B. M.
Malabari, _Gujarat and the Gujaratis_). Hence also the universal
reverence paid to serpents (_naga_) since those early days; though
whether it simply arose from the superstitious dread inspired by the
insidious reptile so fatal to man in India, or whether the verbal
coincidence with the name of the once-powerful non-Aryan tribe of Nagas
had something to do with it must remain doubtful. Indian myth represents
them as a race of demons sprung from Kadru, the wife of the sage
Kasyapa, with a jewel in their heads which gives them their sparkling
look; and inhabiting one of the seven beautiful worlds below the earth
(and above the hells), where they are ruled over by three chiefs or
kings, Sesha, Vasuki and Takshaka; their fair daughters often entering
into matrimonial alliances with men, like the mermaids of western
legend.
In addition to such essentially mythological conceptions, we meet in the
religious life of this period with an element of more serious aspect in
the two gods, on one or other of whom the religious fervour of the large
majority of Hindus has ever since concentrated itself, viz. Vishnu and
Siva. Both these divine figures have grown out of Vedic conceptions--the
genial Vishnu mainly out of a not very prominent solar deity of the same
name; whilst the stern Siva, i.e. the kind or gracious one--doubtless a
euphemistic name--has his prototype in the old fierce storm-god Rudra,
the "Roarer," with certain additional features derived from other
deities, especially Pushan, the guardian of flocks and bestower of
prosperity, worked up therewith. The exact process of the evolution of
the two deities and their advance in popular favour are still somewhat
obscure. In the epic poems which may be assumed to have taken their
final shape in the early centuries before and after the Christian era,
their popular character, so strikingly illustrated by their inclusion in
the Brahmanical triad, appears in full force; whilst their cult is
likewise attested by the coins and inscriptions of the early centuries
of our era. The co-ordination of the two gods in the Trimurti does not
by any means exclude a certain rivalry between them; but, on the
contrary, a supreme position as the true embodiment of the Divine Spirit
is claimed for each of them by their respective votaries, without,
however, an honourable, if subordinate, place being refused to the rival
deity, wherever the latter, as is not infrequently the case, is not
actually represented as merely another form of the favoured god. Whilst
at times a truly monotheistic fervour manifests itself in the adoration
of these two gods, the polytheistic instincts of the people did not fail
to extend the pantheon by groups of new deities in connexion with them.
Two of such new gods actually pass as the sons of Siva and his consort
Parvati, viz. Skanda--also called Kumara (the youth), Karttikeya, or
Subrahmanya (in the south)--the six-headed war-lord of the gods; and
Ganese, the lord (or leader) of Siva's troupes of attendants, being at
the same time the elephant-headed, paunch-bellied god of wisdom; whilst
a third, Kama (Kamadeva) or Kandarpa, the god of love, gets his popular
epithet of Ananga, "the bodiless," from his having once, in frolicsome
play, tried the power of his arrows upon Siva, whilst engaged in austere
practices, when a single glance from the third (forehead) eye of the
angry god reduced the mischievous urchin to ashes. For his chief
attendant, the great god (Mahadeva, Mahesvara) has already with him the
"holy" Nandi--presumably, though his shape is not specified, identical
in form as in name with Siva's sacred bull of later times, the
appropriate symbol of the god's reproductive power. But, in this
respect, we also meet in the epics with the first clear evidence of what
in after time became the prominent feature of the worship of Siva and
his consort all over India, viz. the feature represented by the _linga_,
or phallic symbol.
As regards Vishnu, the epic poems, including the supplement to the
Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, supply practically the entire framework of
legendary matter on which the later Vaishnava creeds are based. The
theory of Avataras which makes the deity--also variously called
Narayana, Purushottama, or Vasudeva--periodically assume some material
form in order to rescue the world from some great calamity, is fully
developed; the ten universally recognized "descents" being enumerated in
the larger poem. Though Siva, too, assumes various forms, the
incarnation theory is peculiarly characteristic of Vaishnavism; and the
fact that the principal hero of the Ramayana (Rama), and one of the
prominent warriors of the Mahabharata (Krishna) become in this way
identified with the supreme god, and remain to this day the chief
objects of the adoration of Vaishnava sectaries, naturally imparts to
these creeds a human interest and sympathetic aspect which is wholly
wanting in the worship of Siva. It is, however, unfortunately but too
true that in some of these creeds the devotional ardour has developed
features of a highly objectionable character.
Even granting the reasonableness of the triple manifestation of the
Divine Spirit, how is one to reconcile all these idolatrous practices,
this worship of countless gods and godlings, demons and spirits
indwelling in every imaginable object round about us, with the
pantheistic doctrine of the _Ekam Advitiyam_, "the One without a
Second"? The Indian theosophist would doubtless have little difficulty
in answering that question. For him there is only the One Absolute
Being, the one reality that is all in all; whilst all the phenomenal
existences and occurrences that crowd upon our senses are nothing more
than an illusion of the individual soul estranged for a time from its
divine source--an illusion only to be dispelled in the end by the
soul's fuller knowledge of its own true nature and its being one with
the eternal fountain of blissful being. But to the man of ordinary
understanding, unused to the rarefied atmosphere of abstract thought,
this conception of a transcendental, impersonal Spirit and the
unreality of the phenomenal world can have no meaning: what he
requires is a deity that stands in intimate relation to things
material and to all that affects man's life. Hence the exoteric theory
of manifestations of the Supreme Spirit; and that not only the
manifestations implied in the triad of gods representing the cardinal
processes of mundane existence--creation, preservation, and
destruction or regeneration--but even such as would tend to supply a
rational explanation for superstitious imaginings of every kind. For
"the Indian philosophy does not ignore or hold aloof from the religion
of the masses: it underlies, supports and interprets their polytheism.
This may be accounted the keystone of the fabric of Brahmanism, which
accepts and even encourages the rudest forms of idolatry, explaining
everything by giving it a higher meaning. It treats all the worships
as outward, visible signs of some spiritual truth, and is ready to
show how each particular image or rite is the symbol of some aspect of
universal divinity. The Hindus, like the pagans of antiquity, adore
natural objects and forces--a mountain, a river or an animal. The
Brahman holds all nature to be the vesture or cloak of indwelling,
divine energy, which inspires everything that produces awe or passes
man's understanding" (Sir Alfred C. Lyall, _Brahminism_).
Sectarianism.
During the early centuries of our era, whilst Buddhism, where
countenanced by the political rulers, was still holding its own by the
side of Brahmanism, sectarian belief in the Hindu gods seems to have
made steady progress. The caste-system, always calculated to favour
unity of religious practice within its social groups, must naturally
have contributed to the advance of sectarianism. Even greater was the
support it received later on from the Puranas, a class of poetical works
of a partly legendary, partly discursive and controversial character,
mainly composed in the interest of special deities, of which eighteen
principal (_maha-purana_) and as many secondary ones (_upa-purana_) are
recognized, the oldest of which may go back to about the 4th century of
our era. It was probably also during this period that the female element
was first definitely admitted to a prominent place amongst the divine
objects of sectarian worship, in the shape of the wives of the principal
gods viewed as their _sakti_, or female energy, theoretically identified
with the _Maya_, or cosmic Illusion, of the idealistic Vedanta, and the
_Prakriti_, or plastic matter, of the materialistic Sankhya philosophy,
as the primary source of mundane things. The connubial relations of the
deities may thus be considered "to typify the mystical union of the two
eternal principles, spirit and matter, for the production and
reproduction of the universe." But whilst this privilege of divine
worship was claimed for the consorts of all the gods, it is principally
to Siva's consort, in one or other of her numerous forms, that adoration
on an extensive scale came to be offered by a special sect of votaries,
the _Saktas_.
Sankara.
In the midst of these conflicting tendencies, an attempt was made, about
the latter part of the 8th century, by the distinguished Malabar
theologian and philosopher Sankara Acharya to restore the Brahmanical
creed to something like its pristine purity, and thus once more to bring
about a uniform system of orthodox Hindu belief. Though himself, like
most Brahmans, apparently by predilection a follower of Siva, his aim
was the revival of the doctrine of the Brahma as the one self-existent
Being and the sole cause of the universe; coupled with the recognition
of the practical worship of the orthodox pantheon, especially the gods
of the Trimurti, as manifestations of the supreme deity. The practical
result of his labours was the foundation of a new sect, the _Smartas_,
i.e. adherents of the _smriti_ or tradition, which has a numerous
following amongst southern Brahmans, and, whilst professing Sankara's
doctrines, is usually classed as one of the Saiva sects, its members
adopting the horizontal sectarial mark peculiar to Saivas, consisting in
their case of a triple line, the _tripundra_, prepared from the ashes of
burnt cow-dung and painted on the forehead. Sankara also founded four
Maths, or convents, for Brahmans; the chief one being that of Sringeri
in Mysore, the spiritual head (_Guru_) of which wields considerable
power, even that of excommunication, over the Saivas of southern India.
In northern India, the professed followers of Sankara are mainly limited
to certain classes of mendicants and ascetics, although the tenets of
this great Vedanta teacher may be said virtually to constitute the creed
of intelligent Brahmans generally.
Whilst Sankara's chief title to fame rests on his philosophical works,
as the upholder of the strict monistic theory of Vedanta, he doubtless
played an important part in the partial remodelling of the Hindu
system of belief at a time when Buddhism was rapidly losing ground in
India. Not that there is any evidence of Buddhists ever having been
actually persecuted by the Brahmans, or still less of Sankara himself
ever having done so; but the traditional belief in some personal god,
as the principal representative of an invisible, all-pervading deity,
would doubtless appeal more directly to the minds and hearts of the
people than the colourless ethical system promulgated by the Sakya
saint. Nor do Buddhist places of worship appear as a rule to have been
destroyed by Hindu sectaries, but they seem rather to have been taken
over by them for their own religious uses; at any rate there are to
this day not a few Hindu shrines, especially in Bengal, dedicated to
Dharmaraj, "the prince of righteousness," as the Buddha is commonly
styled. That the tenets and practices of so characteristic a faith as
Buddhism, so long prevalent in India, cannot but have left their marks
on Hindu life and belief may readily be assumed, though it is not so
easy to lay one's finger on the precise features that might seem to
betray such an influence. If the general tenderness towards animals,
based on the principle of _ahimsa_, or inflicting no injury on
sentient beings, be due to Buddhist teaching, that influence must have
made itself felt at a comparatively early period, seeing that
sentiments of a similar nature are repeatedly urged in the Code of
Manu. Thus, in v. 46-48, "He who does not willingly cause the pain of
confinement and death to living beings, but desires the good of all,
obtains endless bliss. He who injures no creature obtains without
effort what he thinks of, what he strives for, and what he fixes his
mind on. Flesh-meat cannot be procured without injury to animals, and
the slaughter of animals is not conducive to heavenly bliss: from
flesh-meat, therefore, let man abstain." Moreover, in view of the fact
that Jainism, which originated about the same time as Buddhism,
inculcates the same principle, even to an extravagant degree, it seems
by no means improbable that the spirit of kindliness towards living
beings generally was already widely diffused among the people when
these new doctrines were promulgated. To the same tendency doubtless
is due the gradual decline and ultimate discontinuance of animal
sacrifices by all sects except the extreme branch of
Sakti-worshippers. In this respect, the veneration shown to serpents
and monkeys has, however, to be viewed in a somewhat different light,
as having a mythical background; whilst quite a special significance
attaches to the sacred character assigned to the cow by all classes of
Hindus, even those who are not prepared to admit the claim of the
Brahman to the exalted position of the earthly god usually conceded to
him. In the Veda no tendency shows itself as yet towards rendering
divine honour to the cow; and though the importance assigned her in an
agricultural community is easily understood, still the exact process
of her deification and her identification with the mother earth in the
time of Manu and the epics requires further elucidation. An idealized
type of the useful quadruped--likewise often identified with the
earth--presents itself in the mythical Cow of Plenty, or "wish-cow"
(Kamadhenu, or Kamadugha, i.e. wish-milker), already appearing in the
Atharvaveda, and in epic times assigned to Indra, or identified with
Surabhi, "the fragrant," the sacred cow of the sage Vasishtha.
Possibly the growth of the legend of Krishna--his being reared at
Gokula (cow-station); his tender relations to the _gopis_, or
cow-herdesses, of Vrindavana; his epithets _Gopala_, "the cowherd,"
and _Govinda_, "cow-finder," actually explained as "recoverer of the
earth" in the great epic, and the _go-loka_, or "cow-world," assigned
to him as his heavenly abode--may have some connexion with the sacred
character ascribed to the cow from early times.
Worship.
Since the time of Sankara, or for more than a thousand years, the gods
Vishnu and Siva, or _Hari_ and _Hara_ as they are also commonly
called--with their wives, especially that of the latter god--have shared
between them the practical worship of the vast majority of Hindus. But,
though the people have thus been divided between two different religious
camps, sectarian animosity has upon the whole kept within reasonable
limits. In fact, the respectable Hindu, whilst owning special allegiance
to one of the two gods as his _ishta devata_ (favourite deity), will not
withhold his tribute of adoration from the other gods of the pantheon.
The high-caste Brahman will probably keep at his home a salagram stone,
the favourite symbol of Vishnu, as well as the characteristic emblems of
Siva and his consort, to both of which he will do reverence in the
morning; and when he visits some holy place of pilgrimage, he will not
fail to pay his homage at both the Saiva and the Vaishnava shrines
there. Indeed, "sectarian bigotry and exclusiveness are to be found
chiefly among the professional leaders of the modern brotherhoods and
their low-caste followers, who are taught to believe that theirs are the
only true gods, and that the rest do not deserve any reverence whatever"
(Jog. Nath). The same spirit of toleration shows itself in the
celebration of the numerous religious festivals. Whilst some of
these--e.g. the _Sankranti_ (called _Pongal_, i.e. "boiled rice," in the
south), which marks the entrance of the sun into the sign of Capricorn
and the beginning of its northward course (_uttarayana_) on the 1st day
of the month Magha (c. Jan. 12); the _Ganesa-caturthi_, or 4th day of
the light fortnight of Bhadra (August-September), considered the
birthday of Ganesa, the god of wisdom; and the _Holi_, the Indian
Saturnalia in the month of Phalguna (February to March)--have nothing of
a sectarian tendency about them; others again, which are of a distinctly
sectarian character--such as the _Krishna-janmashtami_, the birthday of
Krishna on the 8th day of the dark half of Bhadra, or (in the south) of
Sravana (July-August), the _Durga-puja_ and the _Dipavali_, or lamp
feast, celebrating Krishna's victory over the demon Narakasura, on the
last two days of Asvina (September-October)--are likewise observed and
heartily joined in by the whole community irrespective of sect. Widely
different, however, as is the character of the two leading gods are also
the modes of worship practised by their votaries.
_Siva_ has at all times been the favourite god of the Brahmans,[5] and
his worship is accordingly more widely extended than that of his rival,
especially in southern India. Indeed there is hardly a village in India
which cannot boast of a shrine dedicated to Siva, and containing the
emblem of his reproductive power; for almost the only form in which the
"Great God" is adored is the _Linga_, consisting usually of an upright
cylindrical block of marble or other stone, mostly resting on a circular
perforated slab. The mystic nature of these emblems seems, however, to
be but little understood by the common people; and, as H. H. Wilson
remarks, "notwithstanding the acknowledged purport of this worship, it
is but justice to state that it is unattended in Upper India by any
indecent or indelicate ceremonies, and it requires a rather lively
imagination to trace any resemblance in its symbols to the objects they
are supposed to represent." In spite, however, of its wide diffusion,
and the vast number of shrines dedicated to it, the worship of Siva has
never assumed a really popular character, especially in northern India,
being attended with scarcely any solemnity or display of emotional
spirit. The temple, which usually stands in the middle of a court, is as
a rule a building of very moderate dimensions, consisting either of a
single square chamber, surmounted by a pyramidal structure, or of a
chamber for the linga and a small vestibule. The worshipper, having
first circumambulated the shrine as often as he pleases, keeping it at
his right-hand side, steps up to the threshold of the sanctum, and
presents his offering of flowers or fruit, which the officiating priest
receives; he then prostrates himself, or merely lifts his hands--joined
so as to leave a hollow space between the palms--to his forehead,
muttering a short prayer, and takes his departure. Amongst the many
thousands of Lingas, twelve are usually regarded as of especial
sanctity, one of which, that of Somnath in Gujarat, where Siva is
worshipped as "the lord of Soma," was, however, shattered by Mahmud of
Ghazni; whilst another, representing Siva as _Visvesvara_, or "Lord of
the Universe," is the chief object of adoration at Benares, the great
centre of Siva-worship. The Saivas of southern India, on the other hand,
single out as peculiarly sacred five of their temples which are supposed
to enshrine as many characteristic aspects (linga) of the god in the
form of the five elements, the most holy of these being the shrine of
Chidambaram (i.e. "thought-ether") in S. Arcot, supposed to contain the
ether-linga. According to Pandit S. M. Natesa (_Hindu Feasts, Fasts and
Ceremonies_), "the several forms of the god Siva in these sacred shrines
are considered to be the bodies or casements of the soul whose natural
bases are the five elements--earth, water, fire, air and ether. The
apprehension of God in the last of these five as ether is, according to
the Saiva school of philosophy, the highest form of worship, for it is
not the worship of God in a tangible form, but the worship of what, to
ordinary minds, is vacuum, which nevertheless leads to the attainment of
a knowledge of the all-pervading without physical accessories in the
shape of any linga, which is, after all, an emblem. That this is the
case at Chidambaram is known to every Hindu, for if he ever asks the
priests to show him the God in the temple he is pointed to an empty
space in the holy of holies, which has been termed the Akasa, or
ether-linga." But, however congenial this refined symbolism may be to
the worshipper of a speculative turn of mind, it is difficult to see how
it could ever satisfy the religious wants of the common man little given
to abstract conceptions of this kind.
Mendicant orders.
From early times, detachment from the world and the practice of
austerities have been regarded in India as peculiarly conducive to a
spirit of godliness, and ultimately to a state of ecstatic communion
with the deity. On these grounds it was actually laid down as a rule for
a man solicitous for his spiritual welfare to pass the last two of the
four stages (_asrama_) of his life in such conditions of renunciation
and self-restraint. Though there is hardly a sect which has not
contributed its share to the element of religious mendicancy and
asceticism so prevalent in India, it is in connexion with the Siva-cult
that these tendencies have been most extensively cultivated. Indeed, the
personality of the stern God himself exhibits this feature in a very
marked degree, whence the term _mahayogi_ or "great ascetic" is often
applied to him.
Of Saiva mendicant and ascetic orders, the members of which are
considered more or less followers of Sankara Acharya, the following
may be mentioned: (1) _Dandis_, or staff-bearers, who carry a wand
with a piece of red cloth, containing the sacred cord, attached to it,
and also wear one or more pieces of cloth of the same colour. They
worship Siva in his form of Bhairava, the "terrible." A sub-section of
this order are the Dandi Dasnamis, or Dandi of ten names, so called
from their assuming one of the names of Sankara's four disciples, and
six of their pupils. (2) _Yogis_ (or popularly, Jogis), i.e. adherents
of the Yoga philosophy and the system of ascetic practices enjoined by
it with the view of mental abstraction and the supposed attainment of
superhuman powers--practices which, when not merely pretended, but
rigidly carried out, are only too apt to produce vacuity of mind and
wild fits of frenzy. In these degenerate days their supernatural
powers consist chiefly in conjuring, sooth-saying, and feats of
jugglery, by which they seldom fail in imposing upon a credulous
public. (3) _Sannyasis_, devotees who "renounce" earthly concerns, an
order not confined either to the Brahmanical caste or to the Saiva
persuasion. Those of the latter are in the habit of smearing their
bodies with ashes, and wearing a tiger-skin and a necklace or rosary
of _rudraksha_ berries (Elaeocarpus Ganitrus, lit. "Rudra's eye"),
sacred to Siva, and allowing their hair to grow till it becomes matted
and filthy. (4) _Parama-hamsas_, i.e. "supreme geese (or swans)," a
term applied to the world-soul with which they claim to be identical.
This is the highest order of asceticism, members of which are supposed
to be solely engaged in meditating on the Brahma, and to be "equally
indifferent to pleasure or pain, insensible of heat or cold, and
incapable of satiety or want." Some of them go about naked, but the
majority are clad like the Dandis. (5) _Aghora Panthis_, a vile and
disreputable class of mendicants, now rarely met with. Their filthy
habits and disgusting practices of gross promiscuous feeding, even to
the extent of eating offal and dead men's flesh, look almost like a
direct repudiation of the strict Brahmanical code of ceremonial purity
and cleanliness, and of the rules regulating the matter and manner of
eating and drinking; and they certainly make them objects of loathing
and terror wherever they are seen.
On the general effect of the manner of life led by _Sadhus_ or "holy
men," a recent observer (J. C. Oman, _Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of
India_, p. 273) remarks: "_Sadhuism_, whether perpetuating the
peculiar idea of the efficiency of austerities for the acquisition of
far-reaching powers over natural phenomena, or bearing its testimony
to the belief in the indispensableness of detachment from the world as
a preparation for the ineffable joy of ecstatic communion with the
Divine Being, has undoubtedly tended to keep before men's eyes, as the
highest ideal, a life of purity, self-restraint, and contempt of the
world and human affairs. It has also necessarily maintained amongst
the laity a sense of the righteous claims of the poor upon the charity
of the more affluent members of the community. Moreover, _sadhuism_,
by the multiplicity of the independent sects which have arisen in
India, has engendered and favoured a spirit of tolerance which cannot
escape the notice of the most superficial observer."
Lingayats.
An independent Saiva sect, or, indeed, the only strictly Saiva sect, are
the _Vira Saivas_, more commonly called _Lingayats_ (popularly Lingaits)
or _Lingavats_, from their practice of wearing on their person a phallic
emblem of Siva, made of copper or silver, and usually enclosed in a case
suspended from the neck by a string. Apparently from the movable nature
of their badge, their _Gurus_ are called _Jangamas_ ("movable"). This
sect counts numerous adherents in southern India; the Census Report of
1901 recording nearly a million and a half, including some 70 or 80
different, mostly endogamous, castes. The reputed founder, or rather
reformer, of the sect was Basava (or Basaba), a Brahman of the Belgaum
district who seems to have lived in the 11th or 12th century. According
to the Basava-purana he early in life renounced his caste and went to
reside at Kalyana, then the capital of the Chalukya kingdom, and later
on at Sangamesvara near Ratnagiri, where he was initiated into the Vira
Saiva faith which he subsequently made it his life's work to propagate.
His doctrine, which may be said to constitute a kind of reaction against
the severe sacerdotalism of Sankara, has spread over all classes of the
southern community, most of the priests of Saiva temples there being
adherents of it; whilst in northern India its votaries are only
occasionally met with, and then mostly as mendicants, leading about a
neatly caparisoned bull as representing Siva's sacred bull _Nandi_.
Though the Lingayats still show a certain animosity towards the
Brahmans, and in the Census lists are accordingly classed as an
independent group beside the Hindus, still they can hardly be excluded
from the Hindu community, and are sure sooner or later to find their way
back to the Brahmanical fold.
Avatars.
Vishnu, whilst less popular with Brahmans than his rival, has from early
times proved to the lay mind a more attractive object of adoration on
account of the genial and, so to speak, romantic character of his
mythical personality. It is not, however, so much the original figure of
the god himself that enlists the sympathies of his adherents as the
additional elements it has received through the theory of periodical
"descents" (_avatara_) or incarnations applied to this deity. Whilst the
Saiva philosophers do not approve of the notion of incarnations, as
being derogatory to the dignity of the deity, the Brahmans have
nevertheless thought fit to adopt it as apparently a convenient
expedient for bringing certain tendencies of popular worship within the
pale of their system, and probably also for counteracting the Buddhist
doctrines; and for this purpose Vishnu would obviously offer himself as
the most attractive figure in the Brahmanical trinity. Whether the
incarnation theory started from the original solar nature of the god
suggestive of regular visits to the world of men, or in what other way
it may have originated, must remain doubtful. Certain, however, it is
that at least one of his Avatars is clearly based on the Vedic
conception of the sun-god, viz. that of the dwarf who claims as much
ground as he can cover by three steps, and then gains the whole universe
by his three mighty strides. Of the ten or more Avatars, assumed by
different authorities, only two have entered to any considerable extent
into the religious worship of the people, viz. those of _Rama_ (or
Ramachandra) and _Krishna_, the favourite heroes of epic romance. That
these two figures would appeal far more strongly to the hearts and
feelings of the people, especially the warlike Kshatriyas,[6] than the
austere Siva is only what might have been expected; and, indeed, since
the time of the epics their cult seems never to have lacked numerous
adherents. But, on the other hand, the essentially human nature of these
two gods would naturally tend to modify the character of the relations
between worshipper and worshipped, and to impart to the modes and forms
of adoration features of a more popular and more human kind. And
accordingly it is exactly in connexion with these two incarnations of
Vishnu, especially that of Krishna, that a new spirit was infused into
the religious life of the people by the sentiment of fervent devotion to
the deity, as it found expression in certain portions of the epic poems,
especially the _Bhagavadgita_, and in the _Bhagavata-purana_ (as against
the more orthodox Vaishnava works of this class such as the
Vishnu-purana), and was formulated into a regular doctrine of faith in
the _Sandilya-sutra_, and ultimately translated into practice by the
Vaishnava reformers.
Ramanujas.
The first successful Vaishnava reaction against Sankara's reconstructed
creed was led by Ramanuja, a southern Brahman of the 12th century. His
followers, the Ramanujas, or Sri-Vaishnavas as they are usually called,
worship Vishnu (Narayana) with his consort Sri or Lakshmi (the goddess
of beauty and fortune), or their incarnations Rama with Sita and Krishna
with Rukmini. Ramanuja's doctrine, which is especially directed against
the Linga-worship, is essentially based on the tenets of an old
Vaishnava sect, the Bhagavatas or Pancharatras, who worshipped the
Supreme Being under the name of Vasudeva (subsequently identified with
Krishna, as the son of Vasudeva, who indeed is credited by some scholars
with the foundation of that monotheistic creed). The sectarial mark of
the Ramanujas resembles a capital U (or, in the case of another
division, a Y), painted with a white clay called gopi-chandana, between
the hair and the root of the nose, with a red or yellow vertical stroke
(representing the female element) between the two white lines. They also
usually wear, like all Vaishnavas, a necklace of _tulasi_, or basil
wood, and a rosary of seeds of the same shrub or of the lotus. Their
most important shrines are those of Srirangam near Trichinopoly,
Mailkote in Mysore, Dvaraka (the city of Krishna) on the Kathiawar
coast, and Jagannath in Orissa; all of them decorated with Vishnu's
emblems, the tulasi plant and salagram stone. The Ramanuja Brahmans are
most punctilious in the preparation of their food and in regard to the
privacy of their meals, before taking which they have to bathe and put
on woollen or silk garments. Whilst Sankara's mendicant followers were
prohibited to touch fire and had to subsist entirely on the charity of
Brahman householders, Ramanuja, on the contrary, not only allowed his
followers to use fire, but strictly forbade their eating any food
cooked, or even seen, by a stranger. On the speculative side, Ramanuja
also met Sankara's strictly monistic theory by another recognizing
Vishnu as identical with Brahma as the Supreme Spirit animating the
material world as well as the individual souls which have become
estranged from God through unbelief, and can only attain again conscious
union with him through devotion or love (_bhakti_). His tenets are
expounded in various works, especially in his commentaries on the
Vedanta-sutras and the Bhagavadgita. The followers of Ramanuja have
split into two sects, a northern one, recognizing the Vedas as their
chief authority, and a southern one, basing their tenets on the Nalayir,
a Tamil work of the Upanishad order. In point of doctrine, they differ
in their view of the relation between God Vishnu and the human soul;
whilst the former sect define it by the _ape_ theory, which makes the
soul cling to God as the young ape does to its mother, the latter
explain it by the cat theory, by which Vishnu himself seizes and rescues
the souls as the mother cat does her young ones.
Madhvas.
_Madhva Acharya_, another distinguished Vedanta teacher and founder of a
Vaishnava sect, born in Kanara in A.D. 1199, was less intolerant of the
Linga cult than Ramanuja, but seems rather to have aimed at a
reconciliation of the Saiva and Vaishnava forms of worship. The
_Madhvas_ or _Madhvacharis_ favour Krishna and his consort as their
special objects of adoration, whilst images of Siva, Parvati, and their
son Ganesa are, however, likewise admitted and worshipped in some of
their temples, the most important of which is at Udipi in South Kanara,
with eight monasteries connected with it. This shrine contains an image
of Krishna which is said to have been rescued from the wreck of a ship
which brought it from Dvaraka, where it was supposed to have been set up
of old by no other than Krishna's friend Arjuna, one of the five Pandava
princes. Followers of the Madhva creed are but rarely met with in Upper
India. Their sectarial mark is like the U of the Sri-Vaishnavas, except
that their central line is black instead of red or yellow. Madhva--who
after his initiation assumed the name Anandatirtha--composed numerous
Sanskrit works, including commentaries on the Brahma sutras (i.e. the
Vedanta aphorisms), the Gita, the Rigveda and many Upanishads. His
philosophical theory was a dualistic one, postulating distinctness of
nature for the divine and the human soul, and hence independent
existence, instead of absorption, after the completion of mundane
existence.
Ramats.
The Ramanandis or Ramavats (popularly Ramats) are a numerous northern
sect of similar tenets to those of the Ramanujas. Indeed its founder,
Ramananda, who probably flourished in the latter part of the 14th
century, according to the traditional account, was originally a
Sri-Vaishnava monk, and, having come under the suspicion of laxity in
observing the strict rules of food during his peregrinations, and been
ordered by his superior (Mahant) to take his meals apart from his
brethren, left the monastery in a huff and set up a schismatic math of
his own at Benares. The sectarial mark of his sect differs but slightly
from that of the parent stock. The distinctive features of their creed
consist in their making Rama and Sita, either singly or conjointly, the
chief objects of their adoration, instead of Vishnu and Lakshmi, and
their attaching little or no importance to the observance of privacy in
the cooking and eating of their food. Their mendicant members, usually
known as Vairagis, are, like the general body of the sect, drawn from
all castes without distinction. Thus, the founder's twelve chief
disciples include, besides Brahmans, a weaver, a currier, a Rajput, a
Jat and a barber--for, they argue, seeing that Bhagavan, the Holy One
(Vishnu), became incarnate even in animal form, a Bhakta (believer) may
be born even in the lowest of castes. Ramananda's teaching was thus of a
distinctly levelling and popular character; and, in accordance
therewith, the Bhakta-mala and other authoritative writings of the sect
are composed, not in Sanskrit, but in the popular dialects. A follower
of this creed was the distinguished poet Tulsidas, the composer of the
beautiful Hindi version of the Ramayana and other works which "exercise
more influence upon the great body of Hindu population than the whole
voluminous series of Sanskrit composition" (H. H. Wilson).
Kabir.
The traditional list of Ramananda's immediate disciples includes the
name of Kabir, the weaver, a remarkable man who would accordingly have
lived in the latter part of the 15th century, and who is claimed by both
Hindus and Moslems as having been born within their fold. The story goes
that, having been deeply impressed by Ramananda's teaching, he sought to
attach himself to him; and, one day at Benares, in stepping down the
ghat at daybreak to bathe in the Ganges, and putting himself in the way
of the teacher, the latter, having inadvertently struck him with his
foot, uttered his customary exclamation "Ram Ram," which, being also the
initiatory formula of the sect, was claimed by Kabir as such, making him
Ramananda's disciple. Be this as it may, Kabir's own reformatory
activity lay in the direction of a compromise between the Hindu and the
Mahommedan creeds, the religious practices of both of which he
criticized with equal severity. His followers, the Kabir Panthis ("those
following Kabir's path"), though neither worshipping the gods of the
pantheon, nor observing the rites and ceremonial of the Hindus, are
nevertheless in close touch with the Vaishnava sects, especially the
Ramavats, and generally worship Rama as the supreme deity, when they do
not rather address their homage, in hymns and otherwise, to the founder
of their creed himself. Whilst very numerous, particularly amongst the
low-caste population, in western, central and northern India, resident
adherents of Kabir's doctrine are rare in Bengal and the south; although
"there is hardly a town in India where strolling beggars may not be
found singing songs of Kabir in the original or as translated into the
local dialects." The mendicants of this creed, however, never actually
solicit alms; and, indeed, "the quaker-like spirit of the sect, their
abhorrence of all violence, their regard for truth and the
inobtrusiveness of their opinions render them very inoffensive members
of the state" (H. H. Wilson). The doctrines of Kabir are taught, mostly
in the form of dialogues, in numerous Hindi works, composed by his
disciples and adherents, who, however, usually profess to give the
teacher's own words.
The peculiar conciliatory tendencies of Kabir were carried on with even
greater zeal from the latter part of the 15th century by one of his
followers, Nanak Shah, the promulgator of the creed of the _Nanak
Shahis_ or _Sikhs_--i.e. (Sanskr.) _sishya_, disciples, whose guru, or
teacher, he called himself--a peaceful sect at first until, in
consequence of Mahommedan persecution, a martial spirit was infused into
it by the tenth, and last, guru, Govind Shah, changing it into a
political organization. Whilst originally more akin in its principles to
the Moslem faith, the sect seems latterly to have shown tendencies
towards drifting back to the Hindu pale.
Of Ramananda's disciples and successors several others, besides Kabir,
have established schismatic divisions of their own, which do not,
however, offer any very marked differences of creed. The most
important of these, the Dadu Panthi sect, founded by Dadu about the
year 1600, has a numerous following in Ajmir and Marwar, one section
of whom, the Nagas, engage largely in military service, whilst the
others are either householders or mendicants. The followers of this
creed wear no distinctive sectarial mark or badge, except a skull-cap;
nor do they worship any visible image of any deity, the repetition
(_japa_) of the name of Rama being the only kind of adoration
practised by them.
Eroticism and Krishna worship.
Although the Vaishnava sects hitherto noticed, in their adoration of
Vishnu and his incarnations, Krishna and Ramachandra, usually associate
with these gods their wives, as their _saktis_, or female energies, the
sexual element is, as a rule, only just allowed sufficient scope to
enhance the emotional character of the rites of worship. In some of the
later Vaishnava creeds, on the other hand, this element is far from
being kept within the bounds of moderation and decency. The favourite
object of adoration with adherents of these sects is Krishna with his
mate--but not the devoted friend and counsellor of the Pandavas and
deified hero of epic song, nor the ruler of Dvaraka and wedded lord of
Rukmini, but the juvenile Krishna, Govinda or Bala Gopala, "the cowherd
lad," the foster son of the cowherd Nanda of Gokula, taken up with his
amorous sports with the _Gopis_, or wives of the cowherds of Vrindavana
(Brindaban, near Mathura on the Yamuna), especially his favourite
mistress Radha or Radhika. This episode in the legendary life of Krishna
has every appearance of being a later accretion. After barely a few
allusions to it in the epics, it bursts forth full-blown in the
Harivansa, the Vishnu-purana, the Narada-Pancharatra and the
Bhagavata-purana, the tenth canto of which, dealing with the life of
Krishna, has become, through vernacular versions, especially the Hindi
_Prem-sagar_, or "ocean of love," a favourite romance all over India,
and has doubtless helped largely to popularize the cult of Krishna.
Strange to say, however, no mention is as yet made by any of these works
of Krishna's favourite Radha; it is only in another Purana--though
scarcely deserving that designation--that she makes her appearance, viz.
in the Brahma-vaivarta, in which Krishna's amours in Nanda's cow-station
are dwelt upon in fulsome and wearisome detail; whilst the poet
Jayadeva, in the 12th century, made her love for the gay and inconstant
boy the theme of his beautiful, if highly voluptuous, lyrical drama,
_Gita-govinda_.
The earliest of the sects which associate Radha with Krishna in their
worship is that of the Nimavats, founded by Nimbaditya or Nimbarka
(i.e. "the sun of the Nimba tree"), a teacher of uncertain date, said
to have been a Telugu Brahman who subsequently established himself at
Mathura (Muttra) on the Yamuna, where the headquarters of his sect
have remained ever since. The Mahant of their monastery at Dhruva
Kshetra near Mathura, who claims direct descent from Nimbarka, is said
to place the foundation of that establishment as far back as the 5th
century--doubtless an exaggerated claim; but if Jayadeva, as is
alleged, and seems by no means improbable, was really a follower of
Nimbarka, this teacher must have flourished, at latest, in the early
part of the 12th century. He is indeed taken by some authorities to be
identical with the mathematician Bhaskara Acharya, who is known to
have completed his chief work in A.D. 1150. It is worthy of remark, in
this respect, that--in accordance with Ramanuja's and Nimbarka's
philosophical theories--Jayadeva's presentation of Krishna's fickle
love for Radha is usually interpreted in a mystical sense, as
allegorically depicting the human soul's striving, through love, for
reunion with God, and its ultimate attainment, after many
backslidings, of the longed-for goal. As the chief authority of their
tenets, the Nimavats recognize the Bhagavata-purana; though several
works, ascribed to Nimbarka--partly of a devotional character and
partly expository of Vedanta topics--are still extant. Adherents of
this sect are fairly numerous in northern India, their frontal mark
consisting of the usual two perpendicular white lines, with, however,
a circular black spot between them.
Of greater importance than the sect just noticed, because of their far
larger following, are the two sects founded early in the 16th century
by Vallabha (Ballabha) Acharya and Chaitanya. In the forms of worship
favoured by votaries of these creeds the emotional and erotic elements
are allowed yet freer scope than in those that preceded them; and, as
an effective auxiliary to these tendencies, the use of the vernacular
dialects in prayers and hymns of praise takes an important part in the
religious service. The Vallabhacharis, or, as they are usually called,
from the title of their spiritual heads, the Gokulastha Gosains, i.e.
"the cow-lords (_gosvamin_) residing in Gokula," are very numerous in
western and central India. Vallabha, the son of a Telinga Brahman,
after extensive journeyings all over India, settled at Gokula near
Mathura, and set up a shrine with an image of Krishna Gopala. About
the year 1673, in consequence of the fanatical persecutions of the
Mogul emperor, this image was transferred to Nathdvara in Udaipur
(Mewar), where the shrine of Srinatha ("the lord of Sri," i.e. Vishnu)
continues to be the chief centre of worship for adherents of this
creed; whilst seven other images, transferred from Mathura at the same
time, are located at different places in Rajputana. Vallabha himself
went subsequently to reside at Benares, where he died. In the doctrine
of this Vaishnava prophet, the adualistic theory of Sankara is
resorted to as justifying a joyful and voluptuous cult of the deity.
For, if the human soul is identical with God, the practice of
austerities must be discarded as directed against God, and it is
rather by a free indulgence of the natural appetites and the pleasures
of life that man's love for God will best be shown. The followers of
his creed, amongst whom there are many wealthy merchants and bankers,
direct their worship chiefly to Gopal Lal, the boyish Krishna of
Vrindavana, whose image is sedulously attended like a revered living
person eight times a day--from its early rising from its couch up to
its retiring to repose at night. The sectarial mark of the adherents
consists of two red perpendicular lines, meeting in a semicircle at
the root of the nose, and having a round red spot painted between
them. Their principal doctrinal authority is the Bhagavata-purana, as
commented upon by Vallabha himself, who was also the author of several
other Sanskrit works highly esteemed by his followers. In this sect,
children are solemnly admitted to full membership at the early age of
four, and even two, years of age, when a rosary, or necklace, of 108
beads of basil (tulsi) wood is passed round their necks, and they are
taught the use of the octo-syllabic formula _Sri-Krishnah saranam
mama_, "Holy Krishna is my refuge." Another special feature of this
sect is that their spiritual heads, the Gosains, also called
Maharajas, so far from submitting themselves to self-discipline and
austere practices, adorn themselves in splendid garments, and allow
themselves to be habitually regaled by their adherents with choice
kinds of food; and being regarded as the living representatives of the
"lord of the Gopis" himself, they claim and receive in their own
persons all acts of attachment and worship due to the deity, even, it
is alleged, to the extent of complete self-surrender. In the final
judgment of the famous libel case of the Bombay Maharajas, before the
Supreme Court of Bombay, in January 1862, these improprieties were
severely commented upon; and though so unsparing a critic of Indian
sects as Jogendra Nath seems not to believe in actual immoral
practices on the part of the Maharajas, still he admits that "the
corrupting influence of a religion, that can make its female votaries
address amorous songs to their spiritual guides, must be very great."
A modern offshoot of Vallabha's creed, formed with the avowed object
of purging it of its objectionable features, was started, in the early
years of the 19th century, by Sahajananda, a Brahman of the Oudh
country, who subsequently assumed the name of Svami Narayana. Having
entered on his missionary labours at Ahmadabad, and afterwards removed
to Jetalpur, where he had a meeting with Bishop Heber, he subsequently
settled at the village of Wartal, to the north-west of Baroda, and
erected a temple to Lakshmi-Narayana, which, with another at
Ahmadabad, forms the two chief centres of the sect, each being
presided over by a Maharaja. Their worship is addressed to Narayana,
i.e. Vishnu, as the Supreme Being, together with Lakshmi, as well as
to Krishna and Radha. The sect is said to be gaining ground in
Gujarat. Chaitanya, the founder of the great Vaishnava sect of
Bengal, was the son of a high-caste Brahman of Nadiya, the famous
Bengal seat of Sanskrit learning, where he was born in 1485, two years
after the birth of Martin Luther, the German reformer. Having married
in due time, and a second time after the death of his first wife, he
lived as a "householder" (_grihastha_) till the age of 24, when he
renounced his family ties and set out as a religious mendicant
(_vairagin_), visiting during the next six years the principal places
of pilgrimage in northern India, and preaching with remarkable success
his doctrine of Bhakti, or passionate devotion to Krishna, as the
Supreme Deity. He subsequently made over to his principal disciples
the task of consolidating his community, and passed the last twelve
years of his life at Puri in Orissa, the great centre of the worship
of Vishnu as Jagannatha, or "lord of the world," which he remodelled
in accordance with his doctrine, causing the mystic songs of Jayadeva
to be recited before the images in the morning and evening as part of
the daily service; and, in fact, as in the other Vaishnava creeds,
seeking to humanize divine adoration by bringing it into accord with
the experience of human love. To this end, music, dancing,
singing-parties (_sankirtan_), theatricals--in short anything
calculated to produce the desired impression--would prove welcome to
him. His doctrine of Bhakti distinguishes five grades of devotional
feeling in the _Bhaktas_, or faithful adherents: viz. (_santi_) calm
contemplation of the deity; (_dasya_) active servitude; (_sakhya_)
friendship or personal regard; (_vatsalya_) tender affection as
between parents and children; (_madhurya_) love or passionate
attachment, like that which the Gopis felt for Krishna. Chaitanya also
seems to have done much to promote the celebration on an imposing
scale of the great Puri festival of the Ratha-yatra, or
"car-procession," in the month of Ashadha, when, amidst multitudes of
pilgrims, the image of Krishna, together with those of his brother
Balarama and his sister Subhadra, is drawn along, in a huge car, by
the devotees. Just as this festival was, and continues to be, attended
by people from all parts of India, without distinction of caste or
sex, so also were all classes, even Mahommedans, admitted by Chaitanya
as members of his sect. Whilst numerous observances are recommended as
more or less meritorious, the ordinary form of worship is a very
simple one, consisting as it does mainly of the constant repetition of
names of Krishna, or Krishna and Radha, which of itself is considered
sufficient to ensure future bliss. The partaking of flesh food and
spirituous liquor is strictly prohibited. By the followers of this
sect, also, an extravagant degree of reverence is habitually paid to
their gurus or spiritual heads. Indeed, Chaitanya himself, as well as
his immediate disciples, have come to be regarded as complete or
partial incarnations of the deity to whom adoration is due, as to
Krishna himself; and their modern successors, the Gosains, share to
the fullest extent in the devout attentions of the worshippers.
Chaitanya's movement, being chiefly directed against the vile
practices of the Saktas, then very prevalent in Bengal, was doubtless
prompted by the best and purest of intentions; but his own doctrine of
divine, though all too human, love was, like that of Vallabha, by no
means free from corruptive tendencies,--yet, how far these tendencies
have worked their way, who would say? On this point, Dr W. W.
Hunter--who is of opinion that "the death of the reformer marks the
beginning of the spiritual decline of Vishnu-worship," observes
(_Orissa_, i. 111), "The most deplorable corruption of Vishnu-worship
at the present day is that which has covered the temple walls with
indecent sculptures, and filled its innermost sanctuaries with
licentious rites" ... yet ... "it is difficult for a person not a
Hindu to pronounce upon the real extent of the evil. None but a Hindu
can enter any of the larger temples, and none but a Hindu priest
really knows the truth about their inner mysteries"; whilst the
well-known native scholar Babu Rajendralal Mitra points out
(_Antiquities of Orissa_, i. 111) that "such as they are, these
sculptures date from centuries before the birth of Chaitanya, and
cannot, therefore, be attributed to his doctrines or to his followers.
As a Hindu by birth, and a Vaishnava by family religion, I have had
the freest access to the innermost sanctuaries and to the most secret
of scriptures. I have studied the subject most extensively, and have
had opportunities of judging which no European can have, and I have no
hesitation in saying that, 'the mystic songs' of Jayadeva and the
'ocean of love' notwithstanding, there is nothing in the rituals of
Jagannatha which can be called licentious." Whilst in Chaitanya's
creed, Krishna, in his relations to Radha, remains at least
theoretically the chief partner, an almost inevitable step was taken
by some minor sects in attaching the greater importance to the female
element, and making Krishna's love for his mistress the guiding
sentiment of their faith. Of these sects, it will suffice to mention
that of the Radha-Vallabhis, started in the latter part of the 16th
century, who worship Krishna as Radha-vallabha, "the darling of
Radha." The doctrines and practices of these sects clearly verge upon
those obtaining in the third principal division of Indian sectarians
which will now be considered.
Saktas
The Saktas, as we have seen, are worshippers of the _sakti_, or the
female principle as a primary factor in the creation and reproduction of
the universe. And as each of the principal gods is supposed to have
associated with him his own particular _sakti_, as an indispensable
complement enabling him to properly perform his cosmic functions,
adherents of this persuasion might be expected to be recruited from all
sects. To a certain extent this is indeed the case; but though
Vaishnavism, and especially the Krishna creed, with its luxuriant growth
of erotic legends, might have seemed peculiarly favourable to a
development in this direction, it is practically only in connexion with
the Saiva system that an independent cult of the female principle has
been developed; whilst in other sects--and, indeed, in the ordinary
Saiva cult as well--such worship, even where it is at all prominent, is
combined with, and subordinated to, that of the male principle. What has
made this cult attach itself more especially to the Saiva creed is
doubtless the character of Siva as the type of reproductive power, in
addition to his function as destroyer which, as we shall see, is
likewise reflected in some of the forms of his Sakti. The theory of the
god and his Sakti as cosmic principles is perhaps already foreshadowed
in the Vedic couple of Heaven and Earth, whilst in the speculative
treatises of the later Vedic period, as well as in the post-Vedic
Brahmanical writings, the assumption of the self-existent being dividing
himself into a male and a female half usually forms the starting-point
of cosmic evolution.[7] In the later Saiva mythology this theory finds
its artistic representation in Siva's androgynous form of Ardha-narisa,
or "half-woman-lord," typifying the union of the male and female
energies; the male half in this form of the deity occupying the
right-hand, and the female the left-hand side. In accordance with this
type of productive energy, the Saktas divide themselves into two
distinct groups, according to whether they attach the greater importance
to the male or to the female principle; viz. the _Dakshinacharis_, or
"right-hand-observers" (also called _Dak-shina-margis_, or followers "of
the right-hand path"), and the _Vamacharis_, or "left-hand-observers"
(or _Vama-margis_, followers "of the left path"). Though some of the
Puranas, the chief repositories of sectarian doctrines, enter largely
into Sakta topics, it is only in the numerous Tantras that these are
fully and systematically developed. In these works, almost invariably
composed in the form of a colloquy, Siva, as a rule, in answer to
questions asked by his consort Parvati, unfolds the mysteries of this
occult creed.
The principal seat of Sakta worship is the north-eastern part of
India--Bengal, Assam and Behar. The great majority of its adherents
profess to follow the right-hand practice; and apart from the implied
purport and the emblems of the cult, their mode of adoration does not
seem to offer any very objectionable features. And even amongst the
adherents of the left-hand mode of worship, many of these are said to
follow it as a matter of family tradition rather than of religious
conviction, and to practise it in a sober and temperate manner; whilst
only an extreme section--the so-called _Kaulas_ or _Kulinas_, who
appeal to a spurious Upanishad, the Kaulopanishad, as the divine
authority of their tenets--persist in carrying on the mystic and
licentious rites taught in many of the Tantras. But strict secrecy
being enjoined in the performance of these rites, it is not easy to
check any statements made on this point. The Sakta cult is, however,
known to be especially prevalent--though apparently not in a very
extreme form--amongst members of the very respectable Kayastha or
writer caste of Bengal, and as these are largely employed as clerks
and accountants in Upper India, there is reason to fear that their
vicious practices are gradually being disseminated through them.
The divine object of the adoration of the Saktas, then, is Siva's
wife--the _Devi_ (goddess), _Mahadevi_ (great goddess), or _Jagan-mata_
(mother of the world)--in one or other of her numerous forms, benign or
terrible. The forms in which she is worshipped in Bengal are of the
latter category, viz. _Durga_, "the unapproachable," and _Kali_, "the
black one," or, as some take it, the wife of _Kala_, "time," or death
the great dissolver, viz. Siva. In honour of the former, the
_Durga-puja_ is celebrated during ten days at the time of the autumnal
equinox, in commemoration of her victory over the buffalo-headed demon
Mahishasura; when the image of the ten-armed goddess, holding a weapon
in each hand, is worshipped for nine days, and cast into the water on
the tenth day, called the Dasahara, whence the festival itself is
commonly called Dasara in western India. _Kali_, on the other hand, the
most terrible of the goddess's forms, has a special service performed to
her, at the _Kali-puja_, during the darkest night of the succeeding
month; when she is represented as a naked black woman, four-armed,
wearing a garland of heads of giants slain by her, and a string of
skulls round her neck, dancing on the breast of her husband (Mahakala),
with gaping mouth and protruding tongue; and when she has to be
propitiated by the slaughter of goats, sheep and buffaloes. On other
occasions also Vamacharis commonly offer animal sacrifices, usually one
or more kids; the head of the victim, which has to be severed by a
single stroke, being always placed in front of the image of the goddess
as a blood-offering (_bali_), with an earthen lamp fed with ghee burning
above it, whilst the flesh is cooked and served to the guests attending
the ceremony, except that of buffaloes, which is given to the low-caste
musicians who perform during the service. Even some adherents of this
class have, however, discontinued animal sacrifices, and use certain
kinds of fruit, such as coco-nuts or pumpkins, instead. The use of wine,
which at one time was very common on these occasions, seems also to have
become much more restricted; and only members of the extreme section
would still seem to adhere to the practice of the so-called five _m's_
prescribed by some of the Tantras, viz. _mamsa_ (flesh), _matsya_
(fish), _madya_ (wine), _maithuna_ (sexual union), and _mudra_ (mystical
finger signs)--probably the most degrading cult ever practised under the
pretext of religious worship.
In connexion with the principal object of this cult, Tantric theory
has devised an elaborate system of female figures representing either
special forms and personifications or attendants of the "Great
Goddess." They are generally arranged in groups, the most important of
which are the _Mahavidyas_ (great sciences), the 8 (or 9) _Mataras_
(mothers) or _Mahamataras_ (great mothers), consisting of the wives of
the principal gods; the 8 _Nayikas_ or mistresses; and different
classes of sorceresses and ogresses, called _Yoginis_, _Dakinis_ and
_Sakinis_. A special feature of the Sakti cult is the use of obscure
Vedic _mantras_, often changed so as to be quite meaningless and on
that very account deemed the more efficacious for the acquisition of
superhuman powers; as well as of mystic letters and syllables called
_bija_ (germ), of magic circles (_chakra_) and diagrams (_yantra_),
and of amulets of various materials inscribed with formulae of fancied
mysterious import.
General conclusions.
This survey of the Indian sects will have shown how little the character
of their divine objects of worship is calculated to exert that elevating
and spiritualizing influence, so characteristic of true religious
devotion. In all but a few of the minor groups religious fervour is only
too apt to degenerate into that very state of sexual excitation which
devotional exercises should surely tend to repress. If the worship of
Siva, despite the purport of his chief symbol, seems on the whole less
liable to produce these undesirable effects than that of the rival
deity, it is doubtless due partly to the real nature of that emblem
being little realized by the common people, and partly to the somewhat
repellent character of the "great god," more favourable to evoking
feelings of awe and terror than a spirit of fervid devotion. All the
more are, however, the gross stimulants, connected with the adoration of
his consort, calculated to work up the carnal instincts of the devotees
to an extreme degree of sensual frenzy. In the Vaishnava camp, on the
other hand, the cult of Krishna, and more especially that of the
youthful Krishna, can scarcely fail to exert an influence which, if of a
subtler and more insinuating, is not on that account of a less
demoralizing kind. Indeed, it would be hard to find anything less
consonant with godliness and divine perfection than the pranks of this
juvenile god; and if poets and thinkers try to explain them away by dint
of allegorical interpretation, the plain man will not for all their
refinements take these amusing adventures any the less _au pied de la
lettre_. No fault, in this respect, can assuredly be found with the
legendary Rama, a very paragon of knightly honour and virtue, even as
his consort Sita is the very model of a noble and faithful wife; and yet
this cult has perhaps retained even more of the character of mere
hero-worship than that of Krishna. Since by the universally accepted
doctrine of _karman_ (deed) or _karmavipaka_ ("the maturing of deeds")
man himself--either in his present, or some future, existence--enjoys
the fruit of, or has to atone for, his former good and bad actions,
there could hardly be room in Hindu pantheism for a belief in the
remission of sin by divine grace or vicarious substitution. And
accordingly the "descents" or incarnations of the deity have for their
object, not so much the spiritual regeneration of man as the deliverance
of the world from some material calamity threatening to overwhelm it.
The generally recognized principal Avatars do not, however, by any means
constitute the only occasions of a direct intercession of the deity in
worldly affairs, but--in the same way as to this day the eclipses of the
sun and moon are ascribed by the ordinary Hindu to these luminaries
being temporarily swallowed by the dragon _Rahu_ (or _Graha_, "the
seizer")--so any uncommon occurrence would be apt to be set down as a
special manifestation of divine power; and any man credited with
exceptional merit or achievement, or even remarkable for some strange
incident connected with his life or death, might ultimately come to be
looked upon as a veritable incarnation of the deity, capable of
influencing the destinies of man, and might become an object of local
adoration or superstitious awe and propitiatory rites to multitudes of
people. That the transmigration theory, which makes the spirit of the
departed hover about for a time in quest of a new corporeal abode, would
naturally lend itself to superstitious notions of this kind can scarcely
be doubted. Of peculiar importance in this respect is the worship of the
_Pitris_ ("fathers") or deceased ancestors, as entering largely into the
everyday life and family relations of the Hindus. At stated intervals to
offer reverential homage and oblations of food to the forefathers up to
the third degree is one of the most sacred duties the devout Hindu has
to discharge. The periodical performance of the commemorative rite of
obsequies called _Sraddha_--i.e. an oblation "made in faith" (_sraddha_,
Lat. _credo_)--is the duty and privilege of the eldest son of the
deceased, or, failing him, of the nearest relative who thereby
establishes his right as next of kin in respect of inheritance; and
those other relatives who have the right to take part in the ceremony
are called _sapinda_, i.e. sharing in the _pindas_ (or balls of cooked
rice, constituting along with libations of water the usual offering to
the Manes)--such relationship being held a bar to intermarriage. The
first _Sraddha_ takes place as soon as possible after the _antyeshti_
("final offering") or funeral ceremony proper, usually spread over ten
days; being afterwards repeated once a month for a year, and
subsequently at every anniversary and otherwise voluntarily on special
occasions. Moreover, a simple libation of water should be offered to the
Fathers twice daily at the morning and evening devotion called _sandhya_
("twilight"). It is doubtless a sense of filial obligation coupled with
sentiments of piety and reverence that gave rise to this practice of
offering gifts of food and drink to the deceased ancestors. Hence also
frequent allusion is made by poets to the anxious care caused to the
Fathers by the possibility of the living head of the family being
afflicted with failure of offspring; this dire prospect compelling them
to use but sparingly their little store of provisions, in case the
supply should shortly cease altogether. At the same time one also meets
with frank avowals of a superstitious fear lest any irregularity in the
performance of the obsequial rites should cause the Fathers to haunt
their old home and trouble the peace of their undutiful descendant, or
even prematurely draw him after them to the Pitri-loka or world of the
Fathers, supposed to be located in the southern region. Terminating as
it usually does with the feeding and feeing of a greater or less number
of Brahmans and the feasting of members of the performers' own caste,
the Sraddha, especially its first performance, is often a matter of very
considerable expense; and more than ordinary benefit to the deceased is
supposed to accrue from it when it takes place at a spot of recognized
sanctity, such as one of the great places of pilgrimage like Prayaga
(Allahabad, where the three sacred rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati,
meet), Mathura, and especially Gaya and Kasi (Benares). But indeed the
_tirtha-yatra_, or pilgrimage to holy bathing-places, is in itself
considered an act of piety conferring religious merit in proportion to
the time and trouble expended upon it. The number of such places is
legion and is constantly increasing. The banks of the great rivers such
as the Ganga (Ganges), the Yamuna (Jumna), the Narbada, the Krishna
(Kistna), are studded with them, and the water of these rivers is
supposed to be imbued with the essence of sanctity capable of cleansing
the pious bather of all sin and moral taint. To follow the entire course
of one of the sacred rivers from the mouth to the source on one side and
back again on the other in the sun-wise (pradakshina) direction--that
is, always keeping the stream on one's right-hand side--is held to be a
highly meritorious undertaking which it requires years to carry through.
No wonder that water from these rivers, especially the Ganges, is sent
and taken in bottles to all parts of India to be used on occasion as
healing medicine or for sacramental purposes. In Vedic times, at the
_Rajasuya_, or inauguration of a king, some water from the holy river
Sarasvati was mixed with the sprinkling water used for consecrating the
king. Hence also sick persons are frequently conveyed long distances to
a sacred river to heal them of their maladies; and for a dying man to
breathe his last at the side of the Ganges is devoutly believed to be
the surest way of securing for him salvation and eternal bliss.
Such probably was the belief of the ordinary Hindu two thousand years
ago, and such it remains to this day. In the light of facts such as
these, who could venture to say what the future of Hinduism is likely
to be? Is the regeneration of India to be brought about by the modern
theistic movements, such as the Brahma-samaj and Arya-samaj, as so
close and sympathetic an observer of Hindu life and thought as Sir A.
Lyall seems to think? "The Hindu mind," he remarks, "is essentially
speculative and transcendental; it will never consent to be shut up in
the prison of sensual experience, for it has grasped and holds firmly
the central idea that all things are manifestations of some power
outside phenomena. And the tendency of contemporary religious
discussion in India, so far as it can be followed from a distance, is
towards an ethical reform on the old foundations, towards searching
for some method of reconciling their Vedic theology with the practices
of religion taken as a rule of conduct and a system of moral
government. One can already discern a movement in various quarters
towards a recognition of impersonal theism, and towards fixing the
teaching of the philosophical schools upon some definitely authorized
system of faith and morals, which may satisfy a rising ethical
standard, and may thus permanently embody that tendency to substitute
spiritual devotion for external forms and caste rules which is the
characteristic of the sects that have from time to time dissented from
orthodox Brahminism."
AUTHORITIES.--_Census of India_ (1901), vol. i. part i.; _India_, by
H. H. Risley and E. A. Gait; vol. i. _Ethnographical Appendices_, by
H. H. Risley; _The Indian Empire_, vol. i. (new ed., Oxford, 1907); J.
Muir, _Original Sanskrit Texts_ (2nd ed., 5 vols., London, 1873);
Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_ (London, 1883);
_Modern India and the Indians_ (London, 1878, 3rd ed. 1879);
_Hinduism_ (London, 1877); Sir Alfred C. Lyall, _Asiatic Studies_ (2
series, London, 1899); "Hinduism" in _Religious Systems of the World_
(London, 1904); "Brahminism" in _Great Religions of the World_ (New
York and London, 1902); W. J. Wilkins, _Modern Hinduism_ (London,
1887); J. C. Oman, _Indian Life, Religious and Social_ (London, 1879);
_The Mystics, Ascetics and Saints of India_ (London, 1903); _The
Brahmans, Theists and Muslims of India_ (London, 1907); S. C. Bose,
_The Hindus as they are_ (2nd ed., Calcutta, 1883); J. Robson,
_Hinduism and Christianity_ (Edinburgh and London, 3rd ed., 1905); J.
Murray Mitchell, _Hinduism Past and Present_ (2nd ed., London, 1897);
Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, _Hindu Castes and Sects_ (Calcutta, 1896);
A. Barth, _The Religions of India_ (London, 1882); E. W. Hopkins, _The
Religions of India_ (London, 1896). (J. E.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "It is, perhaps, by surveying India that we at this day can best
represent to ourselves and appreciate the vast external reform worked
upon the heathen world by Christianity, as it was organized and
executed throughout Europe by the combined authority of the Holy
Roman Empire and the Church Apostolic." Sir Alfred C. Lyall, _Asiatic
Studies_, i. 2.
[2] Henry Whitehead, D. D., bishop of Madras, _The Village Deities of
Southern India_ (Madras, 1907).
[3] "The effect of caste is to give all Hindu society a religious
basis." Sir A. C. Lyall, _Brahmanism_.
[4] Thus, in Berar, "there is a strong non-Aryan leaven in the dregs
of the agricultural class, derived from the primitive races which
have gradually melted down into settled life, and thus become fused
with the general community, while these same races are still distinct
tribes in the wild tracts of hill and jungle." Sir Alfred C. Lyall,
_As. St._, i. 6.
[5] Siva is said to have first appeared in the beginning of the
present age as Sveta, the White, for the purpose of benefiting the
Brahmans, and he is invariably painted white; whilst Vishnu, when
pictured, is always of a dark-blue colour.
[6] As in the case of Siva's traditional white complexion, it may not
be without significance, from a racial point of view, that Vishnu,
Rama and Krishna have various darker shades of colour attributed to
them, viz. blue, hyacinthine, and dark azure or dark brown
respectively. The names of the two heroes meaning simply "black" or
"dark," the blue tint may originally have belonged to Vishnu, who is
also called _pitavasas_, dressed in yellow garment, i.e. the colours
of sky and sun combined.
[7] This notion not improbably took its origin in the mystic
cosmogonic hymn, Rigv. x. 129, where it is said that--"that one
(existent, neutr.) breathed breathless by (or with) its _svadha_ (?
inherent power, or nature), beyond that there was nothing whatever
... that one live (germ) which was enclosed in the void was generated
by the power of heat (or fervour); desire then first came upon it,
which was the first seed of the mind ... fertilizing forces there
were, _svadha_ below, _prayati_ (? will) above."
HINDU KUSH, a range of mountains in Central Asia. Throughout 500 m. of
its length, from its roots in the Pamir regions till it fades into the
Koh-i-Baba to the west of Kabul, this great range forms the water-divide
between the Kabul and the Oxus basins, and, for the first 200 m.
reckoning westwards, the southern boundary of Afghanistan. It may be
said to spring from the head of the Taghdumbash Pamir, where it unites
with the great meridional system of Sarikol stretching northwards, and
the yet more impressive mountain barrier of Muztagh, the northern base
of which separates China from the semi-independent territory of Kanjut.
The Wakhjir pass, crossing the head of the Taghdumbash Pamir into the
sources of the river Hunza, almost marks the tri-junction of the three
great chains of mountains. As the Hindu Kush strikes westwards, after
first rounding the head of an Oxus tributary (the Ab-i-Panja, which
Curzon considers to be the true source of the Oxus), it closely
overlooks the trough of that glacier-fed stream under its northern
spurs, its crest at the nearest point being separated from the river by
a distance which cannot much exceed 10 m. As the river is here the
northern boundary of Afghanistan, and the crest of the Hindu Kush the
southern boundary, this distance represents the width of the Afghan
kingdom at that point.
_Physiography._--For the first 100 m. of its length the Hindu Kush is
a comparatively flat-backed range of considerable width, permitting
the formation of small lakes on the crest, and possessing no
considerable peaks. It is crossed by many passes, varying in height
from 12,500 ft. to 17,500 ft., the lowest and the easiest being the
well-known group about Baroghil, which has from time immemorial
offered a line of approach from High Asia to Chitral and Jalalabad. As
the Hindu Kush gradually recedes from the Ab-i-Panja and turns
south-westwards it gains in altitude, and we find prominent peaks on
the crest which measure more than 24,000 ft. above sea-level. Even
here, however, the main central water-divide, or axis of the chain, is
apparently not the line of highest peaks, which must be looked for to
the south, where the great square-headed giant called Tirach Mir
dominates Chitral from a southern spur. For some 40 or 50 m. of this
south-westerly bend, bearing away from the Oxus, where the Hindu Kush
overlooks the mountain wilderness of Badakshan to the west, the crest
is intersected by many passes, of which the most important is the
Dorah group (including the Minjan and the Mandal), which rise to about
15,000 ft., and which are, under favourable conditions, practicable
links between the Oxus and Chitral basins.
Kafiristan section.
From the Dorah to the Khawak pass (or group of passes, for it is
seldom that one line of approach only is to be found across the Hindu
Kush), which is between 11,000 and 12,000 ft. in altitude, the
water-divide overlooks Kafiristan and Badakshan. Here its exact
position is matter of conjecture. It lies amidst a wild, inaccessible
region of snowbound crests, and is certainly nowhere less than 15,000
ft. above sea-level. There is a tradition that Timur attempted the
passage of the Hindu Kush by one of the unmapped passes hereabouts,
and that, having failed, he left a record of his failure engraved on a
rock in the pass.
Passes.
The Khawak, at the head of the Panjshir tributary of the Kabul river,
leading straight from Badakshan to Charikar and the city of Kabul, is
now an excellent kafila route, the road having been engineered under
the amir Abdur Rahman's direction, and it is said to be available for
traffic throughout the year. From the Khawak to the head of the
Ghorband (a river of the Hindu Kush which, rising to the north-west of
Kabul, flows north-east to meet the Panjshir near Charikar, whence
they run united into the plains of Kohistan) the Hindu Kush is
intersected by passes at intervals, all of which were surveyed, and
several utilized, during the return of the Russo-Afghan boundary
commission from the Oxus to Kabul in 1886. Those utilized were the
Kaoshan (the "Hindu Kush" pass _par excellence_), 14,340 ft.; the
Chahardar (13,900 ft.), which is a link in one of the amir of
Afghanistan's high roads to Turkestan; and the Shibar (9800 ft.),
which is merely a diversion into the upper Ghorband of that group of
passes between Bamian and the Kabul plains which are represented by
the Irak, Hajigak, Unai, &c. About this point it is geographically
correct to place the southern extremity of the Hindu Kush, for here
commences the Koh-i-Baba system into which the Hindu Kush is merged.
General conformation.
The general conformation of the Hindu Kush system south of the Khawak,
no less than such fragmentary evidence of its rock composition as at
present exists to the north, points to its construction under the same
conditions of upheaval and subsequent denudation as are common to the
western Himalaya and the whole of the trans-Indus borderland. Its
upheaval above the great sea which submerged all the north-west of the
Indian peninsula long after the Himalaya had massed itself as a
formidable mountain chain, belongs to a comparatively recent geologic
period, and the same thrust upwards of vast masses of cretaceous
limestone has disturbed the overlying recent beds of shale and clays
with very similar results to those which have left so marked an
impress on the Baluch frontier. Successive flexures or ridges are
ranged in more or less parallel lines, and from between the bands of
hard, unyielding rock of older formation the soft beds of recent shale
have been washed out, to be carried through the enclosing ridges by
rifts which break across their axes. The Hindu Kush is, in fact, but
the face of a great upheaved mass of plateau-land lying beyond it
northwards, just as the Himalaya forms the southern face of the great
central tableland of Tibet, and its general physiography, exhibiting
long, narrow, lateral valleys and transverse lines of "antecedent"
drainage, is similar. There are few passes across the southern
section of the Hindu Kush (and this section is, from the
politico-geographical point of view, more important to India than the
whole Himalayan system) which have not to surmount a succession of
crests or ridges as they cross from Afghan Turkestan to Afghanistan.
The exceptions are, of course, notable, and have played an important
part in the military history of Asia from time immemorial. From a
little ice-bound lake called Gaz Kul, or Karambar, which lies on the
crest of the Hindu Kush near its northern origin at the head of the
Taghdumbash Pamir, two very important river systems (those of Chitral
and Hunza) are believed to originate. The lake really lies on the
watershed between the two, and is probably a glacial relic. Its
contribution to either infant stream appears to depend on conditions
of overflow determined by the blocking of ice masses towards one end.
It marks the commencement of the water-divide which primarily
separates the Gilgit basin from that of the Yashkun, or Chitral,
river, and subsequently divides the drainage of Swat and Bajour from
that of the Chitral (or Kunar). The Yashkun-Chitral-Kunar river (it is
called by all three names) is the longest affluent of the Kabul, and
it is in many respects a more important river than the Kabul.
Throughout its length it is closely flanked on its left bank by this
main water-divide, which is called Moshabar or Shandur in its northern
sections, and owns a great variety of names where it divides Bajour
from the Kunar valley. It is this range, crowned by peaks of 22,000
ft. altitude and maintaining an average elevation of some 10,000 ft.
throughout its length of 250 m., that is the real barrier of the
north--not the Hindu Kush itself. Across it, at its head, are the
glacial passes which lead to the foot of the Baroghil. Of these
Darkot, with a glacial staircase on each side, is typical. (See
GILGIT.) Those passes (the Kilik and Mintaka) from the Pamir regions,
which lead into the rocky gorges and defiles of the upper affluents of
the Hunza to the east of the Darkot, belong rather to the Muztagh
system than to the Hindu Kush. Other passes across this important
water-divide are the Shandur (12,250 ft.), between Gilgit and Mastuj;
the Lowarai (10,450 ft.), between the Panjkora and Chitral valleys;
and farther south certain lower crossings which once formed part of
the great highway between Kabul and India.
Chitral.
Deep down in the trough of the Chitral river, about midway between its
source and its junction with the Kabul at Jalalabad, is the village
and fort of Chitral (q.v.). Facing Chitral, on the right bank of the
river, and extending for some 70 m. from the Hindu Kush, is the lofty
snow-clad spur of the Hindu Kush known as Shawal, across which one or
two difficult passes lead into the Bashgol valley of Kafiristan. This
spur carries the boundary of Afghanistan southwards to Arnawai (some
50 m. below Chitral), where it crosses the river to the long Shandur
watershed. South of Arnawai the Kunar valley becomes a part of
Afghanistan (see KUNAR). The value of Chitral as an outpost of British
India may be best gauged by its geographical position. It is about 100
m. (direct map measurement) from the outpost of Russia at Langar Kisht
on the river Panja, with the Dorah pass across the Hindu Kush
intervening. The Dorah may be said to be about half-way between the
two outposts, and the mountain tracks leading to it on either side are
rough and difficult. The Dorah, however, is not the only pass which
leads into the Chitral valley from the Oxus. The Mandal pass, a few
miles south of the Dorah, is the connecting link between the Oxus and
the Bashgol valley of Kafiristan; and the Bashgol valley leads
directly to the Chitral valley at Arnawai, about 50 m. below Chitral.
Nor must we overlook the connexion between north and south of the
Hindu Kush which is afforded by the long narrow valley of the Chitral
(or Yashkun) itself, leading up to the Baroghil pass. This route was
once made use of by the Chinese for purposes of pilgrimage, if not for
invasion. Access to Chitral from the north is therefore but a matter
of practicable tracks, or passes, in two or three directions, and the
measure of practicability under any given conditions can best be
reckoned from Chitral itself. By most authorities the possibility of
an advance in force from the north, even under the most favourable
conditions, is considered to be exceedingly small; but the tracks and
passes of the Hindu Kush are only impracticable so long as they are
left as nature has made them.
_Historical Notices._--Hindu Kush is the Caucasus of Alexander's
historians. It is also included in the Paropamisus, though the latter
term embraces more, Caucasus being apparently used only when the alpine
barrier is in question. Whether the name was given in mere vanity to the
barrier which Alexander passed (as Arrian and others repeatedly allege),
or was founded also on some verbal confusion, cannot be stated. It was
no doubt regarded (and perhaps not altogether untruly) as a part of a
great alpine zone believed to traverse Asia from west to east, whether
called Taurus, Caucasus or Imaus. Arrian himself applies Caucasus
distinctly to the Himalaya also. The application of the name Tanais to
the Syr seems to indicate a real confusion with Colchian Caucasus.
Alexander, after building an Alexandria at its foot (probably at Hupian
near Charikar), crossed into Bactria, first reaching Drapsaca, or
Adrapsa. This has been interpreted as Anderab, in which case he probably
crossed the Khawak Pass, but the identity is uncertain. The ancient Zend
name is, according to Rawlinson, Paresina, the essential part of
Paropamisus; this accounts for the great Asiastic _Parnassus_ of
Aristotle, and the _Pho-lo-sin-a_ of Hsuan Tsang.
The name Hindu Kush is used by Ibn Batuta, who crossed (c. 1332) from
Anderab, and he gives the explanation of the name which, however
doubtful, is still popular, as (Pers.) Hindu-Killer, "because of the
number of Indian slaves who perished in passing" its snows. Baber always
calls the range Hindu Kush, and the way in which he speaks of it shows
clearly that it was a range that was meant, not a solitary pass or peak
(according to modern local use, as alleged by Elphinstone and Burnes).
Probably, however, the title was confined to the section from Khawak to
Koh-i-Baba. The name has by some later Oriental writers been modified
into Hindu _Koh_ (mountain), but this is factitious, and throws no more
light on the origin of the title. The name seems to have become known to
European geographers by the Oriental translations of the two Petis de la
Croix, and was taken up by Delisle and D'Anville. Rennell and
Elphinstone familiarized it. Burnes first crossed the range (1832). A
British force was stationed at Bamian beyond it in 1840, with an outpost
at Saighan.
The Hindu Kush, formidable as it seems, and often as it has been the
limit between petty states, has hardly ever been the boundary of a
considerable power. Greeks, White Huns, Samanidae of Bokhara,
Ghaznevides, Mongols, Timur and Timuridae, down to Saddozais and
Barakzais, have ruled both sides of this great alpine chain.
AUTHORITIES.--Information about the Hindu Kush and Chitral is now
comparatively exact. The Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission of 1884 and
the Chitral expedition of 1895 opened up a vast area for geographical
investigation, and the information collected is to be found in the
reports and gazetteers of the Indian government. The following are the
chief recent authorities:--Report of the Russo-Afghan Boundary
Commission (1886); Report of Lockhart's Mission (1886); Report of
Asmar Boundary Commission (1895); Report of Pamir Boundary Commission
(1896); J. Biddulph, _Tribes of the Hindu Kush_ (Calcutta, 1880); W.
M'Nair, "Visit to Kafiristan," vol. vi. _R.G.S. Proc._, 1884; F.
Younghusband, "Journeys on the Pamirs, &c.," vol. xiv. _R.G.S. Proc._,
1892; Colonel Durand, _Making a Frontier_ (London, 1899); Sir G.
Robertson, _Chitral_ (London, 1899). (T. H. H.*)
HINDUR, or NALAGARH, one of the Simla hill states, under the government
of the Punjab, India. Pop. (1901) 52,551; area, 256 sq. m.; estimated
revenue, L8600. The country was overrun by the Gurkhas for some years
before 1815, when they were driven out by the British, and the raja was
confirmed in possession of the territory. The principal products are
grain and opium.
HINGANGHAT, a town of British India in Wardha district, Central
Provinces, 21 m. S.W. of Wardha town. Pop (1901) 12,662. It is a main
seat of the cotton trade, the cotton here produced in the rich Wardha
valley having given its name to one of the best indigenous staples of
India. The principal native traders are Marwaris, many of whom have
large transactions and export on their own account; but the greater
number act as middle-men. There are two cotton-mills and several ginning
and pressing factories.
HINGE (in Mid. Eng. _henge_ or _heeng_, from _hengen_, to hang), a
movable joint, particularly that by which a door or window "hangs" from
its side-post, or by which a lid or cover is attached to that which it
closes; also any device which allows two parts to be joined together and
move upon each other (see JOINERY). Figuratively the word is used of
that on which something depends, a cardinal or turning point, a crisis.
HINGHAM, a township of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on
Massachusetts Bay. Pop (1890) 4564; (1900) 5059 (969 being
foreign-born); (1905, state census) 4819; (1910) 4965. Area, about 30
sq. m. The township is traversed by the New York, New Haven & Hartford
railway, and contains the villages of Hingham, West Hingham, Hingham
Center, and South Hingham. Derby Academy, a co-educational school
founded and endowed with about L12,000 in 1784 by Sarah Derby
(1714-1790), was opened in 1791. Hingham has a public library (1868),
with 12,000 volumes in 1908. The Old Meeting House, erected in 1681, is
one of the oldest church buildings in the country used continuously.
Manufactures were relatively much more important in the 17th and 18th
centuries than since. There were settlers here as early as 1633, some of
them--notably Edmund Hobart, ancestor of Bishop John Henry
Hobart,--being natives of Hingham, Norfolk, England, whence the name;
and in 1635 common land called Barecove became the township of Hingham.
See _History of the Town of Hingham_ (4 vols., Hingham, 1893).
HINRICHS, HERMANN FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1794-1861), German philosopher,
studied theology at Strassburg, and philosophy at Heidelberg under Hegel
(q.v.), who wrote a preface to his _Religion im innern Verhaltniss zur
Wissenschaft_ (Heidelberg, 1722). He became a _Privatdozent_ in 1819,
and held professorships at Breslau (1822) and Halle (1824).
WORKS.--(1) Philosophical: _Grundlinien der Philosophie der Logik_
(Halle, 1826); _Genesis des Wissens_ (Heidelberg, 1835). (2) On
aesthetics: _Vorlesungen uber Goethes Faust_ (Halle, 1825); _Schillers
Dichtungen nach ihrem historischen Zusammenhang_ (Leipzig, 1837-1839).
By these works he became a recognized exponent of orthodox
Hegelianism. (3) Historical: _Geschichte der Rechts- und
Staatsprinzipien seit der Reformation bis auf die Gegenwart_ (Leipzig,
1848-1852); _Die Konige_ (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1853).
HINSCHIUS, PAUL (1835-1898), German jurist, was the son of Franz Sales
August Hinschius (1807-1877), and was born in Berlin on the 25th of
December 1835. His father was not only a scientific jurist, but also a
lawyer in large practice in Berlin. After working under his father,
Hinschius in 1852 began to study jurisprudence at Heidelberg and Berlin,
the teacher who had most influence upon him being Aemilius Ludwig
Richter (1808-1864), to whom he afterwards ascribed the great revival of
the study of ecclesiastical law in Germany. In 1855 Hinschius took the
degree of _doctor utriusque juris_, and in 1859 was admitted to the
juridical faculty of Berlin. In 1863 he went as professor
extraordinarius to Halle, returning in the same capacity to Berlin in
1865; and in 1868 became professor ordinarius at the university of Kiel,
which he represented in the Prussian Upper House (1870-1871). He also
assisted his father in editing the _Preussische Anwaltszeitung_ from
1862 to 1866 and the _Zeitschrift fur Gesetzgebung und Rechtspflege in
Preussen_ from 1867 to 1871. In 1872 he was appointed professor
ordinarius of ecclesiastical law at Berlin. In the same year he took
part in the conferences of the ministry of ecclesiastical affairs, which
issued in the famous "Falk laws." In connexion with the developments of
the _Kulturkampf_ which resulted from the "Falk laws," he wrote several
treatises: e.g. on "The Attitude of the German State Governments towards
the Decrees of the Vatican Council" (1871), on "The Prussian Church Laws
of 1873" (1873), "The Prussian Church Laws of the years 1874 and 1875"
(1875), and "The Prussian Church Law of 14th July 1880" (1881). He sat
in the Reichstag as a National Liberal from 1872 to 1878, and again in
1881 and 1882, and from 1889 onwards he represented the university of
Berlin in the Prussian Upper House. He died on the 13th of December
1898.
The two great works by which Hinschius established his fame are the
_Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae et capitula Angilramni_ (2 parts,
Leipzig, 1863) and _Das Kirchenrecht der Katholiken und Protestanten in
Deutschland_, vols, i.-vi. (Berlin, 1869-1877). The first of these, for
which during 1860 and 1861 he had gathered materials in Italy, Spain,
France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and Belgium, was the first
critical edition of the False Decretals. His most monumental work,
however, is the _Kirchenrecht_, which remains incomplete. The six
volumes actually published (_System des katholischen Kirchenrechts_)
cover only book i. of the work as planned; they are devoted to an
exhaustive historical and analytical study of the Roman Catholic
hierarchy and its government of the church. The work is planned with
special reference to Germany; but in fact its scheme embraces the whole
of the Roman Catholic organization in its principles and practice.
Unfortunately even this part of the work remains incomplete; two
chapters of book i. and the whole of book ii., which was to have dealt
with "the rights and duties of the members of the hierarchy," remain
unwritten; the most notable omission is that of the ecclesiastical law
in relation to the regular orders. Incomplete as it is, however, the
_Kirchenrecht_ remains a work of the highest scientific authority.
Epoch-making in its application of the modern historical method to the
study of ecclesiastical law in its theory and practice, it has become
the model for the younger school of canonists.
See the articles s.v. by E. Seckel in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_
(3rd ed., 1900), and by Ulrich Steitz in the _Allgemeine deutsche
Biographie_, vol. 50 (Leipzig, 1905).
HINTERLAND (German for "the land behind"), the region lying behind a
coast or river line, or a country dependent for trade or commerce on any
other region. In the purely physical sense "interior" or "back country"
is more commonly used, but the word has gained a distinct political
significance. It first came into prominence during 1883-1885, when
Germany insisted that she had a right to exercise jurisdiction in the
territory behind those parts of the African coast that she had occupied.
The "doctrine of the hinterland" was that the possessor of the littoral
was entitled to as much of the back country as geographically,
economically or politically was dependent upon the coast lands, a
doctrine which, in the space of ten years, led to the partition of
Africa between various European powers.
HINTON, JAMES (1822-1875), English surgeon and author, son of John
Howard Hinton (1791-1873), Baptist minister and author of the _History
and Topography of the United States_ and other works, was born at
Reading in 1822. He was educated at his grandfather's school near
Oxford, and at the Nonconformist school at Harpenden, and in 1838, on
his father's removal to London, was apprenticed to a woollen-draper in
Whitechapel. After retaining this situation about a year he became clerk
in an insurance office. His evenings were spent in intense study, and
this, joined to the ardour, amounting to morbidness, of his interest in
moral problems, so affected his health that in his nineteenth year he
resolved to seek refuge from his own thoughts by running away to sea.
His intention having, however, been discovered, he was sent, on the
advice of the physician who was consulted regarding his health, to St
Bartholomew's Hospital to study for the medical profession. After
receiving his diploma in 1847, he was for some time assistant surgeon at
Newport, Essex, but the same year he went out to Sierra Leone to take
medical charge of the free labourers on their voyage thence to Jamaica,
where he stayed some time. He returned to England in 1850, and entered
into partnership with a surgeon in London, where he soon had his
interest awakened specially in aural surgery, and gave also much of his
attention to physiology. He made his first appearance as an author in
1856 by contributing papers on physiological and ethical subjects to the
_Christian Spectator_; and in 1859 he published _Man and his
Dwelling-place_. A series of papers entitled "Physiological Riddles," in
the _Cornhill Magazine_, afterwards published as _Life in Nature_
(1862), as well as another series entitled _Thoughts on Health_ (1871),
proved his aptitude for popular scientific exposition. After being
appointed aural surgeon to Guy's Hospital in 1863, he speedily acquired
a reputation as the most skilful aural surgeon of his day, which was
fully borne out by his works, _An Atlas of Diseases of the membrana
tympani_ (1874), and _Questions of Aural Surgery_ (1874). But his health
broke down, and in 1874 he gave up practice; and he died at the Azores
of acute inflammation of the brain on the 16th of December 1875. In
addition to the works already mentioned, he was the author of _The
Mystery of Pain_ (1866) and _The Place of the Physician_ (1874). On
account of their fresh and vigorous discussion of many of the important
moral and social problems of the time, his writings had a wide
circulation on both sides of the Atlantic.
His _Life and Letters_, edited by Ellice Hopkins, with an introduction
by Sir W. W. Gull, appeared in 1878.
HIOGO [HYOGO], a town of Japan in the province of Settsu, Nippon, on the
western shore of the bay of Osaka, adjoining the foreign settlement of
Kobe, 21 m. W. of Osaka by rail. The growth of its prosperity has been
very remarkable. Its population, including that of Kobe, was 135,639 in
1891, and 285,002 in 1903. From 1884 to the close of the century its
trade increased nearly eightfold, and the increase was not confined to a
few staples of commerce, but was spread over almost the whole trade, in
which silk and cotton fabrics, floor-mats, straw-plaits, matches, and
cotton yarns are specially important. Kobe owes much of its prosperity
to the fact of serving largely as the shipping port of Osaka, the chief
manufacturing town in Japan. The foreign community, exclusive of
Chinese, exceeds 1000 persons. Kobe is considered the brightest and
healthiest of all the places assigned as foreign settlements in Japan,
its pure, dry air and granite subsoil constituting special advantages.
It is in railway communication with all parts of the country, and
wharves admit of steamers of large size loading and discharging cargo
without the aid of lighters. The area originally appropriated for a
foreign settlement soon proved too restricted, and foreigners received
permission to lease lands and houses direct from Japanese owners beyond
the treaty limits, a privilege which, together with that of building
villas on the hills behind the town, ultimately involved some diplomatic
complications. Kobe has a shipbuilding yard, and docks in its immediate
neighbourhood.
Hiogo has several temples of interest, one of which has near it a huge
bronze statue of Buddha, while by the Minatogawa, which flows into the
sea between Hiogo and Kobe, a temple commemorates the spot where
Kusunoki Masashige, the mirror of Japanese loyalty, met his death in
battle in 1336. The temple of Ikuta was erected on the site of the
ancient fane built by Jingo on her return from Korea in the 3rd century.
Hiogo's original name was Bako. Its position near the entrance of the
Inland Sea gave it some maritime importance from a very early period,
but it did not become really prominent until the 12th century, when
Kiyomori, chief of the Taira clan, transferred the capital from Kioto to
Fukuhara, in Hiogo's immediate neighbourhood, and undertook various
public works for improving the place. The change of capital was very
brief, but Hiogo benefited permanently from the distinction.
HIP. (1) (From O. Eng. _hype_, a word common in various forms to many
Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch _heup_, and Ger. _Hufte_), the projecting
part of the body formed by the top of the thighbone and the side of the
pelvis, in quadrupeds generally known as the haunch (see JOINTS). (2)(O.
Eng. _heope_, from same root as M.H. Ger. _hiefe_, a thorn-bush), the
fruit of the dog-rose (_Rosa canina_); "hips" are usually joined with
"haws," the fruit of the hawthorn.
HIP-KNOB, in architecture, the finial on the hip of a roof, between the
barge-boards of a gable.
HIPPARCHUS (fl. 146-126 B.C.), Greek astronomer, was born at Nicaea in
Bithynia early in the 2nd century B.C. He observed in the island of
Rhodes probably from 161, certainly from 146 until about 126 B.C., and
made the capital discovery of the precession of the equinoxes in 130
(see ASTRONOMY: _History_). The outburst of a new star in 134 B.C. is
stated by Pliny (_Hist. nat._ ii. 26) to have prompted the preparation
of his catalogue of 1080 stars, substantially embodied in Ptolemy's
_Almagest_. Hipparchus founded trigonometry, and compiled the first
table of chords. Scientific geography originated with his invention of
the method of fixing terrestrial positions by circles of latitude and
longitude. There can be little doubt that the fundamental part of his
astronomical knowledge was derived from Chaldaea. None of his many works
has survived except a Commentary on the _Phaenomena_ of Aratus and
Eudoxus, published by P. Victorius at Florence in 1567, and included by
D. Petavius in his _Uranologium_ (Paris, 1630). A new edition was
published by Carolus Manitius (Leipzig, 1894).
See J. B. J. Delambre, _Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne_, i. 173; P.
Tannery, _Recherches sur l'histoire de l'astr. ancienne_, p. 130; A.
Berry, _Hist. of Astronomy_, pp. 40-61; M. Marie, _Hist. des
sciences_, i. 207; G. Cornewall Lewis, _Astronomy of the Ancients_, p.
207; R. Grant, _Hist. of Phys. Astronomy_, pp. 318, 437; F. Boll,
_Sphaera_, p. 61 (Leipzig, 1903); R. Wolf, _Geschichte der
Astronomie_, p. 45; J. F. Montucla, _Hist. des mathematiques_, t. i.
p. 257; J. A. Schmidt, _Variorum philosophicorum decas_, cap. i.
(Jenae, 1691). (A. M. C.)
HIPPASUS OF METAPONTUM, Pythagorean philosopher, was one of the earliest
of the disciples of Pythagoras. He is mentioned both by Diogenes
Laertius and by Iamblichus, but nothing is known of his life. Diogenes
says that he left no writings, but other authorities make him the author
of a [Greek: mystikos logos] directed against the Pythagoreans.
According to Aristotle (_Metaphysica_, i. 3), he was an adherent of the
Heraclitean fire-doctrine, whereas the Pythagoreans maintained the
theory that number is the principle of everything. He seems to have
regarded the soul as composed of igneous matter, and so approximates the
orthodox Pythagorean doctrine of the central fire, or Hestia, to the
more detailed theories of Heraclitus. In spite of this divergence,
Hippasus is always regarded as a Pythagorean.
See Diogenes viii. 84; Brandis, _History of Greek and Roman
Philosophy_; also PYTHAGORAS.
HIPPEASTRUM, in botany, a genus of the natural order Amaryllidaceae,
containing about 50 species of bulbous plants, natives of tropical and
sub-tropical South America. In cultivation they are generally known as
_Amaryllis_. The handsome funnel-shaped flowers are borne in a cluster
of two to many, at the end of a short hollow scape. The species and the
numerous hybrids which have been obtained artificially, show a great
variety in size and colour of the flower, including the richest deep
crimson and blood-red, white, or with striped, mottled or blended
colours. They are of easy culture, and free-blooming habit. Like other
bulbs they are increased by offsets, which should be carefully removed
when the plants are at rest, and should be allowed to attain a fair size
before removal. These young bulbs should be potted singly in February or
March, in mellow loamy soil with a moderate quantity of sand, about
two-thirds of the bulb being kept above the level of the soil, which
should be made quite solid. They should be removed to a temperature of
60 deg. by night and 70 deg. by day, very carefully watered until the
roots have begun to grow freely, after which the soil should be kept
moderately moist. As they advance the temperature should be raised to 70
deg. at night, and to 80 deg. or higher with sun heat by day. They do
not need shading, but should have plenty of air, and be syringed daily
in the afternoon. When growing they require a good supply of water.
After the decay of the flowers they should be returned to a brisk moist
temperature of from 70 deg. to 80 deg. by day during summer to perfect
their leaves, and then be ripened off in autumn. Through the winter they
should have less water, but must not be kept entirely dry. The minimum
temperature should now be about 55 deg., to be increased 10 deg. or 15
deg. in spring. As the bulbs get large they will occasionally need
shifting into larger pots. Propagation is also readily effected by seeds
for raising new varieties. Seeds are sown when ripe in well drained pans
of sandy loam at a temperature of about 65 deg. The seedlings when large
enough to handle are placed either singly in very small pots or several
in a pot or shallow pan, and put in a bottom heat, in a moist atmosphere
with a temperature from 60 deg. to 70 deg. _H. Ackermanni_, with large,
handsome, crimson flowers--itself a hybrid--is the parent of many of the
large-flowered forms; _H. equestre_ (Barbados lily), with
yellowish-green flowers tipped with scarlet, has also given rise to
several handsome forms; _H. aulicum_ (flowers crimson and green), _H.
pardinum_ (flowers creamy-white spotted with crimson), and _H. vittatum_
(flowers white with red stripes, a beautiful species and the parent of
many varieties), are stove or warm greenhouse plants. These kinds,
however, are now only regarded as botanical curiosities, and are rarely
grown in private or commercial establishments. They have been ousted by
the more gorgeous looking hybrids, which have been evolved during the
past 100 years. _H. Johnsoni_ is named after a Lancashire watchmaker who
raised it in 1799 by crossing _H. Reginae_ with _H. vittatum_. Since
that time other species have been used for hybridizing, notably _H.
reticulatum_, _H. aulicum_, _H. solandriflorum_, and sometimes _H.
equestre_ and _H. psittacinum_. The finest forms since 1880 have been
evolved from _H. Leopoldi_ and _H. pardinum_. (J. Ws.)
HIPPED ROOF, the name given in architecture to a roof which slopes down
on all four sides instead of terminating on two sides against a
vertical gable. Sometimes a compromise is made between the two, half the
roof being hipped and half resting on the vertical wall; this gives much
more room inside the roof, and externally a most picturesque effect,
which is one of the great attractions of domestic architecture in the
south of England, and is rarely found in other countries.
HIPPEL, THEODOR GOTTLIEB VON (1741-1796), German satirical and humorous
writer, was born on the 31st of January 1741, at Gerdauen in East
Prussia, where his father was rector of a school. He enjoyed an
excellent education at home, and in his sixteenth year he entered
Konigsberg university as a student of theology. Interrupting his
studies, he went, on the invitation of a friend, to St Petersburg, where
he was introduced at the brilliant court of the empress Catherine II.
Returning to Konigsberg he became a tutor in a private family; but,
falling in love with a young lady of high position, his ambition was
aroused, and giving up his tutorship he devoted himself with enthusiasm
to legal studies. He was successful in his profession, and in 1780 was
appointed chief burgomaster in Konigsberg, and in 1786 privy councillor
of war and president of the town. As he rose in the world, however, his
inclination for matrimony vanished, and the lady who had stimulated his
ambition was forgotten. He died at Konigsberg on the 23rd of April 1796,
leaving a considerable fortune. Hippel had extraordinary talents, rich
in wit and fancy; but his was a character full of contrasts and
contradictions. Cautiousness and ardent passion, dry pedantry and piety,
morality and sensuality; simplicity and ostentation composed his nature;
and, hence, his literary productions never attained artistic finish. In
his _Lebenslaufe nach aufsteigender Linie_ (1778-1781) he intended to
describe the lives of his father and grandfather, but he eventually
confined himself to his own. It is an autobiography, in which persons
well known to him are introduced, together with a mass of heterogeneous
reflections on life and philosophy. _Kreuz- und Querzuge des Ritters A
bis Z_ (1793-1794) is a satire levelled against the follies of the
age--ancestral pride and the thirst for orders, decoration and the like.
Among others of his better known works are _Uber die Ehe_ (1774) and
_Uber die burgerliche Verbesserung der Weiber_ (1792). Hippel has been
called the fore-runner of Jean Paul Richter, and has some resemblance to
this author, in his constant digressions and in the interweaving of
scientific matter in his narrative. Like Richter he was strongly
influenced by Laurence Sterne.
In 1827-1838 a collected edition of Hippel's works in 14 vols., was
issued at Berlin. _Uber die Ehe_ has been edited by E. Brenning
(Leipzig, 1872), and the _Lebenslaufe nach aufsteigender Linie_ has in
a modernized edition by A. von Ottingen (1878), gone through several
editions. See J. Czerny, _Sterne, Hippel und Jean Paul_ (Berlin,
1904).
HIPPIAS OF ELIS, Greek sophist, was born about the middle of the 5th
century B.C. and was thus a younger contemporary of Protagoras and
Socrates. He was a man of great versatility and won the respect of his
fellow-citizens to such an extent that he was sent to various towns on
important embassies. At Athens he made the acquaintance of Socrates and
other leading thinkers. With an assurance characteristic of the later
sophists, he claimed to be regarded as an authority on all subjects, and
lectured, at all events with financial success, on poetry, grammar,
history, politics, archaeology, mathematics and astronomy. He boasted
that he was more popular than Protagoras, and was prepared at any moment
to deliver an extempore address on any subject to the assembly at
Olympia. Of his ability there is no question, but it is equally certain
that he was superficial. His aim was not to give knowledge, but to
provide his pupils with the weapons of argument, to make them fertile in
discussion on all subjects alike. It is said that he boasted of wearing
nothing which he had not made with his own hands. Plato's two dialogues,
the _Hippias major_ and _minor_, contain an expose of his methods,
exaggerated no doubt for purposes of argument but written with full
knowledge of the man and the class which he represented. Ast denies
their authenticity, but they must have been written by a contemporary
writer (as they are mentioned in the literature of the 4th century), and
undoubtedly represent the attitude of serious thinkers to the growing
influence of the professional Sophists. There is, however, no question
that Hippias did a real service to Greek literature by insisting on the
meaning of words, the value of rhythm and literary style. He is credited
with an excellent work on Homer, collections of Greek and foreign
literature, and archaeological treatises, but nothing remains except the
barest notes. He forms the connecting link between the first great
sophists, Protagoras and Prodicus, and the innumerable eristics who
brought their name into disrepute.
For the general atmosphere in which Hippias moved see SOPHISTS; also
histories of Philosophy (e.g. Windelband, Eng. trans. by Tufts, pt. 1,
c. 2, SS 7 and 8).
HIPPO, a Greek philosopher and natural scientist, classed with the
Ionian or physical school. He was probably a contemporary of Archelaus
and lived chiefly in Athens. Aristotle declared that he was unworthy of
the name of philosopher, and, while comparing him with Thales in his
main doctrine, adds that his intellect was too shallow for serious
consideration. He held that the principle of all things is moisture
([Greek: to hygron]); that fire develops from water, and from fire the
material universe. Further he denied all existence save that of material
things as known through the senses, and was, therefore, classed among
the "Atheists." The gods are merely great men canonized by popular
tradition. It is said that he composed his own epitaph, wherein he
claims for himself a place in this company.
HIPPOCRAS, an old medicinal drink or cordial, made of wine mixed with
spices--such as cinnamon, ginger and sugar--and strained through woollen
cloths. The early spelling usual in English was _ipocras_, or _ypocras_.
The word is an adaptation of the Med. Lat. _Vinum Hippocraticum_, or
wine of Hippocrates, so called, not because it was supposed to be a
receipt of the physician, but from an apothecary's name for a strainer
or sieve, "Hippocrates' sleeve" (see W. W. Skeat, _Chaucer_, note to the
_Merchant's Tale_).
HIPPOCRATES, Greek philosopher and writer, termed the "Father of
Medicine," was born, according to Soranus, in Cos, in the first year of
the 80th Olympiad, i.e. in 460 B.C. He was a member of the family of the
Asclepiadae, and was believed to be either the nineteenth or seventeenth
in direct descent from Aesculapius. It is also claimed for him that he
was descended from Hercules through his mother, Phaenarete. He studied
medicine under Heraclides, his father, and Herodicus of Selymbria; in
philosophy Gorgias of Leontini and Democritus of Abdera were his
masters. His earlier studies were prosecuted in the famous Asclepion of
Cos, and probably also at Cnidos. He travelled extensively, and taught
and practised his profession at Athens, probably also in Thrace,
Thessaly, Delos and his native island. He died at Larissa in Thessaly,
his age being variously stated as 85, 90, 104 and 109. The incidents of
his life are shrouded by uncertain traditions, which naturally sprang up
in the absence of any authentic record; the earliest biography was by
one of the Sorani, probably Soranus the younger of Ephesus, in the 2nd
century; Suidas, the lexicographer, wrote of him in the 11th, and
Tzetzes in the 12th century. In all these biographies there is internal
evidence of confusion; many of the incidents related are elsewhere told
of other persons, and certain of them are quite irreconcilable with his
character, so far as it can be judged of from his writings and from the
opinions expressed of him by his contemporaries; we may safely reject,
for instance, the legends that he set fire to the library of the Temple
of Health at Cnidos, in order to destroy the evidence of plagiarism, and
that he refused to visit Persia at the request of Artaxerxes Longimanus,
during a pestilential epidemic, on the ground that he would in so doing
be assisting an enemy. He is referred to by Plato (_Protag._ p. 283;
_Phaedr._ p. 211) as an eminent medical authority, and his opinion is
also quoted by Aristotle. The veneration in which he was held by the
Athenians serves to dissipate the calumnies which have been thrown on
his character by Andreas, and the whole tone of his writings bespeaks a
man of the highest integrity and purest morality.
Born of a family of priest-physicians, and inheriting all its traditions
and prejudices, Hippocrates was the first to cast superstition aside,
and to base the practice of medicine on the principles of inductive
philosophy. It is impossible to trace directly the influence exercised
upon him by the great men of his time, but one cannot fail to connect
his emancipation of medicine from superstition with the widespread power
exercised over Greek life and thought by the living work of Socrates,
Plato, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus and Thucydides. It was
a period of great intellectual development, and it only needed a
powerful mind such as his to bring to bear upon medicine the same
influences which were at work in other sciences. It must be remembered
that his training was not altogether bad, although superstition entered
so largely into it. He had a great master in Democritus, the originator
of the doctrine of atoms, and there is every reason to believe that the
various "asclepia" were very carefully conducted hospitals for the sick,
possessing a curious system of case-books, in the form of votive
tablets, left by the patients, on which were recorded the symptoms,
treatment and result of each case. He had these records at his command;
and he had the opportunity of observing the system of training and the
treatment of injuries in the gymnasia. One of his great merits is that
he was the first to dissociate medicine from priest-craft, and to direct
exclusive attention to the natural history of disease. How strongly his
mind revolted against the use of charms, amulets, incantations and such
devices appears from his writings; and he has expressly recorded, as
underlying all his practice, the conviction that, however diseases may
be regarded from the religious point of view, they must all be
scientifically treated as subject to natural laws (_De aere_, 29). Nor
was he anxious to maintain the connexion between philosophy and medicine
which had for long existed in a confused and confusing fashion.[1] His
knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology was necessarily
defective, the respect in which the dead body was held by the Greeks
precluding him from practising dissection; thus we find him writing of
the tissues without distinguishing between the various textures of the
body, confusing arteries, veins and nerves, and speaking vaguely of the
muscles as "flesh." But when we come to study his observations on the
natural history of disease as presented in the living subject, we
recognize at once the presence of a great clinical physician.
Hippocrates based his principles and practice on the theory of the
existence of a spiritual restoring essence or principle, [Greek:
physis], the _vis medicatrix naturae_, in the management of which the
art of the physician consisted. This art could, he held, be only
obtained by the application of experience, not only to disease at large,
but to disease in the individual. He strongly deprecated blind
empiricism; the aphorism "[Greek: he peira sphalere, he krisis chalepe]"
(whether it be his or not), tersely illustrates his position. Holding
firmly to the principle, [Greek: nouson physies ietroi], he did not
allow himself to remain inactive in the presence of disease; he was not
a merely "expectant" physician; as Sydenham puts it, his practice was
"the support of enfeebled and the coercion of outrageous nature." He
largely employed powerful medicines and blood-letting both ordinary and
by cupping. He advises, however, great caution in their application. He
placed great dependence on diet and regimen, and here, quaint as many of
his directions may now sound, not only in themselves, but in the reasons
given, there is much which is still adhered to at the present day. His
treatise [Greek: Peri aeron, hydaton, kai topon] (_Airs, Waters, and
Places_) contains the first enunciation of the principles of public
health. Although the treatises [Greek: Peri krisimon] cannot be accepted
as authentic, we find in the [Greek: Prognostikon] evidence of the
acuteness of observation in the manner in which the occurrence of
critical days in disease is enunciated. His method of reporting cases is
most interesting and instructive; in them we can read how thoroughly he
had separated himself from the priest-physician. Laennec, to whom we are
indebted for the practice of auscultation, freely admits that the idea
was suggested to him by study of Hippocrates, who, treating of the
presence of morbid fluids in the thorax, gives very particular
directions, by means of succussion, for arriving at an opinion
regarding their nature. Laennec says, "Hippocrate avait tente
l'auscultation immediate." Although the treatise [Greek: Peri nouson] is
doubtfully from the pen of Hippocrates, it contains strong evidence of
having been the work of his grandson, representing the views of the
Father of Medicine. Although not accurate in the conclusions reached at
the time, the value of the method of diagnosis is shown by the retention
in modern medicine of the name and the practice of "Hippocratic
succussion." The power of graphic description of phenomena in the
Hippocratic writings is illustrated by the retention of the term "facies
Hippocratica," applied to the appearance of a moribund person, pictured
in the _Prognostics_. In surgery his writings are important and
interesting, but they do not bear the same character of caution as the
treatises on medicine; for instance, in the essay _On Injuries of the
Head_, he advocates the operation "of trephining" more strongly and in
wider classes of cases than would be warranted by the experience of
later times.
The _Hippocratic Collection_ consists of eighty-seven treatises, of
which a part only can be accepted as genuine. The collection has been
submitted to the closest criticism in ancient and modern times by a
large number of commentators (for full list of the early commentators,
see Adams's _Genuine Works of Hippocrates_, Sydenham Society, i. 27,
28). The treatises have been classified according to (1) the direct
evidence of ancient writers, (2) peculiarities of style and method,
and (3) the presence of anachronisms and of opinions opposed to the
general Hippocratic teaching--greatest weight being attached to the
opinions of Erotian and Galen. The general estimate of commentators is
thus stated by Adams: "The peculiar style and method of Hippocrates
are held to be conciseness of expression, great condensation of
matter, and disposition to regard all professional subjects in a
practical point of view, to eschew subtle hypotheses and modes of
treatment based on vague abstractions." The treatises have been
grouped in the four following sections: (1) genuine; (2) those
consisting of notes taken by students and collected after the death of
Hippocrates; (3) essays by disciples; (4) those utterly spurious.
Littre accepts the following thirteen as absolutely genuine: (1) _On
Ancient Medicine_ ([Greek: Peri archaies ietrikes]); (2) _The
Prognostics_ ([Greek: Prognostikon]); (3) _The Aphorisms_ ([Greek:
Aphorismoi]); (4) _The Epidemics_, i. and iii. ([Greek: Epidemion a'
kai g']); (5) _On Regimen in Acute Diseases_ ([Greek: Peri diaites
oxeon]); (6) _On Airs, Waters, and Places_ ([Greek: Peri aeron,
hydaton, kai topon]); (7) _On the Articulations_ ([Greek: Peri
arthron]); (8) _On Fractures_ ([Greek: Peri agmon]); (9) _The
Instruments of Reduction_ ([Greek: Mochlikos]); (10) _The Physician's
Establishment, or Surgery_ ([Greek: Kat' ietreion]); (11) _On Injuries
of the Head_ ([Greek: Peri ton en kephale tromaton]); (12) _The Oath_
([Greek: Horkos]); (13) _The Law_ ([Greek: Nomos]). Of these Adams
accepts as certainly genuine the 2nd, 6th, 5th, 3rd (7 books), 4th,
7th, 8th, 9th and 12th, and as "pretty confidently acknowledged as
genuine, although the evidence in their favour is not so strong," the
1st, 10th and 13th, and, in addition, (14) _On Ulcers_ ([Greek: Peri
helkon]); (15) _On Fistulae_ ([Greek: Peri syringon]); (16) _On
Hemorrhoids_ ([Greek: Peri haimorrhoidon]); (17) _On the Sacred
Disease_ ([Greek: Peri hieres nousou]). According to the sceptical and
somewhat subjective criticism of Ermerins, the whole collection is to
be regarded as spurious except _Epidemics_, books i. and iii. (with a
few interpolations), _On Airs, Waters, and Places_, _On Injuries of
the Head_ ("insigne fragmentum libri Hippocratei"), the former portion
of the treatise _On Regimen in Acute Diseases_, and the "obviously
Hippocratic" fragments of the _Coan Prognostics_. Perhaps also the
_Oath_ may be accepted as genuine; its comparative antiquity is not
denied. The _Aphorisms_ are certainly later and inferior. In the other
non-Hippocratic writings Ermerins thinks he can distinguish the hands
of no fewer than nineteen different authors, most of them anonymous,
and some of them very late.
The earliest Greek edition of the Hippocratic writings is that which
was published by Aldus and Asulanus at Venice in 1526 (folio); it was
speedily followed by that of Frobenius, which is much more accurate
and complete (fol., Basel, 1538). Of the numerous subsequent editions,
probably the best was that of Foesius (Frankfort, 1595, 1621, Geneva,
1657), until the publication of the great works of Littre, _Oeuvres
completes d'Hippocrate, traduction nouvelle avec le texte grec en
regard, collationnee sur les manuscrits et toutes les editions,
accompagnee d'une introduction, de commentaires medicaux, de
variantes, et de notes philologiques_ (10 vols., Paris, 1839-1861),
and of F. Z. Ermerins, _Hippocratis et aliorum medicorum veterum
reliquiae_ (3 vols., Utrecht, 1859-1864). See also Adams (as cited
above), and Reinhold's _Hippocrates_ (2 vols., Athens, 1864-1867).
Daremberg's edition of the _Oeuvres choisies_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1855)
includes the _Oath_, the _Law_, the _Prorrhetics_, book i., the
_Prognostics, On Airs, Waters, and Places, Epidemics_, books i. and
iii., _Regimen_, and _Aphorisms_. Of the separate works attributed to
Hippocrates the editions and translations are almost innumerable; of
the _Prognostics_, for example, seventy editions are known, while of
the _Aphorisms_ there are said to exist as many as three hundred. For
some notice of the Arabic, Syriac and Hebrew translations of works
professedly by Hippocrates (Ibukrat or Bukrat), the number of which
greatly exceeds that of the extant Greek originals, reference may be
made to Flugel's contribution to the article "Hippokrates" in the
_Encyklopadie_ of Ersch and Gruber. They have been partially
catalogued by Fabricius in his _Bibliotheca Graeca_. (J. B. T.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] "Hippocrates Cous, primus quidem ex omnibus memoria dignus, ab
studio sapientiae disciplinam hanc separavit, vir et arte et facundia
insignis" (Celsus, _De medicina_).
HIPPOCRENE (the "fountain of the horse," [Greek: he hippou krene]), the
spring on Mt Helicon, in Boeotia, which, like the other spring there,
Aganippe, was sacred to the Muses and Apollo, and hence taken as the
source of poetic inspiration. The spring, surrounded by an ancient wall,
is now known as _Kryopegadi_ or the cold spring. According to the
legend, it was produced by the stamping of the hoof of Bellerophon's
horse Pegasus. The same story accounts for the Hippocrene in Troezen and
the spring Peirene at Corinth.
HIPPODAMUS, of Miletus, a Greek architect of the 5th century B.C. It was
he who introduced order and regularity into the planning of cities, in
place of the previous intricacy and confusion. For Pericles he planned
the arrangement of the harbour-town Peiraeus at Athens. When the
Athenians founded Thurii in Italy he accompanied the colony as
architect, and afterwards, in 408 B.C., he superintended the building of
the new city of Rhodes. His schemes consisted of series of broad,
straight streets, cutting one another at right angles.
HIPPODROME (Gr. [Greek: hippodromos], from [Greek: hippos], horse, and
[Greek: dromos], racecourse), the course provided by the Greeks for
horse and chariot racing; it corresponded to the Roman _circus_, except
that in the latter only four chariots ran at a time, whereas ten or more
contended in the Greek games, so that the width was far greater, being
about 400 ft., the course being 600 to 700 ft. long. The Greek
hippodrome was usually set out on the slope of a hill, and the ground
taken from one side served to form the embankment on the other side. One
end of the hippodrome was semicircular, and the other end square with an
extensive portico, in front of which, at a lower level, were the stalls
for the horses and chariots. The modern hippodrome is more for
equestrian and other displays than for horse racing. The Hippodrome in
Paris somewhat resembles the Roman amphitheatre, being open in the
centre to the sky, with seats round on rising levels.
HIPPOLYTUS, in Greek legend, son of Theseus and Hippolyte, queen of the
Amazons (or of her sister Antiope), a famous hunter and charioteer and
favourite of Artemis. His stepmother Phaedra became enamoured of him,
but, finding her advances rejected, she hanged herself, leaving a letter
in which she accused Hippolytus of an attempt upon her virtue. Theseus
thereupon drove his son from his presence with curses and called upon
his father Poseidon to destroy him. While Hippolytus was driving along
the shore at Troezen (the scene of the _Hippolytus_ of Euripides), a
sea-monster (a bull or _phoca_) sent by Poseidon emerged from the waves;
the horses were scared, Hippolytus was thrown out of the chariot, and
was dragged along, entangled in the reins, until he died. According to a
tradition of Epidaurus, Asclepius restored him to life at the request of
Artemis, who removed him to Italy (see VIRBIUS). At Troezen, where he
had a special sanctuary and priest, and was worshipped with divine
honours, the story of his death was denied. He was said to have been
rescued by the gods at the critical moment, and to have been placed
amongst the stars as the Charioteer (Auriga). It was also the custom of
the Troezenian maidens to cut off a lock of their hair and to dedicate
it to Hippolytus before marriage (see Frazer on Pausanias ii. 32. 1).
Well-known classical parallels to the main theme are Bellerophon and
Antea (or Stheneboea) and Peleus and Astydamia. The story was the
subject of two plays by Euripides (the later of which is extant), of a
tragedy by Seneca and of Racine's _Phedre_. A trace of it has survived
in the legendary death of the apocryphal martyr Hippolytus, a Roman
officer who was torn to pieces by wild horses as a convert to
Christianity (see J. J. Dollinger, _Hippolytus and Callistus_, Eng. tr.
by A. Plummer, 1876, pp. 28-39, 51-60).
According to the older explanations, Hippolytus represented the sun,
which sets in the sea (cf. the scene of his death and the story of
Phaethon), and Phaedra the moon, which travels behind the sun, but is
unable to overtake it. It is more probable, however, that he was a local
hero famous for his chastity, perhaps originally a priest of Artemis,
worshipped as a god at Troezen, where he was closely connected and
sometimes confounded with Asclepius. It is noteworthy that, in a speech
put into the mouth of Theseus by Euripides, the father, who of course
believes his wife's story and regards Hippolytus as a hypocrite, throws
his son's pretended misogyny and asceticism (Orphism) in his teeth. This
seems to point to a struggle between a new ritual and that of Poseidon,
the chief deity of Troezen, in which the representative of the intruding
religion meets his death through the agency of the offended god, as
Orpheus (q.v.) was torn to pieces by the votaries of the jealous
Dionysus. According to S. Reinach (_Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft_,
x., 1907, p. 47), the Troezenian Hippolytus was a horse, the hypostasis
of an equestrian divinity periodically torn to pieces by the faithful,
who called themselves, and believed themselves to be, horses. Death was
followed by resuscitation, as in the similar myths of Adonis (the sacred
boar), Orpheus (the fox), Pentheus (the fawn), Phaethon (the white
sun-horse).
See Wilamowitz-Mollendorff's Introduction to his German translation of
Euripides' _Hippolytus_ (1891); A. Kalkmann, _De Hippolytis
Euripideis_ (Bonn, 1882); and (for representations in art) "Uber
Darstellung der Hippolytussage" in _Archaologische Zeitung_ (xli.
1883); J. E. Harrison, _Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens_
(1890), cl.
HIPPOLYTUS, a writer of the early Church. The mystery which enveloped
the person and writings of Hippolytus,[1] one of the most prolific
ecclesiastical writers of early times, had some light thrown upon it for
the first time about the middle of the 19th century by the discovery of
the so-called _Philosophumena_ (see below). Assuming this writing to be
the work of Hippolytus, the information given in it as to the author and
his times can be combined with other traditional dates to form a
tolerably clear picture. Hippolytus must have been born in the second
half of the 2nd century, probably in Rome. Photius describes him in his
_Bibliotheca_ (cod. 121) as a disciple of Irenaeus, and from the context
of this passage it is supposed that we may conclude that Hippolytus
himself so styled himself. But this is not certain, and even if it were,
it does not necessarily imply that Hippolytus enjoyed the personal
teaching of the celebrated Gallic bishop; it may perhaps merely refer to
that relation of his theological system to that of Irenaeus which can
easily be traced in his writings. As a presbyter of the church at Rome
under Bishop Zephyrinus (199-217), Hippolytus was distinguished for his
learning and eloquence. It was at this time that Origen, then a young
man, heard him preach (Hieron. _Vir. ill._ 61; cp. Euseb. _H.E._ vi. 14,
10). It was probably not long before questions of theology and church
discipline brought him into direct conflict with Zephyrinus, or at any
rate with his successor Calixtus I. (q.v.). He accused the bishop of
favouring the Christological heresies of the Monarchians, and, further,
of subverting the discipline of the Church by his lax action in
receiving back into the Church those guilty of gross offences. The
result was a schism, and for perhaps over ten years Hippolytus stood as
bishop at the head of a separate church. Then came the persecution under
Maximinus the Thracian. Hippolytus and Pontius, who was then bishop,
were transported in 235 to Sardinia, where it would seem that both of
them died. From the so-called chronograph of the year 354 (_Catalogus
Liberianus_) we learn that on the 13th of August, probably in 236, the
bodies of the exiles were interred in Rome and that of Hippolytus in the
cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. So we must suppose that before his death
the schismatic was received again into the bosom of the Church, and this
is confirmed by the fact that his memory was henceforth celebrated in
the Church as that of a holy martyr. Pope Damasus I. dedicated to him
one of his famous epigrams, and Prudentius (_Peristephanon_, 11) drew a
highly coloured picture of his gruesome death, the details of which are
certainly purely legendary: the myth of Hippolytus the son of Theseus
was transferred to the Christian martyr. Of the historical Hippolytus
little remained in the memory of after ages. Neither Eusebius (_H.E._
vi. 20, 2) nor Jerome (_Vir. ill._ 61) knew that the author so much read
in the East and the Roman saint were one and the same person. The notice
in the _Chronicon Paschale_ preserves one slight reminiscence of the
historical facts, namely, that Hippolytus's episcopal see was situated
at Portus near Rome. In 1551 a marble statue of a seated man was found
in the cemetery of the Via Tiburtina: on the sides of the seat were
carved a paschal cycle, and on the back the titles of numerous writings.
It was the statue of Hippolytus, a work at any rate of the 3rd century;
at the time of Pius IX. it was placed in the Lateran Museum, a record in
stone of a lost tradition.
Hippolytus's voluminous writings, which for variety of subject can be
compared with those of Origen, embrace the spheres of exegesis,
homiletics, apologetics and polemic, chronography and ecclesiastical
law. His works have unfortunately come down to us in such a fragmentary
condition that it is difficult to obtain from them any very exact notion
of his intellectual and literary importance. Of his exegetical works the
best preserved are the _Commentary on the Prophet Daniel_ and the
_Commentary on the Song of Songs_. In spite of many instances of a want
of taste in his typology, they are distinguished by a certain sobriety
and sense of proportion in his exegesis. We are unable to form an
opinion of Hippolytus as a preacher, for the _Homilies on the Feast of
Epiphany_ which go under his name are wrongly attributed to him. He
wrote polemical words directed against the pagans, the Jews and
heretics. The most important of these polemical treatises is the
_Refutation of all Heresies_, which has come to be known by the
inappropriate title of the _Philosophumena_. Of its ten books, the
second and third are lost; Book i. was for a long time printed (with the
title _Philosophumena_) among the works of Origen; Books iv.-x. were
found in 1842 by the Greek Minoides Mynas, without the name of the
author, in a MS. at Mount Athos. It is nowadays universally admitted
that Hippolytus was the author, and that Books i. and iv.-x. belong to
the same work. The importance of the work has, however, been much
overrated; a close examination of the sources for the exposition of the
Gnostic system which is contained in it has proved that the information
it gives is not always trustworthy. Of the dogmatic works, that on
_Christ and Antichrist_ survives in a complete state. Among other things
it includes a vivid account of the events preceding the end of the
world, and it was probably written at the time of the persecution under
Septimius Severus, i.e. about 202. The influence of Hippolytus was felt
chiefly through his works on chronographic and ecclesiastical law. His
chronicle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole period from
the creation of the world up to the year 234, formed a basis for many
chronographical works both in the East and West. In the great
compilations of ecclesiastical law which arose in the East since the 4th
century (see below: also APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS) much of the material
was taken from the writings of Hippolytus; how much of this is genuinely
his, how much of it worked over, and how much of it wrongly attributed
to him, can no longer be determined beyond dispute even by the most
learned investigation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The edition of J. A. Fabricius, _Hippolyti opera graece
et latine_ (2 vols., Hamburg, 1716-1718, reprinted in Gallandi,
_Bibliotheca veterum patrum_ (vol. ii., 1766), and Migne, _Cursus
patrol. ser. Graeca_, vol. x.) is out of date. The preparation of a
complete critical edition has been undertaken by the Prussian Academy
of Sciences. The task is one of extraordinary difficulty, for the
textual problems of the various writings are complex and confused: the
Greek original is extant in a few cases only (the _Commentary on
Daniel_, the _Refutation, on Antichrist_, parts of the _Chronicle_,
and some fragments); for the rest we are dependent on fragments of
translations, chiefly Slavonic, all of which are not even published.
Of the Academy's edition one volume was published at Berlin in 1897,
containing the _Commentaries on Daniel_ and on the _Song of Songs_,
the treatise on _Antichrist_, and the _Lesser Exegetical_ and
_Homiletic Works_, edited by Nathanael Bonwetsch and Hans Achelis. The
_Commentary on the Song of Songs_ has also been published by Bonwetsch
(Leipzig, 1902) in a German translation based on a Russian translation
by N. Marr of the Grusian (Georgian) text, and he added to it
(Leipzig, 1904) a translation of various small exegetical pieces,
which are preserved in a Georgian version only (_The Blessing of
Jacob_, _The Blessing of Moses_, _The Narrative of David and
Goliath_). A great part of the original of the _Chronicle_ has been
published by Adolf Bauer (Leipzig, 1905) from the _Codex Matritensis
Graecus_, 221. For the _Refutation_ we are still dependent on the
editions of Miller (Oxford, 1851), Duncker and Schneidewin (Gottingen,
1859), and Cruice (Paris, 1860). An English translation is to be found
in the _Ante-Nicene Christian Library_ (Edinburgh, 1868-1869).
See Bunsen, _Hippolytus and his Age_ (1852, 2nd ed., 1854; Ger. ed.,
1853); Dollinger, _Hippolytus und Kallistus_ (Regensb. 1853; Eng.
transl., Edinb., 1876); Gerhard Ficker, _Studien zur Hippolytfrage_
(Leipzig, 1893); Hans Achelis, _Hippolytstudien_ (Leipzig, 1897); Karl
Johannes Neumann, _Hippolytus von Rom in seiner Stellung zu Staat und
Welt_, part i. (Leipzig, 1902); Adhemar d'Ales, _La Theologie de Saint
Hippolyte_ (Paris, 1906). (G. K.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] According to the legend St Hippolytus was a Roman soldier who was
converted by St Lawrence.
HIPPOLYTUS, THE CANONS OF. This book stands at the head of a series of
Church Orders, which contain instructions in regard to the choice and
ordination of Christian ministers, regulations as to widows and virgins,
conditions of reception of converts from heathenism, preparation for and
administration of baptism, rules for the celebration of the eucharist,
for fasting, daily prayers, charity suppers, memorial meals,
first-fruits, &c. We shall give (1) a description of the book as we have
it at present; (2) a brief statement of its relation to allied
documents; (3) some remarks on the evidence for its date and authorship.
1. We possess the _Canons of Hippolytus_ only in an Arabic version,
itself made from a Coptic version of the original Greek. Attention was
called to the book by Wansleben and Ludolf towards the end of the 17th
century, but it was only in 1870 that it was edited by Haneberg, who
added a Latin translation, and so made it generally accessible. In 1891
H. Achelis reproduced this translation in a revised form, embodying it
in a synopsis of allied documents. He suspected much interpolation and
derangement of order, and consequently rearranged its contents with a
free hand. In 1900 a German translation was made by H. Riedel, based on
fresh MSS. These showed that the book, as hitherto edited, had been
thrown into disorder by the displacement of two pages near the end; they
also removed other difficulties upon which the theory of interpolation
had been based. Further discoveries, to be spoken of presently, have
added to our materials for the study of the book.
The book is attributed to "Hippolytus, the chief of the bishops of
Rome," and is divided into thirty-eight canons, to which short
headings are prefixed. This division is certainly not original, but it
is convenient for purposes of reference. Canon 1 is prefatory; it
contains a brief confession of faith in the Trinity, and especially in
the Word, the Son of God; and it speaks of the expulsion of heretics
from the Church. Canons 2-5 give regulations for the selection and
ordination of bishops, presbyters and deacons. The bishop is chosen by
the whole congregation: "one of the bishops and presbyters" is to lay
hands upon him and say a prayer which follows (3): he is at once to
proceed with "the offering," taking up the eucharistic service at the
point where the _sursum corda_ comes in. A presbyter (4) is to be
ordained with the same prayer as a bishop, "with the exception of the
word bishop"; but he is given no power of ordination (this appears to
be inconsistent with c. 2). The duties of a deacon are described, and
the prayer of his ordination follows (5). Canons 6-9 deal with various
classes in the Church. One who has suffered punishment for the faith
(6) is to be counted a presbyter without ordination: "his confession
is his ordination." Readers and sub-deacons (7) are given the Gospel,
but are not ordained by laying-on of hands. A claim to ordination on
the ground of gifts of healing (8) is to be admitted, if the facts are
clear and the healing is from God. Widows are not ordained (9):
"ordination is for men only." Canons 10-15 describe conditions for the
admission of converts. Certain occupations are incompatible with
Christian life: only under compulsion may a Christian be a soldier.
Canons 16-18 deal chiefly with regulations concerning women. Canon 19
is a long one dealing with catechumens, preparation for baptism,
administration of that sacrament, and of the eucharist for the newly
baptized. The candidate is twice anointed: first, with the oil of
exorcism, after he has said, with his face westward, "I renounce thee,
O devil, and all thy following"; and, again, immediately after the
baptism. As he stands in the water, he declares his faith in response
to an interrogatory creed; and after each of the three clauses he is
immersed. After the second anointing the bishop gives thanks "for that
Thou hast made them worthy that they should be born again, and hast
poured out Thy Holy Ghost upon them, so that they may belong, each one
of them, to the body of the Church": he signs them with the cross on
their foreheads, and kisses them. The eucharist then proceeds: "the
bishop gives them of the body of Christ and says, This is the body of
Christ, and they answer Amen"; and similarly for the cup. Milk and
honey are then given to them as being "born a second time as little
children." A warning is added against eating anything before
communicating. Canons 20-22 deal with fast-days, daily services in
church, and the fast of the passover-week. Canon 23 seems as if it
closed the series, speaking, as it does, of "our brethren the bishops"
who in their cities have made regulations "according to the commands
of our fathers the apostles": "let none of our successors alter them;
because it saith that the teaching is greater than the sea, and hath
no end." We pass on, however, to regulations about the sick (24) who
are to be visited by the bishop, "because it is a great thing for the
sick that the high-priest should visit them (for the shadow of Peter
healed the sick)." Canons 25-27 deal again with prayers and
church-services. The "seven hours" are specified, with reasons for
their observance (25): attendance at sermons is urged (26), "for the
Lord is in the place where his lordship is proclaimed" (comp.
_Didache_ 4, part of the _Two Ways_). When there are no prayers in
church, reading at home is enjoined (27): "let the sun each morning
see the book upon thy knees" (comp. Ath. _Ad virg._, S 12, "Let the
sun when he ariseth see the book in thy hands"). Prayer must be
preceded by the washing of the hands. "No believer must take food
before communicating, especially on fast-days": only believers may
communicate (28). The sacred elements must be guarded, "lest anything
fall into the cup, and it be a sin unto death for the presbyters." No
crumb must be dropped, "lest an evil spirit get possession of it."
Canons 30-35 contain various rules,
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