attitude to social questions was also practically the same as Dayananda's. He opposed caste, condemned child-marriage, advocated female education, and declared woman to be equal with man. He says:

Similar reasons will show you the injustice of the treatment to which your women are subjected. Man and woman are equally related to the all-comprehending supreme Being, manifested as light. It is pleasant in His sight that each should be free to realise the perfection possible to the human individual.1

His teaching is distinctly better than Dayananda's in two particulars. First, he did not press the doctrine of transmigration and karma. Clearly he had not realized what an incubus it had been on the theology of Hinduism and on the life of the common people; so that he occupied rather an ambiguous position towards it. Mr. Chatterji writes:

Transmigration did not receive much attention from Śivanārāyana. He thought it had no bearing upon a man's spiritual life or his mukti or salvation. He neither asserted nor denied its reality. He left the question open and practically ignored it.

The other point on which he advanced beyond Dayānanda was this: he did not hold the infallibility of the Veda, but recognized the value of many sacred books.

He believed that, if men would only recognize the true import of the two aspects of God, peace would come amongst all religions, and good will would be established in place of evil. At one time he urged the advisability of holding a great religious Conference with the object of bringing all men to one opinion with regard to God. The following is another of his proposals, which, if not very practical, gives us a peep into his mind:

1 A Word in Season, 14.

Let all mankind have a common speech. Compile from all the scriptures of the world, in that common human tongue, a scripture, containing all that is useful for man to know concerning his spiritual and temporal welfare. Preserve that one and burn all the rest, burying their ashes out of sight.1

He insists on the duty of training the body to be the obedient servant of the spirit, and he makes practical service of our neighbours an essential part of spiritual religion. The following summary is given at the end of one of his latest tracts:

1. Keep this world pure, so that no uncleanness may attach, within or outside, to the physical body, the senses, mind, food, raiment, dwellings, roads, bathing-places and so forth. Prevent the adulteration of food in every form.

2. Be "equal-sighted" to sons and daughters, and educate them equally; secure equal rights to man and woman. Looking on all individuals as God and your own soul, cherish them, so that want and suffering may come to none.

3. Let each, to the extent of his power, lovingly, in God's name, make offerings in the fire of things fragrant and sweet, such as clarified butter, sugar, etc., and help and encourage others to do so. This purifies the air, secures timely rain and Such is God's law.

abundant crops.

4. His name is the mantra, Om Sat guru. Let every man and woman call upon Him by inwardly repeating this name. By His favour all will attain the fourfold objects of desire, religious merit or ethical perfection, possessions on earth, enjoyment and salvation.

5. Light or the sun and moon is His expression. Let all men at the rising and the setting of light with love and reverence bow down with folded hands and adore Him who is light, craving forgiveness of sins.

When you perceive the true nature of light, you will understand all phenomena of life and movement, such as birth and death, eclipses and the waxing and the waning of the moon.

6. Knowing Him to be all-comprehending and complete, keep your hearts well established on Him.2

1 Take Heed unto Yourselves, 5.

2 A Word in Season, 22-23.

Christian influence is very distinctly visible in his teaching at several points, notably in his attitude to idolatry, his freedom from the grip of transmigration, and his conception of the equality of man and woman.

2. A number of intelligent people in Calcutta still confess his influence; the Īsāmoshipanthīs are the outcome of the teaching of one of his disciples;1 and a new sect has sprung from his teaching in Assam.2 The Kacheris are a Burma-Tibetan race scattered throughout Upper Assam. One branch of the Kacheris are known as the Mech tribe. The word Mech is simply a corruption of the Sanskrit word Mleccha, which means "barbarian," "unclean," "foreign.” There is a good deal of unrest up and down the country; and the Mech tribe, having grown in knowledge and intelligence during recent years, very naturally dislike their tribal name.

Shortly after Sivanārāyaṇa's death, a member of this tribe, Kali Charan by name, went to Calcutta and met some of his followers. He picked up the teacher's main ideas, and carried away one of his Bengali books with him, Sār Nityakriyā, i.e. "Essential Daily Duties." When he reached Assam, he taught the new doctrines as a means of changing the status of the tribe. He received a ready response, and the movement grew apace. He teaches the people that by accepting the new teaching they become Brahmas, or, as they pronounce it, Bormhos. He means they will become Brahman, God. Those who follow him call themselves Bormhos instead of using the old name Mech. They do their best to follow the teaching of Sār Nityakriyā, but they do not understand it well. They are setting themselves up as a caste, at least thus far that they will not eat with others. They have neither temples

1 P. 156, below.

2 All my information about this Assamese movement I owe to the Rev. A. C. Bowers of Goalpara, Assam. There is a brief mention in Census of India, 1911, vol. 1, 125.

nor idols, but worship fire, earth, air, water and sun in a spot prepared for the occasion. These are supposed to be God. They offer fruits and vegetables, and sacrifice certain sweetsmelling substances in fire.

He has some half a dozen They use the Bengali literadisciples in Calcutta. They

Kali Charan is their leader. chelas, disciples, who assist him. ture published by Sivanārāyaṇa's are aiming at the economic development of the tribe, and therefore are collecting money for the erection of a technical school, shops and such like. They say that there are about two thousand families in the movement, but that is probably an overestimate. In any case it is now losing ground.

LITERATURE.

- Indian Spirituality or the Travels and Teachings of Śivanārāyaṇa, by M. M. Chatterji. London, Luzac, 1907. Amrita Sāgara (the teaching of Sivanārāyaṇa in Bengali), edited by M. M. Chatterji, Calcutta, Sanyal & Co., 1911, Rs. 2.

3. THE VEDIC MISSION

In 1886 a movement called Sādhārana Dharma arose in Madras, and has continued active until to-day. The adherents of Sādhārana Dharma declare their belief in Paramātman, or the Supreme Self, his government of the world and of individuals, and the possibility of realizing him by the development of one's moral or physical powers and the use of them for the good of humanity; and they promise to work for their own progress and the advancement of humanity. The following sentences come from the prospectus of the organization :

The Common Path (Sadharana Dharma) is open to people of any creed. Those who profess other faiths need not disclaim them when they adopt Sadharana Dharma. Sadharana Dharma aims not to establish uniformity but unity in variety throughout the different cults and sects of India, and by and by of the whole world.

In 1909 this organization was included in a wider body called the Vedic Mission. This new organization has two divisions, Vedic Dharma and Sadhārana Dharma, the former purely Hindu, the later for everybody and anybody. For a time they were affiliated with the Bharata Dharma Mahāmandal,1 but its orthodoxy was too stiff for the Vedic Mission. The following sentences allude to that fact:

We take this opportunity of informing the public that our Mission has nothing to do with so called Hindu orthodoxy and priesthood. Nothing short of thorough religious reform based on "Vedic monotheism" will satisfy us.

We do not want to please those orthodox people that may be indifferent or opposed to the spread of Sanskrit and Religious Education as well as the right kind of spiritual knowledge among the non-Brahmin castes and the depressed Classes.

The work is as follows:

The Mission has three branches of work, viz., (i) Educational for spreading secular and useful religious knowledge among the masses, (ii) Medical - pertaining to the Ministry of Healing (the sick in body and mind), and (iii) Literary-including the study of comparative Mythology, Theology and Philosophy. The Mission advocates the cause of Vedic Religion and philosophy.

They have what they call a Vedic Mission College for training preachers and teachers, and they publish a good deal of literature.

The leaders are Pandit G. Krishna Sastrī and an Australian. There is a branch in Delhi, under Svāmī Śivagaṇāchārya. Work is also being done in Australia. I find it impossible to make out how much is being done.

The movement seems to stand nearer the Ārya Samāj and Sivanārāyaṇa's teaching than anything else.

1P. 316, below.