This conversation, which occurred only some two or three years after Dayananda's death in 1883, corroborates the statements of Agnihotri's witnesses, who had had personal intercourse with the leader himself. The evidence is not absolutely conclusive; but, taken along with the amazing character of Dayananda's commentaries on the Vedas, it will have considerable weight with the open-minded student.1 8. The following is the official creed of the Samāj:

i. God is the primary cause of all true knowledge, and of everything known by its name.

ii. God is All-Truth, All-Knowledge, All-Beatitude, Incorporeal, Almighty, Just, Merciful, Unbegotten, Infinite, Unchangeable, without a beginning, Incomparable, the Support and the Lord of All, All-pervading, Omniscient, Imperishable, Immortal, Exempt from fear, Eternal, Holy, and the Cause of the Universe. To Him alone worship is due.

iii. The Vedas are the books of true knowledge, and it is the paramount duty of every Arya to read or hear them read, to teach and preach them to others.

iv. One should always be ready to accept truth and renounce untruth.

v. All actions ought to be done conformably to virtue, i.e. after a thorough consideration of right or wrong.

vi. The primary object of the Samāj is to do good to the world by improving the physical, spiritual, and social condition of mankind.

vii. All ought to be treated with love, justice, and due regard to their merits.

viii. Ignorance ought to be dispelled and knowledge diffused. ix. No one ought to be contented with his own good alone, but every one ought to regard his prosperity as included in that of others.

x. In matters which affect the general social well-being of the whole society, one ought to discard all differences and not allow one's individuality to interfere, but in strictly personal matters every one may act with freedom.

1 Cf. the Tiyas, below, p. 313.

But these sentences omit many of the points which it is most important to know.

9. The following are the leading theological ideas of the Samāj. Orthodox Hindus allow only men of the three highest castes to study the Vedas: Aryas invite all, both men and women, to study them. On the other hand, they condemn modern Hindu literature. They teach that there are three eternal existences, God, the soul and elemental matter. The soul undergoes transmigration according to the law of karma. Forgiveness is altogether impossible. Salvation comes only by continued well-doing; and the soul, even when released from transmigration, is not absorbed in God. The doctrine of avatāras, or divine incarnations, is denied. Idolatry is vehemently condemned, and also the practice of killing animals in sacrifice or of offering food on the altar to God. The fire-sacrifice of the Vedas is retained, but is explained as a means of purifying the air. The Hindu form of ancestorworship, known as the śraddha, is condemned as useless; and pilgrimage is given up as superstitious.

10. A careful reading of the Satyarth Prakash shows that the ethical system of the Samaj is crude in the extreme. Many of the laws of Manu in all their barbarity are laid down for use in modern life. For example, the individual is encouraged to kill those whom he regards as monstrously evil men;1 and the king is advised to have the adulterer burned alive on a redhot iron bedstead, and the adulteress devoured alive by dogs, in the presence of many men and women.2 But it is in its marriage laws that the book goes farthest astray. Childmarriage is prohibited,3 and virgin widows and widowers are allowed to remarry, excellent regulations, as all will agree. But widows and widowers who have lived with their spouses are told not to remarry.5 Yet, for their relief, and for the 1 Durga Prasad's translation, 203. 2 Ib., 204, 207. 3 Ib., 132.

4 ♦ Ib., 156.

• Ib., 156.

relief also of husbands and wives in certain circumstances, the law of niyoga is laid down.1 (Niyoga is simply sexual relationships without marriage. The details are too horrible to transcribe. They may be seen in the book. In 1892 some Aryas brought a law-suit against a Hindu who wrote against niyoga, calling it adultery, but the case was dismissed.2 One is glad to hear that many members of the Samāj would now like to repudiate this most immoral legislation, which is equally repulsive to the Hindu and the Christian.

There is another feature of the Satyarth Prakash which has attracted wide attention. All the outstanding Hindu sects, and Jainism, Sikhism, Islam, and Christianity as well, are mercilessly criticized in it, and here and there with a good deal of malice and injustice. This section of the book has encouraged Āryas and provided them with very useful ammunition for their controversies, but it has also created vehement hatred against the Samaj in many quarters. Dayananda's stinging taunts have been effective in rousing a number of the sects to retaliation and defensive organization. This is noticeably true of the Sikhs, the Jains, the Aḥmadīyas,5 the Muḥammadans, and also of Pandit Din Dayal,' the founder of the Bharata Dharma Mahāmaṇḍala.

Dayananda's own methods of controversy, shewn in his public addresses and debates and also in his writings, have naturally been adopted by his followers. Wherever they go, one hears of slander, passion, and unfair methods; and disturbances in the streets and squares have been pitiably

common.

II. I had the privilege of being present, in company with Dr. Griswold, at an Arya Samaj Sunday morning service in

1 Durga Prasad's translation, 156-161.

2 Ruchi Ram Sahni, The Niyoga Doctrine of the Ārya Samaj, 35–6.

'P. 340, below. "P. 351, below.

'P. 329, below.

7 P. 316, below.

P. 137, below.

Lahore in December, 1912. The place of meeting is a large oblong hall without seats, with a platform at one end and a high narrow gallery at the other. In the floor, in front of the platform, there is a square pit, measuring perhaps two feet each way. This is the altar. On one side of the hall a small platform for singers and a harmonium had been placed. When we entered, there was only one man in the hall, and he was laying some pieces of wood in order at the bottom of the square pit. When that was done, he set up a stick of incense on end on the floor at each corner of the pit. Some packets

of aromatic herbs and several sacrificial vessels lay on the floor. Men came dropping in, and squatted in front and on the two sides of the altar. When there were perhaps twenty present, those next the altar began to intone some Sanskrit verses, amongst which we could distinguish some of the verses of Rigveda, X, 129. This continued about twenty minutes. By that time there were about thirty present. The fire and the incense sticks were then lighted; the aromatic leaves were shed on the fire; and ghi (melted butter) was rubbed on the outer edges of the altar. Other verses were now chanted, while the flames rose nearly two feet above the level of the floor. This is the havana, which Aryas are recommended to perform every morning, at the time of their devotions, for the purification of the air. This continued for about fifteen minutes. All then rose to their feet and sat down in various places in the hall. A young man mounted the platform to lead the service, one sat down at the harmonium and a few others gathered round him to sing. There were forty-eight present.

The second part of the service then began. It consisted of the singing of hymns, the repetition of texts (one of them the Gayatri), prayer and a sermon, all in Hindi except a few texts which were in Sanskrit. It was just like a Protestant service, and totally unlike any Vedic observance. During

this part of the service many boys came in. Before the sermon began there were perhaps two hundred present. Later the number rose to two hundred and fifty. There was no woman or girl present. I am told they are not excluded, but a special service, conducted by a lady, is held at another time and place, which they attend in fair numbers.

12. The death of Dayananda was a great blow to the members of the Samāj; yet the work was carried on with enthusiasm; and the movement has continued to grow at a rapid pace since then. Large sums of money were collected to perpetuate the memory of the founder, and in 1887, the Dayānanda Anglo-Vedic College was opened in Lahore. This great foundation, in which the flower of the youth of the Arya Samāj receive a modern English education, and also instruction in the religion of the Samaj, forms a very worthy memorial to Dayananda's devotion and energy.

In 1892 the Arya community fell in two. This division is parallel to the first split in the Brahma camp. As Keshab led out the progressives, and left Debendra and the conservatives behind; so the Arya Samaj broke up into the College or "Cultured" party and the Vegetarian or "Mahātma" party. The former are progressive, stand for modern education and for freedom in diet, and declare that the Arya Samaj is the one true universal religion, which must be taught to all the world; while their opponents favour the ancient Hindu education, stand by vegetarianism and declare that the teaching of the Samaj is pure Hinduism, but not the universal religion.

13. I have failed to obtain printed reports of the work of the Samaj, so that it is rather hard to estimate what they are doing. Their methods, however, are well known. Those members of a local Samaj who pay 1% of their income to the funds elect the managing Committee of the Samāj. Then the Samājes in each Province elect representatives who form the Pratinidhi Sabha, or Representative Assembly, of the Prov