DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31218#0317
CASTE in relation to religion
are always, the latter class seldom, if ever, recognized
by the Brahman priesthood. The only or principal wor-
ship of a vast majority, some 87^- per cent of all Hindus,
is directed to one of the Brahmanical great gods in the
first class, and consequently may be described as ortho-
dox worship; but a large proportion of the orthodox also
worship deities in the second class, whilst the unorthodox
minority worship only such deities. Each caste selects
its own deities; outside the great gods, the Muhammadan
group of saints known as the Panchpir probably com-
mands the largest number of adherents. But though
Hinduism may be, as Sir Alfred Lyali called it, ‘a tangled
jungle of disorderly superstitions’, yet there are certain
ring-fences round that jungle—certain forms of worship
in which ali, or nearly all, Hindus share, certain gods
to whom they all pay reverence. The first of these bonds
of union is ancestor-worship; practically every Hindu,
whether orthodox or unorthodox, follows this practice,
and though both the nature of the worship and the con-
ceptions underlying it may vary, yet the differences are
not so great that ’they cannot be reconciled. Every
Hindu, again, has some conception, more or less definite,
of a supreme personal god, whom he generally calls
Parameshwar. With the exception of a very few out-
caste tribes on the very fringe of society, every Hindu
pays at least so much reverence to the cow that he will
not kill it, or eat its flesh; and with similar exceptions,
every Hindu accepts such ministrations from the Brah-
man priests as they are willing to give him, and admits
their spiritual supremacy.
A Hindu’s code of ethics is as high as tliat of any
other civilized nation. As Sir Richard
28. Reiigion and Burn says, ‘He knows that it is wrong
ethics to commit murder, adultery, theft, and
perjury, and to covet, and he honours
his parents, in the case of the father at any rate, to a
degree exceeding the customs of most nations, which have
no ceremony resembling that of the sraddha'. At the
same time, the Hindu religion neither is, nor contains,
an ethical code. A Hindu, if asked why a specific action
3°3
are always, the latter class seldom, if ever, recognized
by the Brahman priesthood. The only or principal wor-
ship of a vast majority, some 87^- per cent of all Hindus,
is directed to one of the Brahmanical great gods in the
first class, and consequently may be described as ortho-
dox worship; but a large proportion of the orthodox also
worship deities in the second class, whilst the unorthodox
minority worship only such deities. Each caste selects
its own deities; outside the great gods, the Muhammadan
group of saints known as the Panchpir probably com-
mands the largest number of adherents. But though
Hinduism may be, as Sir Alfred Lyali called it, ‘a tangled
jungle of disorderly superstitions’, yet there are certain
ring-fences round that jungle—certain forms of worship
in which ali, or nearly all, Hindus share, certain gods
to whom they all pay reverence. The first of these bonds
of union is ancestor-worship; practically every Hindu,
whether orthodox or unorthodox, follows this practice,
and though both the nature of the worship and the con-
ceptions underlying it may vary, yet the differences are
not so great that ’they cannot be reconciled. Every
Hindu, again, has some conception, more or less definite,
of a supreme personal god, whom he generally calls
Parameshwar. With the exception of a very few out-
caste tribes on the very fringe of society, every Hindu
pays at least so much reverence to the cow that he will
not kill it, or eat its flesh; and with similar exceptions,
every Hindu accepts such ministrations from the Brah-
man priests as they are willing to give him, and admits
their spiritual supremacy.
A Hindu’s code of ethics is as high as tliat of any
other civilized nation. As Sir Richard
28. Reiigion and Burn says, ‘He knows that it is wrong
ethics to commit murder, adultery, theft, and
perjury, and to covet, and he honours
his parents, in the case of the father at any rate, to a
degree exceeding the customs of most nations, which have
no ceremony resembling that of the sraddha'. At the
same time, the Hindu religion neither is, nor contains,
an ethical code. A Hindu, if asked why a specific action
3°3