DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.635#0043
30 BENARES, THE SACRED CITY
west know of the five Pandav brothers and of their
friend the righteous Krishna. . . . The morals in-
culcated in these tales sink into the hearts of a
naturally religious people, and form the basis of their
moral education."
The sentiment of hero-worship is still as strong
in the Hindu mind as it was three thousand years
ago, and the philosophy of Hinduism finds nothing-
unreasonable in according divine honours to a man,
woman, or child, alive or dead, who is considered
to have manifested in some special sense the nature
of the supreme soul which is believed to be a part
of every individual.
The extremes to which this doctrine can be pushed
by Hindus of the present day is described by Mr.
H. H. Risley in the report of the last census:—
" Priests and priestesses, pious ascetics and suc-
cessful dacoits, Indian soldiers of fortune and British
men of action, bridegrooms who met their death on
their wedding-day and virgins who died unwed, jostle
each other in a fantastic Walpurgis dance, where new
performers are constantly joining and old ones seldom
go out. . . .
"In 1884 Keshub Chandra Sen, the leader of the
Brahmo Somaj, narrowly escaped something closely
resembling deification at the hands of a section of his
disciples. A revelation was said to have been received
enjoining that the chair used by him during his life
should be set apart and kept sacred, and the legal
member of the Viceroy's council was invited to arbitrate
in the matter. Sir Courtenay Ilbert discreetly refused
' to deal with testimony of a kind inadmissible in a
court of justice'. . . . Sivaji, the founder of the
west know of the five Pandav brothers and of their
friend the righteous Krishna. . . . The morals in-
culcated in these tales sink into the hearts of a
naturally religious people, and form the basis of their
moral education."
The sentiment of hero-worship is still as strong
in the Hindu mind as it was three thousand years
ago, and the philosophy of Hinduism finds nothing-
unreasonable in according divine honours to a man,
woman, or child, alive or dead, who is considered
to have manifested in some special sense the nature
of the supreme soul which is believed to be a part
of every individual.
The extremes to which this doctrine can be pushed
by Hindus of the present day is described by Mr.
H. H. Risley in the report of the last census:—
" Priests and priestesses, pious ascetics and suc-
cessful dacoits, Indian soldiers of fortune and British
men of action, bridegrooms who met their death on
their wedding-day and virgins who died unwed, jostle
each other in a fantastic Walpurgis dance, where new
performers are constantly joining and old ones seldom
go out. . . .
"In 1884 Keshub Chandra Sen, the leader of the
Brahmo Somaj, narrowly escaped something closely
resembling deification at the hands of a section of his
disciples. A revelation was said to have been received
enjoining that the chair used by him during his life
should be set apart and kept sacred, and the legal
member of the Viceroy's council was invited to arbitrate
in the matter. Sir Courtenay Ilbert discreetly refused
' to deal with testimony of a kind inadmissible in a
court of justice'. . . . Sivaji, the founder of the