DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0007
Preface. vii
had lived for years quite unconsciously within a few
hundred yards of a celebrated shrine, endeared to the
Hindus by the religious memories of centuries. An-
other had never heard of a perfectly unique temple
not two miles from the gate of his own compound.
Ignorance, too, is often associated with an attitude of
undisguised contempt. Another distinguished civilian,
who observed that I was diligent in prosecuting my
researches into the true nature of Hinduism, expressed
surprise that I could waste my time in "grubbing into
such dirt." The simple truth, however, is that we are
all more or less ignorant. We are none of us as yet
quite able to answer the question:—What are Brah-
manism and Hinduism, and what relation do they
bear to each other ? We have none of us yet suf-
ficiently studied them under all their Protean aspects,
in their own vast sacred literature, stretching over a
period of more than three thousand years. We
under-estimate their comprehensiveness, their super-
subtlety, their recuperative hydra-like vitality; and we
are too much given to include the whole system under
sweeping expressions such as "heathenism" or "idol-
atry," as if every idea it contains was to be eradicated
root and branch.'
To these words spoken by me (nearly in the form
given above) soon after my return from my second
Indian journey I adhere in every particular.
Let it not be supposed, however, that my sympathy
with the natives of our great Dependency has led me
to gloss over what is false, impure, and utterly deplor-
able in their religious systems. The most cursory
had lived for years quite unconsciously within a few
hundred yards of a celebrated shrine, endeared to the
Hindus by the religious memories of centuries. An-
other had never heard of a perfectly unique temple
not two miles from the gate of his own compound.
Ignorance, too, is often associated with an attitude of
undisguised contempt. Another distinguished civilian,
who observed that I was diligent in prosecuting my
researches into the true nature of Hinduism, expressed
surprise that I could waste my time in "grubbing into
such dirt." The simple truth, however, is that we are
all more or less ignorant. We are none of us as yet
quite able to answer the question:—What are Brah-
manism and Hinduism, and what relation do they
bear to each other ? We have none of us yet suf-
ficiently studied them under all their Protean aspects,
in their own vast sacred literature, stretching over a
period of more than three thousand years. We
under-estimate their comprehensiveness, their super-
subtlety, their recuperative hydra-like vitality; and we
are too much given to include the whole system under
sweeping expressions such as "heathenism" or "idol-
atry," as if every idea it contains was to be eradicated
root and branch.'
To these words spoken by me (nearly in the form
given above) soon after my return from my second
Indian journey I adhere in every particular.
Let it not be supposed, however, that my sympathy
with the natives of our great Dependency has led me
to gloss over what is false, impure, and utterly deplor-
able in their religious systems. The most cursory