DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0527
Modern Theism. Rammohun Roys successors. 517
accomplish a great deal of useful work together, and will
probably hereafter make their society the leading Samaj of
India.
It is to be hoped that much of the bitterness of feeling
produced by the late schism has already passed away, and that
the various Samaj es of India may ere long forget their petty
differences, and agree upon some course of combined and
systematic action. Surely the little army of Reformers, how-
ever courageous, is not strong enough to bear weakening by
internal divisions. A compact and serried front is urgently
needed in the presence of malignant foes, who neglect no
opportunity of marshalling their forces, and uniting in active
co-operation for the destruction of the scattered ranks of their
opponents.
Some attempt at concerted action between the numerous
bodies of Theists, which the operation of our educational
system is rapidly calling into existence, is certainly needed ;
for there are now more than a hundred and seventy Theistic
Churches scattered throughout the country. That at Madras,
founded in 1871, and developed out of a previous Society,
called the Veda-Samaj, was well led for some time by its
Secretary, Sridharalu Naidu (long under the tuition of the
Adi Brahma-Samaj), but at his death languished. It revived
in 1879, but seems to be still in want of a good leader. At
Bombay, the Prarthana-Samaj, or Prayer Society, was the
first Theistic Church of Western India. It was founded in
1867, and owes much of its continued vitality to the support
of an enlightened native Doctor of Medicine, Dr. Atmaram
Pandurang.
Many of the Samajes take an independent line of their
own. Some are conservative, and conform to the pattern
of the Adi Brahma-Samaj at Calcutta1. Some, again, have
1 According to Raj Narain Bose, the Adi Brahma-Samaj, though
generally conservative, contains individual members who have taken
part in very progressive reforms, such as discarding the thread, the
accomplish a great deal of useful work together, and will
probably hereafter make their society the leading Samaj of
India.
It is to be hoped that much of the bitterness of feeling
produced by the late schism has already passed away, and that
the various Samaj es of India may ere long forget their petty
differences, and agree upon some course of combined and
systematic action. Surely the little army of Reformers, how-
ever courageous, is not strong enough to bear weakening by
internal divisions. A compact and serried front is urgently
needed in the presence of malignant foes, who neglect no
opportunity of marshalling their forces, and uniting in active
co-operation for the destruction of the scattered ranks of their
opponents.
Some attempt at concerted action between the numerous
bodies of Theists, which the operation of our educational
system is rapidly calling into existence, is certainly needed ;
for there are now more than a hundred and seventy Theistic
Churches scattered throughout the country. That at Madras,
founded in 1871, and developed out of a previous Society,
called the Veda-Samaj, was well led for some time by its
Secretary, Sridharalu Naidu (long under the tuition of the
Adi Brahma-Samaj), but at his death languished. It revived
in 1879, but seems to be still in want of a good leader. At
Bombay, the Prarthana-Samaj, or Prayer Society, was the
first Theistic Church of Western India. It was founded in
1867, and owes much of its continued vitality to the support
of an enlightened native Doctor of Medicine, Dr. Atmaram
Pandurang.
Many of the Samajes take an independent line of their
own. Some are conservative, and conform to the pattern
of the Adi Brahma-Samaj at Calcutta1. Some, again, have
1 According to Raj Narain Bose, the Adi Brahma-Samaj, though
generally conservative, contains individual members who have taken
part in very progressive reforms, such as discarding the thread, the