DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0528
518 Modern Theism. Rammohun Roy's successors.
distinct characteristics peculiar to themselves, which can only
be understood by personal investigations in each locality.
I myself attended meetings of the Adi Brahma-Samaj at
Calcutta, and of the corresponding Samaj, called the Prar-
thana-Samaj at Bombay. The services at the former were
conducted by a son of Debendra-nath. The sermon was
preached from a raised platform or altar (Vedi); and three
singers, seated in front of a kind of organ, chanted the hymns
in loud tones, and with much warmth of manner and energetic
gesticulation.
At Bombay the Manual used by the Prarthana-Samaj con-
tained selections from the Veda, Upanishads, Christian Bible,
Kuran, and Zand-Avasta. Hymns were sung with much
fervour in a thoroughly Hindu fashion to an accompaniment
played on the Vina or Indian lute, and prayers were said,
consisting chiefly of invocations of the Supreme Being, with
praise and adoration of His attributes, but without confession
of guilt, while the congregation remained seated, though their
hands were joined in reverence. After the prayer a sermon
was preached by Professor Bhandarkar of the Elphinstone
College, who took for his text a passage from the Katho-
panishad (VI. 15), thus translatable:—' Man cannot obtain
immortality till all the knots in his heart caused by ignorance
and unbelief are untied (yada sarve prabhidyante hridayasya
granthayah).' He then illustrated his text by quotations
from other books. For example—a passage from Tukaram
—the most popular Maratha poet:—' There is no happiness
other than peace. Therefore preserve peace, and you will
cross over to yonder shore.'
What chiefly struck me was the apparent absence of sym-
pathy or rapport between the official performers of the
services and the general congregation. The hymns were
remarriage of widows, emancipation of females, etc. The Adi Samaj in
fact is conservative in religious reform, basing it on Vedas and Vedanta,
but leaves social reform to the judgment and taste of individual members.
distinct characteristics peculiar to themselves, which can only
be understood by personal investigations in each locality.
I myself attended meetings of the Adi Brahma-Samaj at
Calcutta, and of the corresponding Samaj, called the Prar-
thana-Samaj at Bombay. The services at the former were
conducted by a son of Debendra-nath. The sermon was
preached from a raised platform or altar (Vedi); and three
singers, seated in front of a kind of organ, chanted the hymns
in loud tones, and with much warmth of manner and energetic
gesticulation.
At Bombay the Manual used by the Prarthana-Samaj con-
tained selections from the Veda, Upanishads, Christian Bible,
Kuran, and Zand-Avasta. Hymns were sung with much
fervour in a thoroughly Hindu fashion to an accompaniment
played on the Vina or Indian lute, and prayers were said,
consisting chiefly of invocations of the Supreme Being, with
praise and adoration of His attributes, but without confession
of guilt, while the congregation remained seated, though their
hands were joined in reverence. After the prayer a sermon
was preached by Professor Bhandarkar of the Elphinstone
College, who took for his text a passage from the Katho-
panishad (VI. 15), thus translatable:—' Man cannot obtain
immortality till all the knots in his heart caused by ignorance
and unbelief are untied (yada sarve prabhidyante hridayasya
granthayah).' He then illustrated his text by quotations
from other books. For example—a passage from Tukaram
—the most popular Maratha poet:—' There is no happiness
other than peace. Therefore preserve peace, and you will
cross over to yonder shore.'
What chiefly struck me was the apparent absence of sym-
pathy or rapport between the official performers of the
services and the general congregation. The hymns were
remarriage of widows, emancipation of females, etc. The Adi Samaj in
fact is conservative in religious reform, basing it on Vedas and Vedanta,
but leaves social reform to the judgment and taste of individual members.