RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
India
800 a.d. He was a Brahman of southern India who attempted to bring into one logical system the philosophic teachings of the Upanishads. He was a man of vast learning, and clear philosophical insight into the deepest problems of existence, who advanced Indian thought to its supreme expression. His philosophy is called the Advaita, or pure monism. Two other philosophers of note, although connected in date with the period of Mohammedan influence, belong really to the latter part of this period of undisturbed development. Ramanuja, a Brahman of southern India (b. 1017), taught a modified Vedantism, called the Vishishtadvaita, or modified monism, which admits that Brahma may be said to possess qualities. Madhavacharya, also of southern India (b. 1119 a.d.), taught the Dvaita philosophy, or dualism, the reality of Brahma and of finite souls and matter as distinct essences. As the Mohammedan period approached, however, both literature and philosophy declined, and the ethically lower forms of worship and ritual assumed a dominating place.
During this long period of about 1,500 years of
quiet from foreign influences, which yet showed
much of internal political commotion,
3. Deca- religious thought was by no means
dence of stagnant. New thoughts of life, new
Religion, explanations of phenomena, new practises in worship, and new moral ideas were developed. In the process of amalgamation of the higher religious ideas of the Aryans with the lower ideas of the aborigines, the higher did not maintain their moral excellence, but descended to the plane of the lower, so that the Hinduism of the period immediately preceding the Mohammedan invasion became corrupt and superstitious. Buddhism had disappeared as a moral force by assimilation with Brahmanism, and Jainism had no moral power to withstand the prevailing darkness. This period was consequently the darkest and most superstitious in the religious life of India.
3. The Period of Mohammedan Influence, 1001- 1761 A.D. : A temporary contact of Mohammedanism with Hinduism occurred soon after the death of Mohammed (632). The new faith 1. The made rapid progress, and those who
Moham- were inspired by it were soon moved medan to the conquest of other nations.
Conquest. Hardly fifteen years after the death of Mohammed, an expedition from Arabia, under Othman, sought a foothold in Sindh. In 711 Kasim conquered and settled in the Indus valley. But by 829 the invaders were driven away, and the Hindus regained their hold in the Indus valley. This temporary contact with Mohammedanism left no visible marks on Indian religious history. The permanent contact of this religion with Hinduism may be said to have begun with the successful raid of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1001, resulting in the defeat of Jaipal, the Hindu raja of Lahore. Wave after wave of Mohammedans from beyond the natural frontier of India now flowed through the high passes of the Himalayas, and overwhelmed the northern plains. They met with fierce resistance, but one by ono the divided kingdoms fell before the superior foreign force, till at
length the larger part of India fell into their hands. The last effort to extend Mohammedan power resulted in the conquest of the great Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar in southern India in 1565. This period may be said to have ended with the battle of Panipat in 1761, in the victory of the Afghans over the rising Maratha power. The Marathas, however, instead of being crushed, turned upon their foe, and before their triumphal march the Mohammedan power melted away.
This period was one of humiliation for Hinduism. While many of the Mohammedan kings were tolerant of Hinduism, others were fanatical 2. First iconoclasts. Aside from the pages of Effects written history, the signs of this fanatupon icism may be read in the ruined tern- Hindu pies, in the transformation of temples Institutions, into mosques, and in the large Mohammedan population of Indian origin, descendants of those who were forcibly converted, or became converts through mercenary motives. The Emperor Akbar, 1542-1605, was the most tolerant of the Mohammedan rulers, and took a lively interest in Hindu literature and religion, his tolerance going even so far as the promulgation of an eclectic creed which included what seemed to him the best in Mohammedanism, Hinduism, Christianity, and other creeds with which he sought to make himself familiar. Mohammedan influence on Hinduism during this period appears to be twofold. On the one hand it led Hindus to cling more tenaciously to their traditional faith. Their hatred of their fanatical rulers burst into fierce flame whenever possible; rebellion was ever ready to break out against those who treated them and their faith so cruelly. On the other hand, the higher moral character of the Mohammedan creed could not but affect Indian thought, and thus a strong monotheistic current began to set in, which in one form or another is still exerting influence.
The resultant of these two influences, combined with the natural development of Hinduism within itself, was the springing into existence 3. General of innumerable sects. Among the Results: founders of those sects representing Rise of monotheistic teaching, may be menthe Sects, tioned Kabir (d. c. 1449). He was a disciple of Ramanand, and taught the worship of one God, truth as the great moral code, retirement from the world as the remedy against the passions and desires, and as the best path to meditation on God, the chief way of salvation. Nanak Shah (b. near Lahore 1469; see Sikhs, Sikhism) taught a doctrine which differed little from that of his predecessor, Kabir. His philosophy was practically Vedantism, while with the Mohammedan he taught the oneness of God, whether as Allah or Hari. He opposed caste and taught the brotherhood of man, and his followers developed into a sect of no small dimensions. Through the stress of Mohammedan persecution this sect, under Guru Govind, one of Nanak's successors, took on a military constitution, and developed later into the Sikh nation. The followers of these religious leaders in course of time subdivided into many sects. Chaitanya, a Vishnuite Brahman (b. in Bengal
India