THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
1485), at the age of twenty-four became an ascetic, and began a wandering life preaching the doctrine of Bhakti. He admitted as his disciples members of all castes, even Mohammedans. The doctrine of Bhakti, or salvation through impassioned devotion to some god or goddess, was his fundamental tenet, and it took the place of the more sober ways of " knowledge " and " works " (Dyanamarga and Karmamargd). Through Chaitanya and his disciples Bhakti became an accepted form of religious worship, and largely supplemented the practise of seeking salvation through contemplation, or through moral deeds. Bhakti practically disassociated morals from worship, and made possible forms of worship that were almost the embodiment of immorality. The later grosser forms belong, however, not to the teachings of Chaitanya, but to the departure of his successors from his ideals. Aside from the regular orthodox sects with their philosophy and worship, many special sects arose in this period. Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti (the female principle) began to be worshiped in special forms, many of them extravagant and even immoral. The followers of Shakti divided into the Dakshanis, or right-hand followers, and Vamis, or left-hand followers, the latter developing a secret worship of extravagant immorality. On the other hand, near the close of this period a number of philosophers and religious poets arose, who tried to lift the people from the moral degradation into which they had fallen to a higher life and thought supplied by the best of Hindu philosophy and practical religion. In western India may be mentioned such men as Tukaram and Ramdas, who founded no sect, but whose loftier thoughts were a reforming power, while their influence continues to the present. With the rise of the Marathas under Shivaji (b. 1627; d. 1680) and the gradual extension of their power over the larger part of India, and with the resulting decline of the Mohammedan power, the environment of Indian religious life changed, and Hinduism had an opportunity to develop along lines natural to it.
4. Period of Contact with Christianity: From early times India has been in contact with the West,
though no effects upon the religious i. Alexan- life can be detected. There are trader the ditions of Indians visiting the " White Great to Land," Shwetadvipa, but Indian ac- Vasco counts of this land are mythical. The da Gama. first important contact came with the
invasion of northern India by Alexander the Great in 327 B.C. From that time to the arrival of the Portuguese very little accurate knowledge of India reached Europe. Rome, however, traded with both coasts of India. There is a tradition, not fully authenticated, that in 883 Alfred the Great of England sent an ambassador named Sighelmus to India to the court of some prince, and to visit the tomb of St. Thomas. But it is not until the end of the fifteenth century that India began to feel the influence of European nations. This modern and permanent contact of India with the West began in 1498, when Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut, and when later, in 1510, Goa was captured by Admiral Alfonso dAlbuquerque. Along the
west coast Dio, Bassein, Bombay, Goa, Mangalore Cannanore, Cranganore, Calicut, and Cochin were soon after occupied by the Portuguese, as also St. Thomas, Masulipatam, and Negapatam, on the east coast. In 1560 the archbishop of Goa tried to force the people to become Christians, when Portuguese cruelty in these mistaken efforts excited the hatred of both Hindus and Mohammedans (see below II., § 1).
The first authenticated visit of an Englishman to India occurred in 1579, when Thomas Stephens (b.
in Wiltshire c. 1549, educated at New
2. English- College, Oxford, to escape persecution
men went to Rome, and there joined the
in India. Society of Jesus) was selected to be a
missionary to India, and arrived at Goa in Oct., 1579. He acquired a thorough knowledge of Sanskrit and Marathi, and in his forty years of active labor produced many works, of which those extant are a catechism on Christian doctrine, a grammar of the Konkani language, a Christian Puran in Marathi in the Konkani dialect, and an account of his voyage to Goa, reprinted in J. H. Moore, New and Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels (2 vols., London, 1785). The Puran has no little literary merit, and covers the ground from the Biblical account of the Creation to the closing scenes in the life of Christ. The next Englishmen to arrive in India were James Newberry, Ralph Fitch, William Bots, and James Story, who came overland from the Persian Gulf in 1583. The Portuguese suspected them of being traders and threw them into prison, but they were soon released through the mediation of Thomas Stephens. As a result of the interest awakened by these and other English travelers the East India Company was formed in 1600 and England's permanent contact with India began. Gradually India passed into the hands of the East India Company. In 1858 by act of parliament the East India Company was abolished, and the government of India was transferred to the British crown in the person of Queen Victoria. The religious policy of both the East India Company and of the British government was contrary to that of the Portuguese. There was no interference with the religious life of the people ; and Indian thought in contact with Christianity, directly presented by missionaries and indirectly through literature and personal contact with European Christians, has been in process of natural development, and is approaching the Christian point of view regarding the relations of God and man. This change is mostly confined to the classes affected by the higher modern education. Missionary effort in the past two centuries has also borne fruit in organized Christian churches, the result of which appears in the census returns.
II. Christianity in India: Contact with Roman Catholic Christianity began in the arrival of Vasco
da Gama in 1498. The Portuguese ex-
i. Roman hibited a proselytizing zeal, both among
Catholic the Syrian Christians and the Hindus.
Missions. The first regularly equipped Roman
mission, consisting of friars, arrived from Portugal in 1500. St. Francis Xavier (see Francis Xavier, Saint) arrived in 1542, and under