RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
India
leadership of Dadoba Pandurang. The object of the society was the encouragement of social reform, such as the abolition of caste, the introduction of the custom of widow remarriage, and the renunciation of idolatry. The intention was to have the society become public when its membership numbered 1,000, but in the meantime a spy divulged the secrets of the society, and such was the excitement resulting that the society was practically broken up. Under the influence of education and the work of Christian missionaries the religious and social ferment, however, still went on, and the soil became ripe for a theistic movement among the thoughtful. Keshav Chandra Sen paid a missionary visit to the Bombay Presidency in 1865, and soon after a branch of the Brahmo Somaj was started in Bombay. The 31st of March, 1867, is considered the anniversary day of the Bombay Somaj , which took the name of the Prarthana (" Prayer ") Somaj. On Dec. 9, 1872, the foundation-stone of the Prarthana Somaj Mandir was laid by Pratab Chandra Muzamdar. Among the prominent men who have had a leading part in the growth of this Somaj are Atmaram Pandurang, Chintaman Narayan Bhat, Narayan Mahadev Paramanand, Waman Abaji Modak, Mahadev Govind Ranade, and at the present time Justice N. G. Chandavarkar.
Branches of the Prarthana Somaj have been formed at Ahmedabad, Puna, Ahmednagar, Satara, and Ratnagiri. The Bombay Prarthana Somaj has a membership of 130, and carries on various philanthropic agencies, chief among which is the Orphanage at Pandharpur, and night schools for the poorer classes in Bombay. Its Sunday services are conducted by the learned scholar, Dr. Gopal Krishna Bhandarkar, the Hon. N. G. Chandavarkar, and others. It supports a missionary, V. R. Shinde, who gives himself to the interests of the Somaj in Bombay and in other cities of the Presidency. The creed of the Prarthana Somaj is as follows: (1) God is the creator of the universe. He is the only true God; there is no other God beside him. He is eternal, spiritual, infinite, the store of all good, all joy, without parts, without form, one without a second, the ruler of all, all pervading, omniscient, almighty, merciful, all holy, and the savior of sinners. (2) His worship alone leads to happiness in this world and the next. (3) Love and reverence for him, an exclusive faith in him, praying and singing to him spiritually with these feelings, and doing the things pleasing to him constitute his true worship. (4) To worship and pray to images and other created objects is not the true mode of divine adoration. (5) God does not incarnate himself, and there is no one book which has been directly revealed by God or is wholly infallible. (6) All men are his children; therefore they should behave toward each other as brethren. This is pleasing to God, and constitutes man's duty.
3. The Arya Somaj : The founder of the Arya Somaj was Dayanand Saraswati (q.v.). Unwilling to live the ordinary worldly life, he left his home and after few years of instruction began to traverse India proclaiming the Vedas as the only inspired revelation from God. He denounced idolatry, and
preached reform in such social customs as seemed at variance with the direct or indirect teachings of the Vedas. In 1875 the first Arya Somaj was organized, and later many others were organized in northern India. The society has not thrived south of the Vindhya Mountains, but has found its best soil in the Punjab, the united province of Agra and Oudh, Rajputana, and Sindh, where there are reported about 700 branches. Its principles are directed against the caste system, and while its members are principally from the higher castes, many are from the lower castes. On its practical side the Somaj takes an interest in education, and maintains a college at Lahore and many schools for the teaching of the vernacular, English, and Sanskrit, and encourages female education by supporting numerous institutions. The Somaj approves early marriages, and encourages marriage of child-widows. The " Ten Principles " of the Arya Somaj are as follows: (1) God is the primary cause of all knowledge, and of everything known by its means. (2) God is all-truth, all-knowledge, allbeatitude, incorporeal, almighty, just, merciful, unbegotten, infinite, unchangeable, without beginning, incomparable, the support and the Lord of all, all-pervading, omniscient, imperishable, immortal, exempt from fear, eternal, holy, and the cause of the universe. To him alone worship is due. (3) The Vedas are the books of true knowledge, and it is the paramount duty of every Arya to read them or hear them read, to teach and preach them to others. (4) One should always be ready to accept truth and renounce untruth. (5) All actions ought to be done conformably to virtue, i.e., after a thorough consideration of right and wrong. (6) The primary object of the Somaj is to do good to the world by improving the physical, spiritual and social condition of mankind. (7) All ought to be treated with love, justice, and a due regard to their merits. (8) Ignorance ought to be dispelled and knowledge diffused. (9) No one ought to be contented with his own good alone; but every one ought to regard his prosperity as included in that of others. (10) In matters which affect the general social well-being of the whole of society, one ought to discard all differences and not allow his individuality to interfere, but in strictly personal matters every one may act with freedom.
Justin E. Abbott.
Distribution of Population According to Religion,
Census of 1901.
Religion.
Numbers.
Brahmanic Hindu
. 207,050,557
Arya Somaj
92,419
Brahma Somaj.
4,050
Sikh
2,195,339
Jain
1,334,148
Buddhist.
9,476,759
Parsi
94,190
Mohammedan. ...
62,45S,077
Christian
2,923,241
18,228
8,584,148
Minor Religions or Unclassified
129,900
294,361,056
Christians.
Europeans. ...
169,677
89,251
Natives
2,664,313
India ., .
Indians of North America