Since the 15th century, Christian missionaries of all sects have been labouring in their vocation, with some success. But this has been largely owing to the steady increase of schools for secular instruction, which have every year been on the increase, and, since the middle of the 19th century, are crowded with the youth of all races, sects, castes, and ranks. In this respect every teacher of English is a missionary, for it is impossible for the youth of India, if educated under Christian teachers by means of a Christian literature, to be otherwise than embued with the doctrines of Christians, whatever their professions may be. In the 19th century, the first reforming sect that arose was a theistic body in Calcutta, and many who have received the higher education have joined it, or have formed other sects with similar views. But even in the case of Hindus who have had no English education, and have never heard the voice of the missionary, such are receiving instruction from others of their own people who have been so taught ; and the mass has been so leavened, that the great tendency amongst youthful inquiring minds is to accept some form of monotheism,—either to acknowledge one of their own deities, whether Vishnu or Siva, as the Lord of all, or adopt an ideal Supreme Being of their own creation, whom they clothe with attributes, purer, more just, and more worthy of reverence than any god which their religious books possess.
Hinduism as it is. —In approaching this part of the subject, it may be mentioned that the mythology of India has done much to explain that of Greece and Scandinavia, as will be seen by the following list of the more prominent Hindu deities of the present day and their principal analogues: Agni, . . Vulcan, fire, ignis.
Swabs, . . Vesta, his wife.
Aswini-Kumara, . Castor and Pollux.
Aruna, . . Aurora.
Atadeva, . . Diana.
Kuvera, . . Flutes, the god of riches.
Sects.—The changes in the religions of the Aryan Hindus during the past nineteen centuries have been continuous. Perhaps the earliest indications of coming changes were given in the third division of the Vedas, known as the Upanishads, which dis cuss the nature of the deity, the nature of the soul, and the connection of mind and matter. They contain the beginnings of the metaphysical inquiry, which ended in the full development of Hindu philosophy. The oldest of these books is supposed to be about the 2d century B.C.
The great Saiva reformer was Sankaracharya, who lived in the 8th or 9th century. He was the teacher of the Vedanta philosophy ; he founded the sect of Smartha Brahmans, and has been re garded as an incarnation of Siva. His follower, Anandagiri, wrote the Sankara Vijaya about the 10th century. worshippers of Siva regard that deity as the Supreme ; and his consort Parvati, in her numerous forms of Devi, Durga, Bhawani, etc., has many worshippers. These two are pre eminently designated Mahadeo and Mahadevi.
Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi are equally regarded by their followers as Supreme, and might have the same designations, but neither under these names nor in any of their many incar nations are they so honoured. A few of the gods of the times prior to the Christian era continue to be invoked,—amongst them, Indra the god of the firmament, Agni the god of fire, Kama the god of love, and Kuvera the analogue of Pluto ; but the Diti, Aditi, Aditya, Rakshasa, and others of the Vedas have become myths, and the chief deities of the modern Hindus are Siva and Vishnu with their consorts; Rama and Rama-Chandra, and Bala Rama, Ganesh, Garuda, Hanuman, Jaganatha, Kan doba, Krishna, Kartikeya, god of war, the phallic lingam, Nandi the bull, Virabadhra, and Vitoba.
Ramanuja was a Vaishnava philosopher, who put forward the Viseslndwaita system, and the sect who follow his teachings worship Rama and Sits. The Adwaita is a monad doctrine, which acknowledges the reality of spiritual existence only. Dwaita, or the doctrine of duality, dis tinguishes two principles in creation, spirit and matter.
Ramanaud (kn. 1350 ?), the follower of Raman uja, was the first to admit low caste people as his disciples, one of whom was Rai Das, another was Kabir, and the Kabir Panthi sect gave rise to the Nanak Shahi about A.D. 1449.
Chaitanya, a Vaishnava reformer in Bengal in the 16th century, was deemed an incarnation of Krishna. He too admitted all classes as his dis cipleg.
Charandas, a merchant of Dehli, lived in the tune of the 2d Alamgir (A.D. 1757). His first dis ciple was his sister, Sahaji Bai, who was a dis tinguished writer. sect worship Krishna and Radha.
Mira Bai, wife of Lakha, rang of Udaipur in the reign of Akbar, was of the Vaishnava sect, and a distinguished writer.
Jayadeva, of the 12th or 13th 'centuries, wrote the Gita Govinda, an erotic poem on the early life of Krishna.
Five great sects exclusively worship a single deity, and one recognises the five divinities ; these are 1. Saiva, worshippers of Siva in his numerous forms, who, however, worship Siva and Parvati or Bha wani conjointly.
2. Vaishnava, who worship Vishnu.
3. Surya, who worship Surya or the sun.
4. Ganapatya, who worship Ganesba.
5. Saida, who exclusively worship Bhawani or Parvati, the sakti or female energy of Siva.
6. Bhagavata, who recognise all divinities equally.
The fourth and fifth are subdivisions or rami fications of the first, or Saiva, of which may be traced these distinctions :-1. Saiva proper, mean ing the worshippers of Siva and Parvati conjointly. 2. Lingi or Lingaet, the adorers of Siva or his phallic type separately, and these are a very strict and rigid sect. 3. Sacta, the adorers of the yoni of Bhawani or her symbol separately. 3. The Ganapatya, the exclusive worshippers of Ganesha, the first-born of Mahadeva and Parvati.