We have referred to the researches of Western scholars. These were an important element in fostering a new self-confidence and veneration for India. But there were other influences, powerful and almost revolutionary, at work which brought about the new mentality. In the chapter on Ram Mohan Roy, we have dwelt at some length on the splendid pioneer work he did by his agitation for the abolition of suttee, for better treatment of women, for a general diffusion of knowledge through schools, and mainly through his establishing the Brahma Samaj in 1828. The reclamation of Hinduism from grossly immoral and degrading customs was in itself a very potent influence for good, even though the Brahma Samaj did not then, as it does not even now, capture the adherence of the masses. But the foundations of vigorous reforms were laid through the heroic efforts and zeal of the Raja and his noble band of colleagues and the way was thus opened for social amelioration and religious reform. The decadent, rigid, hide-bound orthodoxy before and in his day, left hardly much room for hope or movement, and but for the audacious spirit and vision of the Raja the remarks of Abbe Dubois and Meredith Townsend would have been found to ring true to-day : Dubois said : " I venture to predict that the British Government will attempt in vain to effect any very considerable changes in the social condition of the people of India, whose character, principles, customs and ineradicable conservatism will always present insurmountable obstacles" (Dubois : " Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies," p. 23). And Meredith Townsend : . . . if the English departed or were driven out they would leave behind them as the Romans did in Britain, splendid roads, many useless buildings, an increased weakness in the subject people, and a memory which in a century of new events would be extinct." (" Asia and Europe," p. 27).
The developments which took place in the period roughly covered by the life-time of Swami Vivekananda say from 1870 or thereabouts to 1904, point at least to one enduring benefit that has accrued from the impact of East and West in India. In spite of the loss of political independence, India, weighted under the crushing weight of alien occu pation, has reasserted her soul, has rediscovered her past, and is thus fired with new and proud ambitions for the future.
Over and above the establishment of the Brahma Samaj in Bengal and later the founding of the Prarthana Samaj in Bombay, we must mention the vigorous iconoclasm of the Arya Samaj, founded originally in Bombay, but later removed to Lahore, bearing on its numerous activities, and many-sided propaganda the impress of the strong, virile and aggressive personality of its founder, Swami Daya Nanda Saraswati, whose life-work has been sketched in another chapter in the present volume. The movement stands on unquestioning faith in the infallibility of the Vedas, and lays special stress on the desirability of having a national religion resting on Hindu foundations. It is difficult to exaggerate
the importance of the Arya Samaj in fostering a spirit of sturdy independence and in summoning the people to take the initiative in religious and social reform, while preserving their loyalty to Vedic tradition instead of priding themselves on the imita tion of western modes of thought or culture, and completely breaking away from the Indian con tinuity. Beyond doubt, whatever be the limitations of this movement, it has served to promote indepen dence and discouraged the people from helpless dependence on what Western civilisation stands for, though it is true that all the elements in the Arya Samaj that make for progress are the result of contact with Western civilisation and Christian ideals.
Another powerful contributory factor to the birth of the spirit to which we have already referred, a spirit which found in Swami Vivekananda an especially forceful expression, has been the teaching of the Theosophical Society, founded by Madame H. P. Blavatsky in New York in 1875, and trans ferred to Adyar, Madras, in 1879. This is not the time or place to go into a full discussion of what the theosophical movement stands for. Suffice it to say that the most outstanding feature of its propaganda, both in the initial stages under Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, and later under the still more powerful leadership of Mrs. Annie Besant, has been an insistent and unstinted laudation of things Indian, of holding up Indian culture as essentially pure, spiritual and sublime, and condemnation of Western civilisation, in certain aspects at any rate, as material istic and degrading. We have prefaced the Swami's life-sketch with a description of the various forces that were operative in the environment into which he was born, though in doing so we have no desire to detract from the individuality of the Swami, his great powers of mind, as also fertility of imagination.
It may be mentioned in passing that the Swami never took to politics as such. At the same time it has to be remembered that he was a convinced nationalist, long before the demands for political.
rights in India became articulate, and war cries for national unification became vocal. He be lieved in a rapprochement between Hindus and Muhammadans, partly because of his conviction that all religions had common elements of truth but mainly because he felt that narrow-mindedness was a sin, and that it would enrich the Indian tradition, if peculiarities in religious outlook and various racial characteristics were accepted in a spirit of catholicity which leads one to believe that people may be quite honest in differing from others, that what impresses one as erroneous may to others hold up the mirror of truth, and that variety and diversity are signs of life.
But while passing, we may say a few words concerning the great teacher, the influence of whose life and teachings, to a large extent, made Vivekananda.