THE RELIGIOUS

QUEST OF INDIA

EDITED BY

J. N. FARQUHAR, M.A., D.LITT. (Oxon)

LITERARY SECRETARY, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF YOUNG MEN'S
CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS, INDIA AND CEYLON

AND

H. D. GRISWOLD, M.A., PH.D.

SECRETARY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN
MISSIONS IN INDIA

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME

ALREADY PUBLISHED

INDIAN THEISM, FROM By NICOL MACNICOL, M.A.,

THE VEDIC TO THE MU

D.LITT. Pp.xvi + 292. Price

HAMMADAN PERIOD.

6s. net.

THE HEART OF JAINISM. By Mrs. SINCLAIR STEVENSON,

M.A., Sc.D. (Dublin). Pp. xxiv +336. Price 7s. 6d.

IN PREPARATION

THE RELIGIOUS LITERA.
TURE OF INDIA.

By J. N. FARQUHAR, M.A.,
D.LITT. (Oxon).

THE RELIGION OF THE By H. D. GRISWOLD, M.A.,

PH.D.

By A. G. HOGG, M.A., Chris-
tian College, Madras.

By JOHN MCKENZIE, M.A.,
Wilson College, Bombay.
By K. J. SAUNDERS, M.A.,
Literary Secretary, National
Council of Y.M.C.A., India
and Ceylon.

By H. A. WALTER, M.A.,
Literary Secretary, National
Council of Y.M.C.A., India
and Ceylon.

By SYDNEY CAVE, D.D.
(Lond.), London Missionary
Society.

EDITORIAL PREFACE

THE writers of this series of volumes on the variant forms of religious life in India are governed in their work by two impelling motives.

I. They endeavour to work in the sincere and sympathetic spirit of science. They desire to understand the perplexingly involved developments of thought and life in India and dispassionately to estimate their value. They recognize the futility of any such attempt to understand and evaluate, unless it is grounded in a thorough historical study of the phenomena investigated. In recognizing this fact they do no more than share what is common ground among all modern students of religion of any repute. But they also believe that it is necessary to set the practical side of each system in living relation to the beliefs and the literature, and that, in this regard, the close and direct contact which they have each had with Indian religious life ought to prove a source of valuable light. For, until a clear understanding has been gained of the practical influence exerted by the habits of worship, by the practice of the ascetic, devotional, or occult discipline, by the social organization and by the family system, the real impact of the faith upon the life of the individual and the community cannot be estimated; and, without the advantage of extended personal intercourse, a trustworthy account of the religious experience of a community can scarcely be achieved by even the most careful student.

II. They seek to set each form of Indian religion by the side of Christianity in such a way that the relationship may stand out clear. Jesus Christ has become to them the light of