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Akshay Kumar Datta
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Accessed: 2/12/20

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Akshay Kumar Datta
Born: Akshay Kumar Datta, 15 July 1820, Chupi, Burdwan, British India (now in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India)
Died: 18 May 1886 (aged 65), Kolkata, British India
Nationality: British Indian

Akshay Kumar Datta (also spelt Akshay Kumar Dutta) (Bengali: অক্ষয় কুমার দত্ত) (15 July 1820 – 18 May 1886) was a Bengali writer from the Indian subcontinent. He was born in Bagerhat, British India. Son of Pitamber Dutta, he was one of the initiators of the Bengal Renaissance.

Early life and studies

After studying in the Oriental Seminary under the special care of Hardman Jeffroy, he had to give up studies because of the death of his father and go job-seeking. However, that could not put an end to his yearning for learning. At the Sovabazar Rajbari library, he studied and mastered Calculus and Geometry. He had learnt Sanskrit and Persian, and read the Hindu scriptures at school. He acquired proficiency in French, German and various Indian languages. He composed the poetry-book Anangamohan at the age of 14. While a youngster he used to translate news items and features for Iswar Chandra Gupta's Sambad Prabhakar. He even studied in Medical College for some time to gain knowledge of botany, zoology and chemistry.

Writing

In 1839, he joined the Tattwabodhini Sabha and soon became its assistant secretary. He was appointed a teacher of the Tattwabodhini Pathsala the next year and in 1843, Tattwabodhini Patrika was published as mouthpiece of both the Tattwabodhini Sabha and Brahmo Samaj. He was the first editor of the journal and contributed substantially towards the development of prose writing in Bengali. He was the first Bengali writer to seriously work for the propagation of a modern scientific outlook, writing books on Physics and Geography in Bengali. He also wrote profusely on astronomy, mathematics and geology. The students of Hindu College used to make fun of Bengali writing and some even felt that nothing worthwhile can be written in the Bengali language. However, whenever, Tattwabodhini Patrika came out they not only read it seriously but even brought it to the attention of one another.

Akshay Kumar Datta was the first person in the Brahmo Samaj to boldly proclaim that the Vedas were not infallible. He succeeded in convincing Debendranath Tagore in this respect and ultimately Brahmo Samaj adopted the thinking that while it respected all religious scriptures it did not consider any as infallible. It was in this perspective that Debendranath Tagore wrote Brahmo Dharma.

Magnum opus

In 1855, he developed some kind of agonising cerebral problem and could not continue with his massive work for the Tattwabodhini Patrika. His work was such that sometimes he used to spend the entire night writing. Moreover, he had serious philosophical and theological differences with his employer Debendranath Tagore. He left Tattwabodhini and served for sometime as Principal of the Normal School for teachers' training established by Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, his friend and mentor.

His magnum opus was the two-part Bharatbarshiya Upasak Sampraday (Vol.1, 1871, Vol.2, 1883). The brilliant introductions to the two volumes of this book evince his profound philosophical, linguistic and scientific learning and depth. Among others, Max Muller, Monier-Williams and Rajendralal Mitra were greatly impressed by his profound scholarship, though not agreeing on all points.

Major points

Deeply influenced by Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, John Stuart Mill, Auguste Comte, Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley and Rammohan Roy, he was among the first few men in modern India who had presented an empiricist critique of the ancient Indian philosophies. He was bold enough to point out that contrary to popular belief, much of Indian philosophy was suffused with atheist and sceptical thought. For example, Samkhya was professedly atheist; Patanjali / Yoga, while no doubt theist, basically explained the applied aspects of Samkhya; Vaisheshika traced the ultimate reality to paramanu, i.e., atoms; Nyaya studied the logic and methodology of studying reality; Purba Mimamsa of Jaimini pooh-poohed gods; even Vedanta, while accepting that Brahma was the ultimate reality, said that god was not the creator but the constructor of the world. Jainism, Charvaka philosophy and Buddhism also had no place for God, he showed. He was an agnostic and went against all religions, considering them to be harmful for humanity.

Other works

His other books were: Bahyabastur sahit manabprakritir sambandha bichar (based on the Constitution of Man by George Combe), Dharmaniti, Prachin Hinduder Samudrajatra O Banijya bistar (published posthumously by his son Rajani Nath Datta), Charupath (in three volumes), and Padarthyabidya.

The textbook Charupath was mandatory reading for almost three generations. Akshay Datta earned a lot of money from it. This he spent in building up a botanical garden and a geological museum at Shovon-Udyan, his retreat at Bally in Howrah. The portraits of Newton, Darwin, Mill, T H Huxley and Raja Ram Mohan Roy hung in his study cum laboratory.

Personal life

His family life was not happy. Relations with both his wife and his sons were strained. In a sense he died a lonely man, leaving a substantial amount for the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. A few days after his death in 1886 at Bally in Howrah, a meeting was held in Calcutta where tall promises were made on how to immortalise his memory. But absolutely nothing emerged and eventually he became forgotten.

The renowned Bengali poet Satyendranath Dutta was his grandson.

References

• Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj in Bengali by Sivanath Sastri Translated into English by Sir Roper Lethbridge as "A History of the Renaissnace in Bengal", Renaissance Publishers Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, India, 2002
• Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) in Bengali edited by Subodh Chandra Sengupta and Anjali Bose
• Akshay Kumar Datta: Aandhar Raatey Ekla Pathik in Bengali by Ashish Lahiri (Dey's Publishing, Kolkata, ISBN 81-295-0789-7)
• Bijnan-Buddhi Charchar Agrapathik Akshaykumar Dutta O Bangali Samaj in Bengali, edited by Muhammad Saiful Islam (Renaissance Publishers, Kolkata)
• Akshaykumar Datta: The First Social Scientist in Bengal (ed. Muhammad Saiful Islam, Renaissance, Kolkata, January 2009

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Monier Monier-Williams
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Accessed: 2/12/20

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Sir Monier Monier-Williams KCIE
Photo of Monier Monier-Williams by Lewis Carroll
Born: Monier Williams, 12 November 1819, Bombay, British India
Died: 11 April 1899 (aged 79), Cannes, France
Alma mater: King's College School, Balliol College, Oxford; East India Company College; University College, Oxford
Known for: Boden Professor of Sanskrit; Sanskrit–English dictionary
Awards: Knight Bachelor; Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire

Sir Monier Monier-Williams, KCIE (/ˈmɒniər/; né Williams; 12 November 1819 – 11 April 1899) was the second Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University, England. He studied, documented and taught Asian languages, especially Sanskrit, Persian and Hindustani.

Early life

Monier Williams was born in Bombay, the son of Colonel Monier Williams, surveyor-general in the Bombay presidency. His surname was "Williams" until 1887 when he added his given name to his surname to create the hyphenated "Monier-Williams". In 1822 he was sent to England to be educated at private schools at Hove, Chelsea and Finchley. He was educated at King's College School, Balliol College, Oxford (1838–40), the East India Company College (1840–41) and University College, Oxford (1841–44). He took a IVth-class honours degree in Literae Humaniores in 1844.[1]

He married Julia Grantham in 1848. They had six sons and one daughter. He died, aged 79, at Cannes in France.[2]

In 1874 he bought, and lived in Enfield House, Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight where he and his family lived until at least 1881 (the 1881 census records the occupant was 61-year-old Professor Monier Monier-Williams, his wife Julia and two children Montague 20 and Ella 22. (There were five sons and a daughter in total).

Career

Monier Williams taught Asian languages, at the East India Company College from 1844 until 1858,[3][4] when company rule in India ended after the 1857 rebellion. He came to national prominence during the 1860 election campaign for the Boden Chair of Sanskrit at Oxford University, in which he stood against Max Müller.

The vacancy followed the death of Horace Hayman Wilson in 1860. Wilson had started the university's collection of Sanskrit manuscripts upon taking the chair in 1831, and had indicated his preference that Williams should be his successor. The campaign was notoriously acrimonious. Müller was known for his liberal religious views and his philosophical speculations based on his reading of Vedic literature. Monier Williams was seen as a less brilliant scholar, but had a detailed practical knowledge of India itself, and of actual religious practices in modern Hinduism. Müller, in contrast, had never visited India.[5]

Both candidates had to emphasise their support for Christian evangelisation in India, since that was the basis on which the Professorship had been funded by its founder. Monier Williams' dedication to Christianisation was not doubted, unlike Müller's.[6] Monier Williams also stated that his aims were practical rather than speculative. "Englishmen are too practical to study a language very philosophically", he wrote.[5]

After his appointment to the professorship Williams declared from the outset that the conversion of India to the Christian religion should be one of the aims of orientalist scholarship.[6] In his book Hinduism, published by SPCK in 1877, he predicted the demise of the Hindu religion and called for Christian evangelism to ward off the spread of Islam.[6] According to Saurabh Dube this work is "widely credited to have introduced the term Hinduism into general English usage"[7] while David N. Lorenzen cites the book along with Alexander Duff (1839), India, and India Missions: Including Sketches of the Gigantic System of Hinduism, Both in Theory and Practice: Also Notices of Some of the Principal Agencies Employed in Conducting the Process of Indian Evangelization, &c. &c. J. Johnstone, for popularising of the term.[8]

Writings and foundations


Bookplate

When Monier Williams founded the University's Indian Institute in 1883, it provided both an academic focus and also a training ground for the Indian Civil Service.[2] Since the early 1870s Monier Williams planned this institution. His vision was the better acquaintance of England and India. On this account he supported academic research into Indian culture. Monier Williams travelled to India in 1875, 1876 and 1883 to finance his project by fundraising. He gained the support of Indian native princes. In 1883 the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone; the building was inaugurated in 1896 by Lord George Hamilton. The Institute closed on Indian independence in 1947.

In his writings on Hinduism Monier Williams argued that the Advaita Vedanta system best represented the Vedic ideal and was the "highest way to salvation" in Hinduism. He considered the more popular traditions of karma and bhakti to be of lesser spiritual value. However, he argued that Hinduism is a complex "huge polygon or irregular multilateral figure" that was unified by Sanskrit literature. He stated that "no description of Hinduism can be exhaustive which does not touch on almost every religious and philosophical idea that the world has ever known."[6]

Monier-Williams compiled a Sanskrit–English dictionary, based on the earlier Petersburg Sanskrit Dictionary,[9] which was published in 1872. A later revised edition was published in 1899 with collaboration by Ernst Leumann and Carl Cappeller (sv).[10]

Honours

He was knighted in 1876, and was made KCIE in 1887, when he adopted his given name of Monier as an additional surname.

He also received the following academic honours: Honorary DCL, Oxford, 1875; LLD, Calcutta, 1876; Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, 1880; Honorary PhD, Göttingen, 1880s; Vice-President, Royal Asiatic Society, 1890; Honorary Fellow of University College, Oxford, 1892.[2]

Published works

Translations

Monier-Williams's translations include that of Kālidāsa's plays Vikramorvasi (1849)[11] and Śākuntala (1853; 2nd ed. 1876).[12]

• Translation of Shakuntala (1853)
• Hindu Literature: comprising the Book of Good Counsels, Nala and Damayanti, the Rámáyana and Śakoontalá

Original works

• An Elementary Grammar of the Sanscrit Language: Partly in the Roman Character, Arranged According to a New Theory, in Reference Especially to the Classical Languages; with Short Extracts in Easy Prose. To which is Added, a Selection from the Institutes of Manu, with Copious References to the Grammar, and an English Translation. W. H. Allen & Company. 1846.
• Original papers illustrating the history of the application of the Roman alphabet to the languages of India: Edited by Monier Williams (1859) Modern Reprint
• Indian Wisdom, Or, Examples of the Religious, Philosophical, and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindūs. London: Oxford. 1875.
• Hinduism. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1877.
• Modern India and the Indians: Being a Series of Impressions, Notes, and Essays. Trübner and Company. 1878.
• Translation of Shikshapatri – The manuscript of the principal scripture Sir John Malcolm received from Swaminarayan on 26 February 1830 when he was serving as the Governor of Bombay Presidency, Imperial India. Currently preserved at Bodleian Library.
• Brahmanism and Hinduism (1883).
• Buddhism, in its connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in its contrast with Christianity (1889)[13]
• Sanskrit-English Dictionary, ISBN 0-19-864308-X.
• A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages, Monier Monier-Williams, revised by E. Leumann, C. Cappeller, et al. 1899, Clarendon Press, Oxford
• A Practical Grammar of the Sanskrit Language, Arranged with Reference to the Classical Languages of Europe, for the Use of English Students, Oxford: Clarendon, 1857, enlarged and improved Fourth Edition 1887

Notes

1. Oxford University Calendar 1895, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1895, p.131.
2. Macdonell 1901.
3. Memorials of old Haileybury College. 1894.
4. "Review of Memorials of Old Haileybury College by Sir Monier Monier-Williams and other Contributors". The Quarterly Review. 179: 224–243. July 1894.
5. Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Scholar Extraordinary, The Life of Professor the Right Honourable Friedrich Max Muller, P.C., Chatto and Windus, 1974, pp. 221–231.
6. Terence Thomas, The British: their religious beliefs and practices, 1800–1986, Routledge, 1988, pp. 85–88.
7. Saurabh Dube (1998). Untouchable Pasts: Religion, Identity, and Power among a Central Indian Community, 1780–1950. SUNY Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-7914-3687-5.
8. David N. Lorenzen (2006). Who Invented Hinduism: Essays on Religion in History. Yoda Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-81-902272-6-1.
9. https://www.rbth.com/blogs/2014/04/12/s ... ions_34481
10. Bloomfield, Maurice (1900). "A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages by Monier Monier-Williams; E. Leumann; C. Cappeller". The American Journal of Philology. 21 (3): 323–327. doi:10.2307/287725. JSTOR 287725.
11. Schuyler, Jr., Montgomery (1902). "Bibliography of Kālidāsa's Mālavikāgnimitra and Vikramorvaçī". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 23: 93–101. doi:10.2307/592384. JSTOR 592384.
12. Schuyler, Jr., Montgomery (1901). "The Editions and Translations of Çakuntalā". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 22: 237–248. doi:10.2307/592432. JSTOR 592432.
13. "Buddhism in Its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism and in Its Contrast with Christianity". The Old Testament Student. 8 (10): 389–390. June 1889. doi:10.1086/470215. JSTOR 3156561.

References

• Katz, J. B. "Williams, Sir Monier Monier-". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (October 2007 ed.). Retrieved 31 January 2013.
Attribution
• Macdonell, Arthur Anthony (1901). "Monier-Williams, Monier" . Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 186–187.

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Indian Institute
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Accessed: 2/12/20

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Indian Institute building seen from the north-west

The Indian Institute in central Oxford, England, is at the north end of Catte Street on the corner with Holywell Street and facing down Broad Street from the east.[1] Sir Monier Monier-Williams started the Institute in the University of Oxford in 1883 to provide training for the Indian Civil Service of the British Raj.[2][3]

History and building


Corner cupola with elephant weathervane

In June 1881, plans were submitted to the University of Oxford's Hebdomadal Council to build an Indian Institute. The original site was occupied by four old buildings. The building was designed by Basil Champneys and the first section opened in 1884. Originally there was a low shop to the south, but neighbouring Hertford College has now encroached on the Institute with a much taller building. The Institute was built of Taynton stone in the style of the English Renaissance, with different oriental details to the designs of Champneys. In 1974 Nikolaus Pevsner observed that the rounded corner cupola made an excellent point de vue at the east end of Broad Street.

Along with the library (see below), the institute contained lecture rooms and a museum. Some contents of the museum are now present in the Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums. The original Indian Institute building is now the Oxford Martin School of the University of Oxford, the History Faculty having moved to the old City of Oxford School building on George Street and its library to the Bodleian site.

Indian Institute Library

Main article: Indian Institute Library

The Indian Institute Library opened in 1886. It became a dependent library of the Bodleian Library, the main library of the University, in 1927. It specialises in the history and culture of South Asia, especially the Himalayas and Tibet.[4] The library was formerly located in the Indian Institute building, but was moved to the top floor of the New Bodleian Library.

Indian Institute Museum

The Museum was an integral part of Monier-Williams’ design, modelled to some extent on the India Museum in South Kensington. Monier-Williams acquired some pieces during his fund-raising and collecting tour of India in 1883–1884, including from the International Exhibition, at Calcutta, and arranged for regional representatives to send objects to Oxford. Babu T. N. Mukharji was commissioned to catalogue the collections in 1886 (but he never finished doing so). The installation of the museum was done by Dr Heinrich Lüders, assisted by Mr. Long of the Pitt Rivers Museum, and completed in 1898. When Monier-Williams died in 1899, no financial provision had been made for running the museum. Gradually, the collections were dispersed: entomological and zoological collections to the University Museum; and many pieces to the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. A summary catalogue of the museum was prepared by Mr. A. Rost (for a short handbook to the Institute, by Professor Arthur Macdonell, 1922, but never published).[5]

Accusations of racism

The building was financed entirely by private donors in India and Britain, for the sole purpose of constructing an edifice to house study for and on the Indian sub-continent. There was consequently great controversy in 1968, when the University's governing council evicted the Indian Institute from the premises without compensation, and then made a gift of the premises to the History Faculty, which specialises in European history to the exclusion of Indian history. The government of India filed a formal protest on behalf of the families of the original donors, who felt defrauded by the University's actions. The Oxford University Student Union went further still, accusing the University administration of racism in the decision.

The Institute's aim

The aim of the Indian Institute was:

The work of fostering and facilitating Indian studies in the University; the work of making Englishmen, and even Indians themselves, appreciate better than they have done before the languages, literature and industries of India.[6]

See also

• University of Oxford
• Departments of the University of Oxford
• Buildings and structures in Oxford
• Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
• Hertford College
• Oxford Martin School (currently housed in the old Indian Institute building)

Further reading

• A Record of the Establishment of the Indian Institute in the University of Oxford: Being an Account of the Circumstances which led to its Foundation (Oxford: Compiled for the Subscribers to the Indian Institute Fund, 1897)
• Symonds, Richard, Oxford and Empire: The Last Lost Cause? (New York: St Martins Press, 1986)
• The Oxford Chronicle and Berks and Bucks Gazette, 5 May 1883
• Indian Institute Archives, Bodleian Library, Oxford
• Monier Monier Williams, 'Notes of a long life's journey', unpublished memoir, Indian Institute Library, Oxford.
• Evison, Gillian, 'The Orientalist, his Institute and the Empire: the rise and subsequent decline of Oxford University's Indian Institute', unpublished paper, December 2004.

References

1. Howarth, Osbert John Radcliffe (1911). "Oxford" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 20 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 413.
2. "From the extract of Kelly's directory for 1900". Retrieved 2012-08-03.[dead link]
3. "Indian Institute – Making Britain". http://www.open.ac.uk.
4. Bodleian Library: Department of Oriental Collections: 'Indian Institute Library', http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/oriental/iil.htm, accessed 2007-02-14.
5. Andrew Topsfield, History of the Indian Collections in Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum: A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of Indian art; by J. C. Harle & Andrew Topsfield (published Oxford, 1987)
6. "Aim of the Indian Institute". Retrieved 2007-03-02.[dead link]

External links

• Old Indian Institute, Broad Street, Oxford (including photographs)
• Indian Studies at Oxford from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
• Indian Institute Library now in the Bodleian Library
• The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

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Rajendralal Mitra
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Accessed: 2/13/20

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Raja Rajendralal Mitra
Born: 15 February 1822, Calcutta, Bengal, British India
Died: 26 July 1891 (aged 67), Calcutta, Bengal, British India
Nationality: Indian
Occupation: Orientalist

Raja Rajendralal Mitra (15 February 1822 – 26 July 1891) was the first modern Indologist of Indian origin and the first scientific historiographer from Bengal. A polymath, he was a pioneer figure in the Bengali Renaissance.[1][2]

Early life

Raja Rajendralal Mitra was born in Soora (now Beliaghata) in eastern Calcutta (Kolkata), on 16 February 1822[3][4] to Janmajeya Mitra. He was the third of Janmajeya's six sons and also had a sister.[5] Rajendralal was raised primarily by his widowed and childless aunt.[6]

The Mitra family traced its origins to ancient Bengal;[4] and Rajendralal further claimed descent from the sage Vishvamitra of Adisura myth.[7] The family were members of the Kulin Kayastha caste[4] and were devout Vaishnavs.[8] Rajendralal's 4th great-grandfather Ramchandra was a Dewan of the Nawabs of Murshidabad[4] and Rajendralal's great-grandfather Pitambar Mitra held important positions at the Royal Court of Ajodhya and Delhi.[3][9] Janmajeya was a noted oriental scholar, who was revered in the Brahmo circles and was probably the first Bengali to learn chemistry; he had also prepared a detailed list of the content of eighteen puranas.[5][10] Raja Digambar Mitra of Jhamapukur was a relative of the family, as well.[10]

Due to a combination of his grandfather's spendthriftness and his father's refusal to seek paid employment, Rajendralal spent his early childhood in poverty.[9]

Education

Rajendralal Mitra received his early education at a village pathshala in Bengali,[6] followed by a private English-medium school in Pathuriaghata.[6] At around 10 years of age, he attended the Hindu School in Calcutta.[11] Mitra's education became increasingly sporadic from this point; although he enrolled at Calcutta Medical College in December 1837—where he apparently performed well—he was forced to leave in 1841 after becoming involved in a controversy.[12] He then began legal training, although not for long,[13] and then changed to studying languages including Greek, Latin, French and German, which led to his eventual interest in philology.[14][15]

Marriages

In 1839, when he was around 17 years old, Mitra married Soudamini.[11] They had one child, a daughter, on 22 August 1844 and Soudamini died soon after giving birth.[16] The daughter died within a few weeks of her mother.[16] Mitra's second marriage was to Bhubanmohini, which took place at some point between 1860 and 1861. They had two sons; Ramendralal born on 26 November 1864, and Mahendralal.[17]

Asiatic Society

Mitra was appointed librarian-cum-assistant-secretary of the Asiatic Society in April 1846.[16] He held the office for nearly 10 years, vacating it in February 1856. He was subsequently elected as the Secretary of the Society and was later appointed to the governing council. He was elected vice-president on three occasions, and in 1885 Mitra became the first Indian president of the Asiatic Society.[14][18][19][20] Although Mitra had received little formal training in history, his work with the Asiatic Society helped establish him as a leading advocate of the historical method in Indian historiography.[2][14][19] Mitra was also associated with Barendra Research Society of Rajshahi -- a local historical society.[10]

Influences and methodology

During his tenure at the Asiatic Society, Rajendralal came in contact with many notable persons[19] and was impressed by two thought-streams of orientalist intellectualism. Noted scholars William Jones (the founder of Asiatic Society) and H.T. Colebrooke propounded a theory of universalism and sought to make a comparative study of different races by chronicling history through cultural changes rather than political events whilst James Prinsep et al. sought greater cultural diversity and glorified the past.[21] He went on to utilize the tools of comparative philology and comparative mythology to write an orientalist narrative of the cultural history of Indo-Aryans.[22][23] Although Mitra subscribed to the philosophies of orientalism, he did not subscribe to a blind adoption of the past and asked others to shun traditions, if they hindered the progress of the nation.[24]

Historiography

Mitra was a noted antiquarian and played a substantial role in discovering and deciphering historical inscriptions, coins and texts.[25][26] He established the relation between Shaka era and Gregorian calendar, thus identifying the year of Kanishka's ascent to the throne,[27] and contributed to an accurate reconstruction of the history of Medieval Bengal, especially that of the Pala and Sena dynasties, by deciphering historical edicts.[2][28] He studied the Gwaliorian monuments and inscriptions, discovering many unknown kings and chieftains, and assigned approximate time spans to them. He was also the only historian among his contemporaries to assign a near-precise time frame to the rule of Toramana.[2][29] Mitra's affinity for factual observations and inferences, along with a dislike for abstract reasoning, in contrast with most Indo-historians of those days, has been favourably received.[22]

Cataloging, translation and commentary

As a librarian of the Asiatic Society, Rajendralal was charged with cataloging Indic manuscripts that were collected by the Pandits of the Society. He, along with several other scholars, followed a central theme of European Renaissance that emphasised the collection of ancient texts (puthi) followed by their translation into the lingua franca. A variety of Indic texts, along with extensive commentaries, were published, especially in Bibliotheca Indica,[30] and many were subsequently translated into English.[2][31] Mitra's instructions for the Pandits to copy the texts verbatim and abide by the concept of varia lectio (different readings) has been favourably critiqued.[32] Mitra was also one of the few archivists, who emphasized on dealing with all manuscripts, irrespective of factors like rarity.[33]

Archaeology


Mahabodhi Temple in the 1780s.

Mitra did significant work in documenting the development of Aryan architecture in prehistoric times. Under the patronage of the Royal Society of Arts and the colonial government, Mitra led an expedition into the Bhubaneshwar region of Odisha during 1868-1869 to study and obtain casts of Indian sculptures.[34][35] The results were compiled in The Antiquities of Orissa, which has since been revered as a magnum opus about Odisan architecture.[2][36] The work was modelled on Ancient Egyptians by John Gardner Wilkinson and published in two volumes; it consisted of his own observations followed by a reconstruction of the socio-cultural history and architectural depictions.[37][38] Mitra, along with Alexander Cunningham, played an important role in the excavation and restoration of Mahabodhi Temple.[39] Another of his major works is Buddha Gaya: the Hermitage of Sakya Mani which collated the observations and commentaries of various scholars about Bodh Gaya.[40]

These works, along with his other essays, contributed to a detailed study of varying forms of temple architecture across India.[41] Unlike his European counterparts, who attributed the presence of nude sculptures in Indian temples to a perceived lack of morality in ancient Indian social life, Mitra correctly hypothesized the reasons for it.[42]

A standard theme of Rajendralal's archaeological texts is the rebuttal of the prevalent European scholarly notion that India's architectural forms, especially stone buildings, were derived from the Greeks and that there was no significant architectural advancement in the Aryan civilization.[43][44][45][page needed] He often noted that the architecture of pre-Moslem India is equivalent to the Greek architecture and proposed the racial similarity of the Greeks and the Aryans, who had the same intellectual capacity.[45][46] Mitra often conflicted with European scholars in this subject; his acrimonious dispute with James Fergusson[47] has interested many historians.[45][48] Ferguson wrote a book titled Archaeology in India With Especial Reference to the Work of Babu Rajendralal Mitra[49] to rebut Mitra's The Antiquities of Orissa, which criticises Ferguson's commentary about Odisa architecture.[47] While many of Mitra's archaeological observations and inferences were later refined or rejected, he pioneered work in the field[50] and his works were often substantially better than those of his European counterparts.[51]

Linguistics

Rajendralal Mitra was the first Indian who tried to engage people in a discourse of the phonology and morphology of Indian languages, and tried to establish philology as a science.[52] He debated European scholars on the location of linguistic advances in Aryan culture and theorised that the Aryans had their own script that was not derived from Dravidian culture.[53] Mitra also did seminal work in Sanskrit, Buddhist language and literature, and Gatha dialect in particular.[54]

Vernacularization

Mitra was a pioneer in the publication of maps in Bengali language and he constructed the definitions of numerous geographical terms that were previously only used in English into Bengali.[55] He published a series of maps of districts of Bihar, Bengal and Odisa for indigenous use; he was noted for assigning correct names to even small villages, which was sourced from local people.[56] Mitra's efforts in the vernacularization of western science has been widely acclaimed.[57]

As a co-founder of the short-lived Sarasvat Samaj -- a literature society set up by Jyotirindranath Tagore with help from the colonial government for publication of higher-education books in Bengali and enrichment of Bengali language in 1882[10] -- he wrote "A Scheme for the Rendering of European Scientific terms in India", which contains ideas for the vernacularization of scientific discourse.[58] He was also a member of several other societies; Vernacular Literature Society,[59] and Calcutta School-Book Society – [60] which advocated and played important roles in the propagation of books, esp. in Bengali literature – and Wellesley's Textbook Committee (1877).[61] Many of his Bengali texts were adopted for use in schools[59] and one of his texts on Bengali Grammar and "Patra-Kaumudi" (Book of Letters) became widely popular in later times.[59]

Publication of magazines

From 1851 onward, under a grant from the Vernacular Literature Society, Mitra started publishing the Bibhidartha Sangraha, an illustrated monthly periodical. It was the first of its kind in Bengal and aimed to educate Indian people in western knowledge without coming across as too rigid.[59][62] It had a huge readership, and introduced the concept of literary criticism and reviews into Bengali literature. It is also noted for introducing Michael Madhusudan Dutt's Bengali works to the public.

Mitra retired from its editorship in 1856, citing health reasons. Kaliprassana Singha took over the role.[63][64] In 1861, the government compelled the magazine to withdraw from publication; in 1863, Mitra started a similar publication under the name Rahasya Sandarbha, maintaining the same form and content.[64][65] It continued for about five and a half years before closing voluntarily. Mitra's writings in these magazines have been acclaimed.[2] He was also involved with the Hindoo Patriot and held editorial duties for a while.[66]

Socio-political activities

Rajendralal Mitra was a prominent social figure and a poster child of the Bengal renaissance.[2] Close to contemporaneous thinkers including Rangalal Bandyopadhyay, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Kishori Chand Mitra, Peary Chand Mitra, Ramgopal Ghosh and Digambar Mitra,[2][67][68] he partook in a wide range of social activities ranging from hosting condolence meetings to presiding sabhas and giving political speeches.[69] He held important roles in a variety of societies including the famed Tattwabodhini Sabha.[70] He was an executive committee member of the Bethune Society,[2] served as a translator for Calcutta Photographic Society[71] and was an influential figure in the Society for the Promotion of the Industrial Art, which played an important role in the development of voluntary education in Bengal.[72]

Mitra wrote several essays about the-then social activities. Chronicling widow-remarriage as an ancient societal norm, he opposed its portrayal as a corruption of Hindu culture and also opposed polygamy.[73] He wrote numerous discourses on the socio-cultural history of the nation, including topics of beef consumption and the prevalence of drinking of alcohol in ancient India; the latter at a time when Muslims were increasingly blamed for the social affinity for drinking.[2][74] Mitra was primarily apathetic to religion; he sought for a disassociation of religion from state and spoke against the proposals of the colonial government to tax the Indians for funding the spread of Christian ideologies.[75]

From 1856 until its closure in 1881, Mitra was the director of the Wards' Institution, an establishment formed by the Colonial Government for the privileged education of the issues of zamindars and upper classes.[76] He was active in the British Indian Association since its inception, serving as its president for three terms (1881–82, 1883–84, 1886–87), and vice-president for another three terms (1878–80, 1887–88, 1890–91). Several speeches on regional politics have been recorded.[1][77][78] Mitra was involved with Indian National Congress, serving as the president of the Reception Committee in the Second National Conference in Calcutta[2][79] and was also a Justice of the peace of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation for many years, having served as its commissioner from 1876.[80]

Criticism

Despite the acclaim of his works, Rajendralal Mitra has been the subject of criticism. Despite his self-declared agnosticism towards Indian mythology and his procrastination about Indians' obsession with an uncritical acceptance of the glory of their own past, his works have suffered from ethno-nationalistic biases.[2]

Mitra often intended to prove the ancient origin of the Hindus; his acceptance of legends and myths at face value is evident in his Antiquities in Orissa.[7][81] In the reconstruction of the history of the Sen dynasty, Mitra relied upon a number of ideal propositions but concurrently accepted genealogical tables whose authenticity Mitra doubted, and assigned historical status to the Adisura myth.[7] Later studies have shown the shortcomings of his works did not render his inferences entirely invalid or absurd.[citation needed]

Mitra held the Aryans to be a superior race and wrote numerous discourses covering spans, which were self-admittedly far removed from the realms of authentic history.[7] His archaeological discourses have been criticised for suffering from the same issues and being used to promote the view that Aryans settled in Northern India. A preface of one of his books says:

The race [the Aryans] of whom it is proposed to give a brief sketch in this paper belonged to a period of remote antiquity, far away from the range of authentic history ... The subject, however, is of engrossing interest, concerning, as it does, the early history of the most progressive branch of the human race.[7]

He venerated Hindu rule and had a profound dislike of the Muslim invasion of India.[44] According to Mitra:

Countries like Kabul, Kandahar and Balkh from where Muslims had flooded India and had destroyed Hindu freedom, had sometimes been brought under the sway of the kings of the Sun (Saura) dynasty. Sometimes peoples of those countries had passed their days by carrying the orders of the Hindus. The dynasty had a tremendous power with which it had been ruling India for two thousand years ... Moslem fanaticism, which after repeated incursions, reigned supreme in India for six hundred years, devastating everything Hindu and converting every available temple, or its materials, into masjid, or a palace, or a heap of ruins, was alone sufficient to sweep away everything in the way of sacred building.[44]

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar criticised Mitra's command of Sanskrit grammar; some contemporaneous writers described him as having exploited Sanskrit Pandits in the collecting and editing of ancient texts without giving them the required credit.[82] This criticism, however, has been refuted.[83]

Many of Mitra's text commentaries were later deemed to be faulty and rejected by modern scholars.[84] His equating of extreme examples of Tathagata Tantric traditions from GuhyaSamaja Tantra scriptures in a literal sense and as an indicator of mainstream Buddhist Tantra, "the most revolting and horrible that human depravity could think of", were criticised and rejected, especially because such texts were long historically disconnected from the culture that created and sustained them.[85][86] Renowned polymath Sushil Kumar De has noted that while Mitra's works have been superseded by more accurate translations and commentaries, they still retain significant value as the editio princeps.[87]

Some of Mitra's extreme biases might have written as a response to European scholars like James Fergusson, who were extremely anti-Indian in their perspectives. There were unavoidable limitations within the perspectives of an orientalist scholarship, including the lack of social anthropology.[2][88] Mitra has been also criticised for not speaking out against the conservative society and in favour of social reform, and for maintaining an ambiguous, nuanced stance.[89][90] When the British Government sought the views of notable Indian thinkers about establishing a minimum legal age for marriage with an aim of abolishing child marriage, Mitra spoke against it, emphasizing the social and religious relevance of child marriage and Hindu customs.[61]

Last years and death

Rajendralal Mitra spend the last years of his life at the Wards' Institution, Maniktala, which was his de facto residence after its closure.[91] Even in his last days, he was extensively involved with the Asiatic Committee and was a member of multiple sub-committees.

At around 9:00 pm on 26 July 1891, Mitra died in his home after suffering intense bouts of fever. According to contemporaneous news reports, Mitra had endured these fevers for the last few years following a stroke that caused paralysis and grossly affected his health.[92] Numerous condolence meetings were held and newspapers were filled with obituaries.[93] A huge gathering took place at Calcutta Town Hall under the auspices of Lt. Gov. Charles Eliot to commemorate Mitra as well as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, who has also died recently, and was the first event of its type to be presided over by a Lieutenant Governor.[93]

Contemporaneous reception

Mitra's academic works along with his oratory, debating skills and miscellaneous writings, were extensively praised by his contemporaries and admired for their exceptionally clarity.[94]

Max Müller showered praise on Mitra, writing:

He has edited Sanskrit texts after a careful collection of manuscripts, and in his various contributions to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, he has proved himself completely above the prejudices of his class, freed from the erroneous views on the history and literature in India in which every Brahman is brought up, and thoroughly imbued with those principles of criticism which men like Colebrooke, Lassen and Burnouf have followed in their researches into the literary treasures of his country. His English is remarkably clear and simple, and his arguments would do credit to any Sanskrit scholar in England.[95]

Rabindranath Tagore said Mitra "could work with both hands. He was an entire association condensed into one man".[96] Bankim Chandra Chatterjee had also praised Mitra's work as a historian.[2]

Contemporaneous historians Rajkrishna Mukhopadhyay and Ramdas Sen were heavily influenced by Mitra. Roper Lethbridge and Romesh Chunder Dutt also derived from his works.[2][97]

Legacy

Rajendralal Mitra has been widely viewed as the first modern historian of Bengal who applied a rigorous scientific methodology to the study of history.[45][98] He was preceded by historians including Govind Chandra Sen, Gopal Lal Mitra, Baidyanath Mukhopadhyay, Ramram Basu, Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar and Dwarkanath Vidyabhusan; all of whom, despite being aware of the modern concepts of Western history, depended heavily upon translating and adopting European history texts with their own noble interpretations, and hence were not professional historians.[2][99] From a pan-Indian perspective, R. G. Bhandarkar, who similarly used scientific historiography, was one of Mitra's contemporaries.[99]

Hara Prasad Shastri named Mitra as one of his primary influences.[99][100] Mitra has been alluded to have triggered the golden age of Bengali historiography, that saw the rise of numerous stalwarts, including Akshaya Kumar Maitra, Nikhil Nath Roy, Rajani Kanta Gupta, Rakhaldas Bandopadhyay and Ramaprasad Chandra.[2] Historian R.S. Sharma described Mitra as "a great lover of ancient heritage [who] took a rational view of ancient society".[101]

Mitra's "Sanskrit Buddhist Literature" was heavily used by Rabindranath Tagore for many episodes of his poems and plays.[102][103] A street in Calcutta adjoining Mitra's birthplace is named after him.[104]

Honours

In 1863, University of Calcutta appointed Mitra as a corresponding fellow, where he played an important role in its education reforms,[105] and in 1876, the university honoured Mitra with a honorary doctorate degree. In 1864, the German Oriental Society appointed him as a corresponding fellow.[106] In 1865, the Royal Academy of Science, Hungary, appointed Mitra as a foreign fellow. In 1865, the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain appointed him as an honorary fellow.[106] In October 1867, the American Oriental Society appointed him as an honorary fellow.[106]

Mitra was awarded with the honorary titles of Rai Bahadur in 1877, C.I.E. in 1878 and Raja in 1888 by the British Government. Mitra had expressed displeasure about these awards.[107]

Publications

Apart from his numerous contributions to the society's journal and to the series of Sanskrit texts titled "Bibliotheca indica", Mitra published four separate works:

• The Antiquities of Orissa (2 vols, 1875 and 1880), illustrated with photographic plates;
• Buddha Gaya : the Hermitage of Sakya Muni (1878), a description of a holy place of Buddhism;
• a similarly illustrated work on Bodh Gaya (1878), the hermitage of Sakya Muni;
• Indo-Aryans (2 vols, 1881), a collection of essays dealing with the manners and customs of the Vedic civilization;
• The Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal (1882), a summary of the avadana literature.

References

1. Imam, Abu (2012). "Mitra, Raja Rajendralal". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
2. Bhattacharya, Krishna (2015). "Early Years of Bengali Historiography" (PDF). Indology, historiography and the nation : Bengal, 1847-1947. Kolkata, India: Frontpage. ISBN 978-93-81043-18-9. OCLC 953148596.
3. Sur 1974, p. 370.
4. Ray 1969, p. 29.
5. Ray 1969, p. 31.
6. Ray 1969, p. 32.
7. Sur 1974, p. 374.
8. Ray 1969, p. 215.
9. Ray 1969, p. 30.
10. Gupta, Swarupa (24 June 2009). "Nationalist Ideologues, Ideas And Their Dissemination". Notions of Nationhood in Bengal: Perspectives on Samaj, c. 1867-1905. Philosophy of History and Culture, Volume: 29. Brill. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004176140.i-414. ISBN 9789047429586.
11. Ray 1969, p. 33.
12. Ray 1969, pp. 34,35.
13. Ray 1969, p. 35.
14. Sur 1974, p. 371.
15. Ray 1969, pp. 35,36.
16. Ray 1969, p. 36.
17. Ray 1969, p. 60.
18. "History". The Asiatic Society. Archived from the original on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
19. Ray 1969, p. 37.
20. Ray 1969, p. 56.
21. Sur 1974, pp. 371,372.
22. Sur 1974, p. 373.
23. Ray 1969, p. 168.
24. Sur 1974, pp. 372,373.
25. Bhattacharya, Krishna (2015). "Early Years of Bengali Historiography" (PDF). Indology, historiography and the nation : Bengal, 1847-1947. Kolkata, India: Frontpage. ISBN 978-93-81043-18-9. OCLC 953148596.
26. Ray 1969, pp. 116,117.
27. Ray 1969, p. 157.
28. Ray 1969, pp. 155,156, 160-167.
29. Ray 1969, p. 158.
30. Ray 1969, pp. 39,114,207.
31. Ray 1969, pp. 223–225.
32. Ray 1969, p. 210.
33. Zysk, Kenneth G. (25 July 2012). "The Use of Manuscript Catalogues as Sources of Regional Intellectual History in India's Early Modern Period". In Rath, saraju (ed.). Aspects of Manuscript Culture in South India. Brill's Indological Library, Volume: 40. Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004223479. ISBN 9789004223479.
34. Guha-Thakurta, Tapati (1996). "Monuments and Lost Histories". In Marchand, Suzanne L.; Lunbeck, Elizabeth (eds.). Proof and Persuasion: Essays on Authority, Objectivity, and Evidence. Brepols. p. 161. ISBN 978-2-503-50547-3.
35. Guha-Thakurta, Tapati (5 August 2004). Monuments, Objects, Histories: Institutions of Art in Colonial and Post-Colonial India. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231503518.
36. Ray 1969, p. 131.
37. Ray 1969, p. 133.
38. Ray 1969, pp. 168–170.
39. Santhanam, Kausalya (18 May 2012). "In the land of the Buddha". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
40. Ray 1969, pp. 151–153.
41. Ray 1969, pp. 142–146.
42. Ray 1969, p. 149.
43. Ray 1969, pp. 136–141.
44. Sur 1974, p. 375.
45. Kapila, Shruti (31 May 2010). An Intellectual History for India. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19975-9. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
46. Ray 1969, p. 147.
47. Ray 1969, p. 132.
48. "History department of Allahabad University celebrates 60th anniversary". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
49. Ray 1969, p. 134.
50. Ray 1969, p. 127.
51. Ray 1969, pp. 122,124.
52. Ray 1969, p. 182.
53. Ray 1969, p. 183.
54. Ray 1969, pp. 185–189.
55. Bose, Pradip Kumar (2006). Health and Society in Bengal: A Selection From Late 19th Century Bengali Periodicals. SAGE Publishing India. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-7619-3418-9. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
56. Dasgupta, Keya (1995). "A City Away from Home: The Mapping of Calcutta". In Chatterjee, Partha (ed.). Texts of Power: Emerging Disciplines in Colonial Bengal. University of Minnesota Press. p. 150–151. ISBN 978-0-8166-2687-8.
57. Ikhlef, Hakim (2014). "Constructive Orientalism: Debates on Languages and Educational Policies in Colonial India, 1830–1880". In Bagchi, Barnita; Fuchs, Eckhardt; Rousmaniere, Kate (eds.). Connecting Histories of Education: Transnational and Cross-Cultural Exchanges in (Post)Colonial Education (1 ed.). Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781782382669. JSTOR j.ctt9qcxsr.
58. Bose, Pradip Kumar (2006). Health and Society in Bengal: A Selection From Late 19th Century Bengali Periodicals. SAGE Publishing India. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-7619-3418-9.
59. Ray 1969, p. 40.
60. Ray 1969, p. 39.
61. Ray 1969, p. 93.
62. "Imperial science and the Indian scientific community", Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India, Cambridge University Press, 20 April 2000, pp. 129–168, doi:10.1017/chol9780521563192.006, ISBN 9781139053426
63. Ray 1969, p. 41.
64. "Bibidhartha samgraha (Calcutta, 1851-1861)". Heidelberg University Library(in German). Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
65. Ray 1969, p. 44.
66. Ray 1969, p. 63.
67. Ray 1969, p. 78.
68. Ray 1969, pp. 61,62,74.
69. Ray 1969, pp. 64,65,66,81,82.
70. Ray 1969, p. 45.
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82. Ray 1969, p. 11.
83. Ray 1969, p. 212.
84. Ray 1969, p. 13.
85. Wedemeyer, Christian K. (2012). Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology, and Transgression in the Indian Traditions. Columbia University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-231-53095-8. Rajendralal Mitra, was understandably troubled by similar statements found in the ... Guhyasmāja (Esoteric Community) Tantra. Finding these 'at once the most revolting and horrible that human depravity could think of,' ... He cautioned, however, that following this particular interpretative avenue ... may be premature.'
86. Ray 1969, pp. 220,221.
87. Ray 1969, p. 213.
88. Sur 1974, pp. 375,376.
89. Ray 1969, p. 22.
90. Ray 1969, p. 79.
91. Ray 1969, p. 77.
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93. Ray 1969, p. 95.
94. Ray 1969, pp. 38,75,81.
95. Ray 1969, p. 9.
96. Bose, Pradip Kumar (2006). Health and Society in Bengal: A Selection From Late 19th Century Bengali Periodicals. SAGE Publishing India. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7619-3418-9. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November2018.
97. Ray 1969, p. 18.
98. Mukhopadhyay, Subodh Kumar (2002) [First published 1981]. Evolution of Historiography in Modern India, 1900-1960: A Study of the Writing of Indian History by Her Own Historians (2nd ed.). Progressive Publishers. p. 23. OCLC 60712586. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
99. Sur 1974, p. 376.
100. Ray 1969, p. 16.
101. Sharma, R.S. (2005). India's Ancient Past. Oxford University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-19-568785-9.
102. Majumdar, A. K. Basu (1993). Rabindranath Tagore: The Poet of India. Indus Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-81-85182-92-6. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
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104. "Gandhiji at the Dawn of Freedom". Mainstream Weekly. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
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Major sources

• Sur, Shyamali (1974). "Rajendralal Mitra as a Historian : A Revaluation". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 35: 370–378. JSTOR 44138803.
• Ray, Alok (1969). Rajendralal Mitra (in Bengali). Bagartha.

External links

• Texts from Wikisource
• Data from Wikidata
• Prehistoric India (1923), Calcutta University (Calcutta)

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Part 1 of 3

The New Samhita, or Sacred Laws of the Aryans of The New Dispensation
by Keshab Chandra Sen
Second Edition
Calcutta: Brahmo Tract Society
Printed by R.S. Bhatta at the Bidhan Press, 78, Upper Circular Road.
1889

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

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The Gospel [of Buddha] was an archetypical example of Orientalism, the appropriation of the Orient -- in this case Buddhism and the life of the Buddha -- to support a decidedly Western and Christian project...

The Gospel of Buddha was written to propagate Carus's post-Kantian Christian religion of science...

He shared with more orthodox Christians an abhorrence for any conception of the world that denied notions of the soul or God. In his Parliament paper "Science a Religious Revelation," he had argued that while a conception of religion that rejects science is inevitably doomed, humanity must have a religion because belief in God was "the innermost conviction of man which regulates his conduct." The resolution as he saw it was that religion would undergo changes, would "free itself from paganism, evolve and grow" in keeping with scientific developments. A new conception of the soul such as he had described in The Soul of Man was fundamental to this transition. In 1890 he had written: "The new view is monistic: it regards the soul as identical with its activity; the human soul consists of man's feelings and thoughts, his fears and hopes, his wishes and ideals."... [T]the Buddhists "anticipated the modern conception of the soul as it is now taught by the most advanced scientists of Europe" ... "Buddhism is monistic. It claims that man's soul does not consist of two things, of an atman (self) and a manas (mind and thoughts), but that it is made up of thoughts alone. The thoughts of a man constitute his soul; they, if anything, are his self, and there is no atman, no additional and separate 'self' besides."...

[H]is vision was unquestionably Christian. He attempted to overcome this by arguing that Buddhism and Christianity were essentially the same religion. They were both allegorical expressions of the one universal truth, their apparent differences nothing more than culturally determined "modes of expression." ...

His most radical declaration of their essential identity was his hypothesis that Christ was the Buddha Maitreya...

Carus's Gospel, in common with all Western scholarship at the time, claimed to pursue the essence of Buddhism, "the universal in the particular," the "nonsectarian ... ideal position upon which all true Buddhists may stand as upon common ground," that is, a transnational and textual Buddhism, the "real" Buddhism compared with which each Asian practice was a distortion or aberration... As a result, Carus's Buddha was the archetypal nineteenth-century intellectual: "the first positivist, the first humanitarian, the first radical freethinker, the first iconoclast and the first prophet of the Religion of Science."...

The preface to Gospel showed particular concern not to antagonize its targeted Christian audience, speaking of the advantages of Christianity over Buddhism, and concluding with a statement of the religious hierarchy as Carus understood it: "Above any Hinayana, Mahayana, and Mahase'tu is the Religion of Truth." Carus's image, which appropriated the Buddhist metaphor of the doctrine as a vehicle to transport followers to awakening, likened Christianity to a great bridge, "still more adapted to the needs of the multitude" than the large vessel of the Mahayana for crossing "the stream of self-hood and worldly vanity." "While the schools of Buddhism may be compared to ships that cross the stream, Christianity is a large and solid bridge. Christianity is a Mahase'tu. A child may walk over in perfect safety."

-- Presenting Japanese Buddhism to the West: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and the Columbian Exposition, by Judith Snodgrass

Table of Contents:

• Invocation
• The House
• The Householder
• Worship in the Sanctuary
• Daily Meals
• Business
• Amusements
• Studies
• Charities
• Relations
• Brothers and Sisters
• Husband and Wife
• Servants
• Ceremonies
• Jatkarma, or Birth-Festival
• Namkaran, or Nomination Ceremony
• Diksha, or Rite of Initiation
• Bibaha, or Marriage Ceremony
• Sradha Ceremony
• Vratas, or Vows
• Vows, Ripusamhar
• Vows, Juvenile Training
• Vows, Celibacy
• Vows, Widowhood
• Vows, Dadhak
• Vows, Ascetic Householder
• Vows, Missionary

THE NEW LAW.
[From the New Dispensation of 2nd September, 1883.]

The signs of the times clearly point to the necessity of organisation. Heaven calls us to fellowship and unity. And who can be indifferent or defiant when the Lord our Master issues His mandate? Scattered Israel must be gathered saith the Lord. Undisciplined and unruly soldiers must be brought under control and discipline, and the Army of the Faithful must be forthwith organised. Wandering pilgrims and way-farers must be brought home, and united by domestic ties of attachment and kinship, and the home of God's children must be erected in India. The Lord's people shall no longer live under foreign powers in a state of mutual estrangement and separation, but must dwell together in the Holy City of the New Dispensation, under heaven's Sovereign. Lawless hordes of men and women must abide in peace and unity under the Reigns of Law. Such, we apprehend, is the command of our Master, and we must hasten to render loyal obedience. The New Samhita will be shortly ready, and a day ought to be appointed for its formal promulgation among our people, -- a day that will close the epoch of anarchy, self-wilt and lawlessness and usher in the kingdom of law and discipline and harmony. All our Churches in the metropolis and the provinces and all individuals professing loyalty to the divine Dispensation ought to acknowledge and accept the Law on that occasion, for their own guidance and the regulation of all social and domestic concerns. Let not the Samhita be a new fetish. It is no infallible gospel: it is not our holy scripture. It is only the national Law of the Aryans of the New Church in India, in which is embodied the spirit of the New Faith in its application to social life. It contains the essence of God's moral law adapted to the peculiar needs and structure of reformed Hindus and based upon their national instincts and traditions. It is essentially, not literally, Heaven's holy Injunction unto us of the New Church in India. We shall not, therefore, bow to its letter, but accept its spirit and its essence for our guidance. How many in India are to obey the summons of our Holy Church? How many families are ready to submit to the ordinances of the New Law? Let them come forward in scores, in hundreds, from all parts of India, and unite not merely in doctrine and faith but in daily life on the organized basis of the fellowship of law. One God, one scripture, one law, one baptism, one home, shall unite us in a mighty fraternal alliance, before which no enemy shall prevail, and all the powers of evil shall eventually succumb. The blessed season has come, and let all our brethren prepare.

THE NEW LAW.

INVOCATION.

1. Eternal Wisdom, vouchsafe Thy light unto Thy apostle and servant that I may faithfully promulgate Thy New Law for the guidance of the New community of Brothers and Sisters Thou hast founded in this holy land.

2. Write Thy law on every heart in letters of gold, proclaim it with a thundering voice throughout the land, and let Thy sons and daughters bow before the decrees of the Great Lawgiver.

3. On sacred Himachal may Thy Holy Spirit descend and reveal unto expectant India the law of holy living, and as Thou speakest may Thy voice resound in every believing heart, and may every loyal soul, O Mighty King, tremble and obey.

4. For Thy statute is not written on paper, nor is Thy law a book, but in spirit-whispers dost Thou speak to the soul the law of duty.

5. Nor dost Thou speak in this age of science unto chosen disciples only, but to all Thy apostles and ministers, to all Thy servants and devotees in the land, yea to the humblest believer. Thy message shall come as a message of light and power in the sanctuary of the heart, and Thy whole church, and Thine entire household shall receive it joyfully as the testimony of the Lord.

6. Speak then unto us, O Thou Holy God of India, Thou God of our ancestors, and declare Thy New Samhita unto the people of the New Church.

THE HOUSE.

1. The believer shall keep his house clean and tidy, that whoso observeth it may say, Verily it is the house of the Lord, His blessing dwells therein.

2. For next to godliness is cleanliness, and every man who loveth our God is commanded to keep his spirit clean and his body clean and his house clean, making each a fit tabernacle for the Lord.

3. The house cometh from the Lord and all the furniture thereof, and the householder shall honor them as sacred gifts, and use them for sacred purposes, even the magnifying of His holy name and the blessedness, temporal and eternal, of His family.

4. Woe unto Him who pilfereth God's things and regardeth them as his own, who looketh upon house and household objects as things earthly and godless, and uses them irreverently or extravagantly or for carnal and impure purposes.

5. As the church is consecrated so shall every householder duly consecrate his house unto the Lord, with all the things that are therein, thus —

6. I dedicate unto Thee, O God of householders, this house and all that appertains to it. Sanctify and bless It, and bless those that dwell therein.

7. He shall keep all things in the house clean and bright, pure and undefiled, and neither dust nor rottenness nor things putrid shall defile the house of God.

8. Every room in the house shall be daily cleansed, and all dust and impurity swept off, and water and disinfectants shall be freely used, and there shall be no obstruction to sun-light and pure air.

9. Stench is an abomination unto the Lord, and  uncomeliness and disorder He will not tolerate.

10. For our God loveth both utility and beauty. He demandeth health and sanitation and also method and gracefulness of arrangement.

11. The house wherein His devotees dwell shall be both pure and picturesque, saith the Lord, and a thing lovely to look at.

12. Therefore adorn it tastefully every morning with fresh flowers and leaves, that they may gladden the eye with their rich colors and the heart with sweet perfume, and let there be incense in the house of God.

13. And not in one room only or in one solitary part of the house shall the law of purity and beauty be observed, but in all rooms, and throughout the length and breadth of the house, in the sanctuary and the parlour, in the study and the bed-room, in the dining room and the bath-room, in the kitchen and the stables, in the servant's quarters and the garden, everywhere shall health and beauty reign together.

14. And the bed shall be clean, and the clothes in the wardrobe shall be well arranged, and the books in the library, and all articles of furniture, and all crockery, and all earthen, metal and glass plates and vessels and all cooking utensils shall be tastefully arranged, each in its proper place.

15. The greatest attention shall be paid to the sanctuary or place of daily devotion, and the family altar shall be honoured above all things. Let the vedi, and the books of hymns and texts, and the carpets on which the devotees sit, and the ektara, and other musical instruments, and the flower pots be all kept clean, and the room decorated every morning with fresh flowers by the ladies of the house.

16. And let suitable mottoes be inscribed or hung on the walls of the sanctuary. But there shall be no portrait or image or idol or any idolatrous symbol whatever for instruction or decoration.

17. The following excellent sloka of the Atharva Veda, breathing concord and peace, may be inscribed in a prominent place:—

"Sahridayam sammanasyam avidvesham krinomi vah I anyo anyam abhi haryata vatsam jatam iva ghnya | Anuvratah pituh putromatra bhavatu sam manah I jaya patye madhumatim vacham vadatu santivin I Mabhrata bhrataram dvikshad ma svasaram uta svasa | samyanchah savratah bhutva vacham vadata bhadraya | III. 30.

"I impart to you concord, with unity of hearts and freedom from hatred: delight one in another, as a cow at the birth of a calf. May the son be obedient to his father, and of one mind with his mother: may the wife, at peace with her husband, speak to him honied words. Let not brother hate brother, nor sister, sister: concordant and united in will speak to one another with kind words."

18. And the following scriptural text also may serve as a motto, enjoining the highest duty of the householder:

Brahmanistho grihastha syat tattvajnana parayanah yat yat karma prakurvita tat Brahmani samarpayet | Mohanirvan Tantra,.

"The God-trusting householder shall be versed in religious knowledge. Whatsoever work he doeth he shall render unto the Lord."

19. A house so clean, pure and well ordered, and regulated by such scriptural principles, is verily a house of Lakshmi, the household Deity of prosperity, joy and beauty, the Mother of smiling grace; and all who abide there, men, women, children and even the servants, yea the domestic animals under its shelter, shall be truly blessed.

20. The very walls of such a house shall sing Hallelujahs, and every object and person therein shall magnify the Lord of the New Dispensation.

THE HOUSEHOLDER.

1. The householder shall rise early in the morning, but not too early, never too late.

2. Seven hours sleep hath the Lord enjoined on His people, as science doth bear testimony; therefore when the Lord calls, let no sluggard cry, a little more sleep and a little more slumber.

3. Rising refreshed and renewed at the bidding of Heaven, the householder shall thankfully praise the Lord amid the joyful greetings of the new morn with its fresh light and fresh breeze.

4. And, sitting or kneeling or standing, he shall say, Good God, I thank thee that I have lived to see another day. Bless me and guide me, that this day may be unto me a day of righteousness and peace.

5. The body needeth exercise as the soul doth, and every believer shall devoutly devote sometime during the day, the morning being best, to moderate exercises conducive to the strengthening of the muscles, the inhaling of pure air, the circulation of the blood, and the promotion of health and strength.

6. He that neglects the body neglects the dwelling house of the spirit, and violates the law of God.

7. For the laws of health are the laws of God, and whoso transgresses these shall suffer penalty for their sins.

8. Blessed are the true believers for they serve the Lord in all things great and small, and carry out His behests whether they refer to the body or the spirit, health or life eternal.

9. Having read the morning papers and transacted such business as is of great urgency, the householder shall take his daily bath and ablutions in a reverent spirit.

10. He shall bathe and cleanse himself daily, either in the river or in a tank, or have a shower bath in his own house.

11. Let the water be clean and wholesome, or thy bath shall be a curse and not a blessing.

12. Rub thy body with a towel till it is thoroughly cleansed and freed from all impurity and becomes a fit tabernacle for a pure heart.

13. Anoint thy head and pour cold water over it so that it may be cooled and refreshed.

14. Thus shall thy bath be unto thee a double blessing, it shall remove impurity and allay heat, and bring unto thee daily both purity and freshness.

15. Remember, O child of God, that true bath is baptism and ablution is sacred.

16. Therefore treat thy bath-room with reverence as next to the sanctuary, and let sanctity dwell within its walls and the praise of God in its waters.

17. Welcome holy water and devoutly recognise in its cleansing efficacy a type of inward sanctification, so that in the lower temple of the body thou shalt realize the soul's blessedness, and in the old testament fulfil and glorify the new testament of the Lord.

18. And behold the spirit of God shining on the waters, and let the sacred waters come to thee as a divine mother to cleanse and purify thee.

19. And remember the words of Thy venerable ancestors in the Rig Veda x. 17, 10,

Apo asman matarah sundhayantu;
Visvam hi ripram pravahanti devir ud id abhyah suchir a putah emi.

"May the Waters, the mothers, cleanse us!
These divine mothers bear away defilement
I come up out of them pure and cleansed."

20. Remember also the baptism of Devanandan or the son of God in the river Jordan in the holy land of Judaea, recorded in holy writ.

Dineshu teshu jaghate yadisa agamat tada.
Jordansariti praptabhishekah salilat tatah,
Utthaya so'njasa'darsat dyaurdvedha' bhabadantike,
Kapotamurtya 'vatarat Paratma tasya chopari.
Tvamme priyatamah putro yasmin pritosmi santatam,
Iti vani vadanti dyoragamat, — M. I. 9, 10, 11.

"And it came to pass in those days that Yesu came and was baptized in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

WORSHIP IN THE SANCTUARY.

1. Having bathed and cleansed himself the householder shall put on clean apparel fitted for devotion.

2. For if his garment be uncleaned and defiled it may suggest thoughts of the world and even impurity and serve as fetters to keep down the spirit.

3. Therefore enter the holy sanctuary of the Lord with vestment pure and worthy of His presence.

4. And sit on thine own carpet at thy appointed seat, and be not reckless about seats or carpets, using those which belong to others and which thou hast not familiarized or made thine own by daily use.

5. Thou shalt love and honor the carpet on which thou prayest, and treat it as thy companion and friend in devotion, and carry it with thee in thy travels.

6. Let the husband and the wife, the brother and the sister, the father and the son, the mother and the daughter sit on their respective carpets in the sanctuary, round the family altar.

7. If guests or friends join in devotion let all the men sit on one side and the women on the other.

8. Each worshipper after taking his or her seat shall reverently bow before the family Deity.

9. The householder shall conduct service with solemnity and yet in a homely style adapted to the understanding and the requirements of the family.

10. He shall begin with an Invocation, and then there shall be a hymn, in which the voices of the men shall commingle with the tender voices of the women, and swell into a chorus of praise and prayer into the Lord.

11. Then shall follow the Adoration, all the attributes of Divinity being clearly set forth and realized and magnified, one after another, in the prescribed order.

12. These separated attributes shall then be realized together as a Holy Personal Presence in silent Meditation, the entire congregation observing the profoundest silence for a few minutes.

13. Having seen the Lord in the recesses of the heart the congregation shall offer united prayers in prescribed form, after which each individual shall pray, one every day, by rotation, speaking only of personal wants and sins.

14. After the singing of the second hymn the sacred Names of God shall be solemnly chanted, for unto the believer sweet and dear is the Name and mighty to save.

15. Then shall the presiding minister read scriptural texts magnifying the wisdom of ages and honoring the prophets and sacred books of the east and the west.

16. He shall then offer the chief prayer of the day, not carelessly or as a task, but with earnestness and sincerity, wisdom and reverence and loving tenderness.

17. The prayers shall be fresh every morning, sweet and beautiful as fresh flowers, breathing new thoughts and sentiments and aspiration every day.

18. Vain babbling pleaseth not our God, nor the repetition of set phrases, nor religious cant, nor the affectation of humility and poverty, nor gestures, nor intonation. These are a mockery and verily an insult to the Most High, and He hateth such abominations.

19. Let daily worship in the family sanctuary be intensely real, and let those that pray pray in spirit and in truth, with reverent lips and hearts full of Iiving freshness.

20. And let those that pray in the house of God remember that they shall not merely ask but receive, not merely seek and search but see the Lord and gather His righteousness and peace and the inspiration and joy of His countenance.

21. For if ye only pray and ask and beg from day to day what reward have ye? I will respond to prayer and give to the suppliant what he seeketh, said the Lord, and every sincere petition of the humble sinner will I grant.

22. Therefore as ye pray wait trustfully till the Lord speaks and gives out of the riches of His mercy, filling every heart with wisdom and inspiration, holiness and joy.

23. So shall every morning be a blessed morning, and amid fresh prayer and praise the family of God shall eat and drink abundantly of His sweet grace and their souls shall become fat with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

24. After the Benediction and the concluding hymn the congregation shall bow before the Lord and bless and thank Him for His mercies.

25. And then say with joyful hearts.

Peace, Peace, Peace.

DAILY MEALS.

1. If ye eat as the beasts eat, are ye not carnal? Yes, ye are like fattened oxen and ravenous wolves.

2. Verily the carnal eat carnal food, but to the spiritual bread is life eternal.

3. Blessed are they who eat and drink unto the Lord and realize Divinity in their daily food.

4. For bread is indeed divine and rice is divine, and whoso eateth these in the name of God shall be saved.

5. Therefore be not as the epicureans are, who eat and drink and become merry unto destruction.

6. Let not thy dining-room, O godly householder, be a place of riotous feasting, but a sacred temple where the believer eateth the Lord's bread.

7. Thy bath-room is for baptism and thy dining-room for the eucharist: both shall be sacred unto thee, and neither shalt thou suffer to be unclean or ungodly.

8. Remember always the scriptural text,

Asnitha vatha pivatha kurutha vatha yattatah, yuyam kuruta tat sarvam mahimne Paramesituh.

Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of the God.

9. The morning devotion being over, the house-holder and the rest of the family shall enter the sacred place of their daily meals with hearts fully imbued with the spirit of the above text.

10. When every one has taken his or her seat let all reverently bow before the Invisible Annadayini, the Giver of rice, and let the householder say,

11. Bless the food before us, Good God, and grant that it may sanctify us.

12. Thou shalt not touch unclean bread nor unconsecrated rice, but taste that which the touch of the Divine hand has sanctified.

13. Therefore let every believer not only say grace but also behold the presence of the Lord as a nourishing Force in the food, and realize therein a type of the higher food of the soul.

14. Let him hearken unto the voice of the Lord saying, Lo! I am in thy bread.

15. Listen also to the voice of the saints vibrating through centuries of antiquity, Remember the Son of God in thy meals, and eat his life, making his flesh thy flesh and his blood thy blood, and let us abide perpetually in thee.

16. Then eat, and as thy mouth eats rice and bread, vegetables and sweets, the inner man shall eat and assimilate piety and purity, love and joy, and gather life eternal in God and in His saints.

17. And thus in the house of God there shall be no carnal eating, but only sacramental breakfast and dinner every morning and evening.

18. So shall spirit eat spirit and spirit drink spirit in the blessed mystery of the eucharist, which saints have taught and scripture hath magnified.

19. Regulate the diet of the whole household by the principles of economy and sobriety and health.

20. Avoid all manner of extravagance, and let not the cost of thy meals outrun thy means.

21. Be sober and touch not wine, for it is poison unto thee and death unto thy neighbour.

22. Whatsoever causeth thy weak brother to stumble thou shalt avoid, saith the Lord.

23. As for meat let those abstain who have taken the vow of poverty and simplicity, and are pledged to self-denial with a view to guard themselves and their neighbours against carnality.

24. Thy food shall be simple and yet invigorating, it shall be such as may bring to thee health and strength.

25. Take no unwholesome food albeit palatable and delicious, for verily it is the parent of disease.

26. The quality and quantity of food for each member of the family shall be daily determined by the state of his health and the peculiar requirements of his constitution.

27. Let thy food vary from day to day that thou mayst eat with relish and get all the essential elements of food which thy system needs.

28. The lady of the house shall determine the daily bill of fare.  

29. The family physician shall regulate the regimen of the household, commending the things that shall be, and prohibiting the things that shall not be, eaten, and whatsoever he shall interdict in the name and as the representative of God let none touch.

30. And when ye eat, eat not with morose and melancholy faces, but with cheerful spirits and smiling countenances.

31. Let there be pleasant conversation and interesting gossip and abundance of good humour.

BUSINESS.

After taking his morning meal the householder shall rest a while, and then proceed to his place of business.

2. Whether he serves others in the capacity of a paid subordinate, or is engaged in an independent profession or trade, he shall attend to his engagements with the utmost punctuality.

3. For punctuality is the soul of success, and its violation is condemnable in the sight of God being a wilful violation of the rule of veracity.

4. Remember the Lord before thou enterest upon thy daily work.

5. Temptations and trials, difficulties and dangers abound in the world of business, and none can combat them except the true believer who trusts the Lord.

6. Wilt thou, conceited worldling, venture upon the perilous sea of secular work, where so many are wrecked daily, with the rudder in thine own hand?

7. Dost thou believe that thou knowest trade and finance, commerce and agriculture, law and medicine, and reform, the fine arts and the mechanical arts better than thy God, or that thou art a better bookkeeper or householder than He?

8. Canst thou attain wealth and prosperity without Divine help, canst thou add a cowri to thy stock without the strength of the Lord?

9. Cast off this infidel infatuation, and believe that if thou plungest into secular work without the Lord's guidance, worldliness shall swallow thee, and lying and corruption, anger and covetousness, and all manner of sensuality and sin shall drag thee in their impetuous current into the vortex of death.

10. Therefore in all things depend upon thy Master for wisdom and strength, and seek His counsel in all intricate and important questions.

11. What thou shalt do and how thou shalt do it thy Master shall tell thee, and thy Father who hears thy prayer will not desert thee in the hour of trial and temptation.

12. Whatever thy business, and wheresoever thou mayst be employed, the Lord is thy only Master, and thou art his servant, and His behests only shalt thou carry out.

13. Whether at home or in a shop, in the bank or the merchant's office, in the manufactory or the observatory, in the council chamber or the field of survey, remember that it is a sacred place where thou art employed, and that thou art doing sacred work under the eye of thy Heavenly Master who is before thee.

14. Not only is thy place of business sacred and thy work holy, but the very tools with which thou workest shalt thou consider sacred.

15. The King's sceptre, the surgeon's lancet, the astronomer's microscope, the architect's trowel, the writer's quill, the painter's pencil, the carpenter's chisel, the blacksmith's hammer, the tiller's scythe, all these, when consecrated to the Lord's service, He toucheth and sanctifieth, and blessed are they who use them reverently in His holy name and unto His glory.

16. Be not slothful, but active and diligent and persevering, doing the full measure of the work appointed by thy Master.

17. For if a man neglects his Master's work or does less than is enjoined, shall he not suffer the penalty of indolence? Only the laborer is worthy of his hire, but he that sleeps and is idle steals bread from his Master's house and is a thief.

18. Nor should the servant of God work by fits and starts, toiling for a week and then sleeping for a month, but he shall work with constancy and with sustained zeal, working at least seven hours daily.

19. Every man shall have to render unto the Lord a full account of his daily stewardship, of the amount of work he does every day, and of the manner in which, and the extent to which he employs his physical and mental energies.

20. Preserve thine equanimity amid the vexation and irritation of daily toil, and thy freshness and buoyancy amid its dull unvarying monotony.

21. If ever thy passions are aroused in the course of business, if thy heart becomes angry or fretful, proud or jealous, if thou art tempted by thirst of gold to do aught that is dishonest or unfair or untruthful, turn instantly to thy Master, and offer brief ejaculatory prayers within, saying, God save me, Heaven deliver me from worldliness and sin, Father keep my temper, Saviour from gold-worship set me free, Master control Thy servant.

22. Work always with a cheerful heart, thou child of industry, for joyful toil in the Lord's vineyard shall make thee healthy and wise and pure, and it shall bring thee here and hereafter a plentiful harvest of divine life.

23. For true labour is worship, it is the worship of Eternal Force, the homage of our little will force to the Great Will, the communion of our energy with Supreme Energy in holy and useful work.

24. The Infidel goeth to his place of business in a godless spirit, and he returneth therefrom with a heart full of vexation and heaviness.

25. But the joy of the Lord is upon them that serve Him, and lo! they return every evening from their field of work with joyful and thankful hearts, singing the glory of His name.

AMUSEMENTSf

1. Let the householder after the day's work seek such amusements and pleasures as are harmless.

2. For labor and amusement, work and rest are both hallowed and divine.

3. From each of His servants the Lord our Master daily demandeth the fullest measure of work, and unto every one He giveth freely the fullest measure of joy, and unto men and women and children He dispenseth a rich fund of enjoyments suited to each.

4. He who sacrifices work for the sake of amusement is as much to be censured as the man who works continually without joy or relaxation, and is like one that liveth in the burial place and hath adopted life-long mourning.

5. Heaven is not made of mourners, nor is our God a taskmaster.

6. Moroseness is not sanctity nor is weeping salvation.

7. Work in season and smile in season, saith the Lord.

8. As industry is the worship of Divine force so is amusement the worship of Divine joy.

9. Ye believers, work as the Lord our God worketh and rejoice and smile as He rejoiceth and smileth.

10. Blessed are they in whom His force works and in whom His joy abounds!

11. In all your amusements and enjoyments let the pure smile of Heaven play on your lips.

12. Avoid excess of pleasure, for it defiles the heart and brings on carnality and levity of spirit.

13. The carnal seek pleasure in wine and woman, and thousands perish in the vortex of dissipation.

14. The wise abhor these two deadly forms of vicious indulgences and keep aloof from them altogether.

15. Drunkenness and debauchery are the vilest of abominations on earth, and those addicted thereto shall be treated as unclean outcasts, who breathe poison and pollution in society.

16. If the company of the harlot pleases thee or the sight of her face, thy pleasure, O gay youth, is thy death.

17. Nor shouldst thou constantly seek the company of gay and frivolous women, as is the habit of thoughtless youths, for in the excitements of carnal mirth is the seed of corruption.

18. Seek not joy in gambling, for it bringeth ruin and misery.

19. Ask the Lord to determine and regulate thy daily amusements, and trust not thine own judgment, or thou runnest much risk.

20. Indulge in all manner of harmless sports and games which are agreeable to the body and the mind.

21. And as there is wide variety of these thou shalt vary thine amusements and prevent dull monotony.

22. Music is the highest and the purest of all enjoyments, and is indeed heaven upon earth.

23. She is a sweet angel, blessed daughter of Heaven, who assuages grief, relieves weariness, allays anxiety, guards against temptation, tranquilizes stormy passions, scatters joy and promotes devotion.

24. Woe unto him who desecrates music by applying it to immoral and sensual purposes, who delights in lust-awakening songs, who is fond of the music of harlot lips, who in the name of music destroyeth his own soul and the souls of others.

25. Truly there is divinity in music, and in the charms of the sweet voice and the harmony of many instruments is the Blessed Mother of Music, the Invisible Saraswati of Eternal Harmony.

26. Therefore honor music and treat all songs and musical instruments with the reverence due to sacred things, and let heavenly music fill every house of God with peace and joy, with concord and harmony.

27. If possible, thou shalt now and then combine music with instruction and pleasure with wisdom on the stage, and seek in drama the purest intellectual joy.

28. Great is the power of the drama, and blessed are they who use it for their own good and the benefit of others.

29. Many a sinner has it reclaimed, many a social abuse has it rectified, many a sorrowful heart has it cheered, many an idle evening has it enlivened, many a youthful group of associates has it kept from dissipation, many a languid soul has it roused into fresh life.

30. Therefore band yourselves together, ye young men who pant after rational amusements, and in the evening enact such pieces of drama, ancient or original, as are full of wisdom, and give yourselves and your friends the most exalted of social entertainments.

31. But beware, let there be no revelry, no association with immoral men or women, no unhallowed representation, nothing whatsoever that taints the heart, induces moral laxity, injures health or interferes with higher duties.

32. Consecrate the stage and all its appendages unto the Lord, and act and play, sing and dance in His presence, that thus ye may magnify the Lord of the Drama.

33. Evening parties and soirees, with or without musical entertainments, are also sources of rational amusement, and prove besides profitable unto the cementing of friendship, the promotion of brotherhood and goodwill, and the gathering of much valuable knowledge and information.

34. Conversation bringeth abundance of joy and mirth, wit and humour, and is always available and within the reach of all.

35. Whensoever ye have opportunities, meet and talk on all subjects of interest exchanging your best thoughts and ideas, and reciprocating the affections and sympathies of the heart with fraternal cordiality.

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Part 2 of 3

STUDIES

1. Thou shalt devote thy leisure hours before or after evening meal to reading good books and periodicals.

2. As thy body and soul require exercise, so does thy mind need constant culture, so that all its faculties may grow strong and healthy and gather wisdom and truth.

3. Let not thy reading be vain or unprofitable, let it not be such as may corrupt thy morals.

4. Books are like companions. Noxious literature like evil company secretly defiles the heart, while good books are as wholesome and fruitful as the company of saints.

5. Verily a book of wisdom is the soul's best instructor and friend in solitude.

6. Without lips it gives abundance of counsel, and though it has no hands it wipes off the tears of the sorrowful.

7. The householder shall keep a library of select books in the house, and shall dedicate it to the God of Wisdom.

8. And he shall from time to time enrich his library by the addition of suitable books according to his means.

9. Let the family library be small, but let it contain the choicest books and breathe the fragrance of what the wise have written and said in different ages.

10. And let there be a wide variety in thy collection, that as thy food varies from day to day thy mental food too may vary and suit the diverse tastes of the mind:

11. Science and literature, theology and philosophy, history and biography, poetry and drama, moral anecdotes and accounts of travels, sermons and devotions, and above all the holy scriptures of all nations.

12. And thou shalt cherish thy books and preserve them with great care like unto rich treasures, and thou shalt treat them reverentially as sacred things, for they are repositories of God's truth.

13. Remember that all truth is divine, and whether moral, historical or scientific, it ought to be honored as God's truth.

14. Let thy reading be moderate, and not excessive.

15. For too much reading like too much eating is a burden and a weariness to the system, and hinders assimilation.

16. If thou canst not digest what thou eatest thy food shall be poison unto thee and bring on diseases.

17. And if thou devourest a multiplicity of books thy mind shall be encumbered and burdened and it shall be enervated and its organs unfitted for sound thought.

18. The true scholar shall read a few lines or a few chapters daily and take care that what is read is digested and assimilated before he proceeds to read again.  

19. The end of reading is not information nor pleasure, but the disciplining and perfecting of the mind by thought.

20. Thought is the mind's gastric juice which converts knowledge into wisdom, information into character, and the contents of books into the blood and fat of the soul.

21. Therefore be not ambitious of reading too much or learning too much or remembering too much, but let it be thine ambition to be thoughtful that thine may be always a healthy, strong and bright intellect.

22. Think and ponder on all that thou readest, judging and reasoning, comparing and generalizing, analyzing and comprehending, and evolving sound principles, till all objective truth is subjectified and assimilated to thy being and character.

23. Woe unto those who are ever floating upon the wide sea of books and catching mere straws.

24. Blessed are they who dive below and gather pearls.

25. A whole library yieldeth no profit to the superficial and thoughtless reader, but the thoughtful find a world of wisdom in a dozen words.

26. Be not tired of learning, nor shalt thou deem thyself too old to learn, but diligently gather wisdom till the last day of thy life.

27. It is indeed a glory and a privilege to be ever learning at the feet of the Divine Teacher.

28. Remember that we all come to earth as to an academy for education and discipline, and blessed are they who pass out of it with brilliant scholarship to receive their prizes and honors in heaven.

29. Be not enamoured of books of fiction, for they only fascinate the heart and regale the imagination, but give no real food to the mind.

30. He who delights in too much romance eats shadows and dwells in the land of apparitions.

31. Unclean and filthy literature thou shalt never touch.

32. Beware of atheistic books, for they are a horror and an abomination.

33. Wilt thou, O believer, for the sake of false liberalism, defile thy table by placing upon it such blasphemous books as deny and insult the Lord? God forbid!

34. If thou readest one atheistic leaflet thy neighbour shall read twenty such volumes and the evil contagion shall spread.

55. Therefore treat every form of atheistic literature as the deadliest foe of God and man, and shun even the shadow of that vile thing.

36. Honor above all books the shastras of the prophets of all ages, for in these scriptures is deep wisdom, the wisdom of inspiration, and give unto them unsectarian reverence and homage.

37. And may all thy studies and readings, O devout scholar, conduce to the glorifying of the Science of the New Dispensation!

CHARITIES.

1. The house that hath no charity is not the house of God, though it may have all the ostentation of daily worship and roar with noisy prayers.

2. Faith without charity is hollow pietism, it is a barren tree that beareth no fruit.

3. He who professeth love for the Father but hath no love for the brother is a hypocrite and an impostor, who hides selfishness in sack cloth.

4. But in the truly devout the love of God is like an overflowing river, which swells and rises, breaks all barriers and spreads over the wide world, filling all its deep places with plenty, and producing a harvest of joy in its parched field.

5. Therefore the householder shall eschew selfishness as a curse and an abomination, and make his home the home of charity and love.

6. Yet not in a spirit of pride and arrogance shalt thou give unto the poor, despising them as low outcasts worthy only of contempt and pity.

7. But thou shalt honor the poor and the needy, and account it a privilege and a virtue to serve them.

8. For if charity blesses him that receives, does it not bless him a hundred fold who gives? It giveth silver to the recipient, but to the donor it bringeth gold.

9. Verily, verily he who giveth to the poor giveth to the Lord, and therefore shall charity be always magnified even as giving unto the Lord.

10. In so great and divine a work then be not idle or indifferent or weary, but let it ever be thine ambition to do the greatest amount of charity with the limited resources and opportunities at thy disposal.

11. Nor should thy charity be fitful, a mere outburst of temporary sentimentalism.

12. Thou shalt organise charity as a domestic institution, so that the angel of mercy may never sleep in the house of God.

13. Whensoever the poor come and seek shelter, food or help, let them find in thee a ready helper, and let them not return disappointed seeing thy doors closed or thy hand unwilling.

14. Give to every suppliant a willing ear, even to the humblest and the poorest, and hear all that he has got to say, and then consider the merits of his case dispassionately and charitably.

15. If he is a fit object of charity feed him, clothe him, or serve him otherwise, with a reverent and cheerful heart.

16. When thou buyest thy month's provisions for thy family buy rice and flour for the poor, and let the same be especially set apart in thy store room, and consecrated unto charity, and used exclusively for that purpose.

17. And all thine old clothes and worn out things thou shalt lay aside every month, and distribute among those who need them, thus utilizing even things that are rejected and neglected.

18. Thou shalt also give regular monthly grants to charitable societies according to thy means, and never shalt thou withhold or discontinue them on the plea of poverty.

19. For if thy means fail and thy resources prove insufficient for thine own household thou shalt curtail thy charities accordingly, but thou hast no right to deprive the poor of their due.

20. Remember that the money thou hast is not thy property to be used at thy will and pleasure, but a sacred trust committed to thy hands by the Lord for His own purposes.

21. And He has commanded and charged each of his believers, even the poorest, to spend a certain proportion every month for the benefit of others, and therefore thou shalt on no account misappropriate such money to thine own selfish ends.

22. Ye trustees of the Lord's charity fund, render unto Him a faithful account of your stewardship, and let monthly debit sheet show the actual payment of the amount due to the poor.

23. Charity embraceth a wide variety of useful services for the benefit of society, and many are the errands of mercy.

24. To feed the hungry, to give water to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to nurse the sick, to build houses for the homeless, to console the bereaved, to relieve the sufferings of the widow and the orphan, to assist the indigent student with books, to help the establishment and maintenance of hospitals, schools, and churches, these are ordinary works of charity, to which thou shalt apply thy heart and energy and substance whensoever occasion arises.

25. And there are extraordinary works too which the Lord enjoins upon thee at particular times and seasons.

26. When famine breaks out in the land or plague or epidemic or fire, or some disaster befalls hundreds of people in thine own country or elsewhere, bringing ruin and starvation and distress, thou shalt render prompt succour and do thy best in all possible ways to alleviate suffering.

27. In the summer months when the sun is powerful provide cooling drink, sherbet and ice for the thirsty, and let the weary, traveller and the over-worked laborer find at thy door rest and refreshment, and a constant supply of pure water flowing from the fountain of mercy.

28. So when it is cold thou shalt provide warm clothing for the poor and the ragged who suffer from the inclemencies of the weather.

29. Thou shalt not encourage idleness and pauperism by indiscriminate charity, but thou shalt only help the deserving.

30. Let not thy gifts be announced with a flourish of trumpets that men may applaud and glorify thee, but when thou givest let thy hand give secretly and modestly, not courting popularity.

31. True charity is not in the hand but in the heart, not in the deed but in the wish, and unto the Lord is more acceptable the widow's mite than the splendid gifts of heartless liberality.

32. Blessed are they who live for others and dedicate themselves, body and mind, to the service of humanity, for they shall have their reward here and hereafter.

RELATIONS.

1. Hallowed are the relationships and duties of the household, and woe unto him who neglects them as things earthly.

2. Many there are who boast of great things, such as yoga and bhakti, asceticism and philanthropy, and in their conceit forget the smaller concerns of their daily life and affect to despise their parents, their wives and children.

3. They fancy they soar in heaven, and they think it mean to touch the ground of earthly duty.

4. But these men are without excuse before heaven's judgment, for the Lord Himself hath established and sanctified all household relationships and all domestic duties hath He enjoined, and each proud transgressor will He visit with condign punishment.

5. Thinkest thou, child of conceit, that thy home is an unholy lodging, and thy parents and children and wife, mere brute relations to whom thou owest no moral obligations?

6. Nay, regard thy home as the Lord's home and all thy relations as sacred relations, whom the Lord has called thee to honor and serve.

7. Not the least in the Lord's family darest thou despise or neglect.

8. And for each little obligation thou shalt be called to account here and hereafter.

9. Dost thou not know, O man, who thy parents are? Thy father and thy mother are of heaven heavenly.

10. Thou shalt revere them and bow before them and give them reverential homage as unto holy persons.  

11. For who on earth is so great as thy father? And thy mother, is she not high as heaven?

12. Thy father and thy mother hath the Lord appointed as His representatives in the domestic world to nurse His children and train them in His ways.

13. In thy father behold thy heavenly Father, and in thy mother behold the heavenly Mother's love incarnate.

14. Verily, as scripture saith, parents are divine persons and ought to be revered and served as such:

Mataram pitaram chaiba sakshat pratyaksha devatam,
Matva grihi nishebeta sada sarva prajatnatah.

-- Mahanirvan viii. 24.

15. Children, obey your parents, serve them to the best of your ability, satisfy their requirements, relieve their sufferings, and gladden their hearts with words of sweet affection.

16. Labor with your body and mind as long as ye live to discharge the debt of obligation which ye owe to your loving parents, a debt immense as the shoreless sea.

17. And when they are old and infirm take good care of them, give them your best services for their temporal well being, and cheer them with sacred readings and sacred music for the benefit of their souls.

18. Let not your services be hollow and external drudgery, like those of a hireling, but the overflowing of intense affection, fervent gratitude and loyal attachment.

19. Ye sons and daughters in God's household, under benign parental discipline and guidance daily grow in faith and righteousness and love.

20. Parents, give your children physical, moral and spiritual education, and train them up for the Lord.

21. Too much indulgence corrupteth the child, and likewise too much severity.

22. Therefore, in moderation shall parental authority be exercised, tempering hard discipline with tender love.

23. Adopt no system of high-pressure trainings, but let the training of children be easy and natural.

24. Be not too meddlesome, but leave them to attain healthy growth under proper influences.

25. Take precaution always that they are not forced into premature and precocious development.

26. Give your children health first — pure air, good food, exercise and rest.

27. And when they are boys and girls give them moral instruction, and when they are young men and young women give them religion.

28. Do not stuff the young head with hard dogmas and doctrines of theology; rejoice not if you see little children utter the catechism parrot-like.

29. In educating and bringing up children the father and the mother shall both take part, for each has a part to fulfil, and unless paternal and maternal influences combine juvenile education is incomplete.

30. Then is the child's education perfected when all the virtues of the father and all the graces of the mother unite in his character.

31. From evil company and from all demoralizing influences guard the young.

32. Give your boys and girls select books and select companions, and present to them good pictures and illustrated moral anecdotes, that their tender and susceptible hearts may catch the best impressions in early life.

33. Develop in the young a taste for the poetry and beauty of nature and cultivate in them a love of flowers.

34. If there is a garden attached to the house let them go about looking at plants and trees, evergreens and flowers, and let them also take part in gardening.

35. And if there are domesticated animals and birds in the house let the children be taught to treat them kindly, to feed them and caress them.

36. Children in God's household shall always be distinguished for kindness to animals, yea even to little ants and insects.

37. Honor little children, for of such is the kingdom of heaven, and be it always your ambition and care so to train them that their innocence may develop into holiness and they may be sure of heaven hereafter.

38. And in the education of children all earthly parents shall ever look up to the Supreme Parent as their guide and pattern.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

1. Brothers, love your sisters: sisters, love your brothers.

2. For ye are born of the same parents, and the Lord calleth such to be knit together in the sweetest affection solely because of their common parentage, and for no other reason.

3. Ye may condemn each other's failings, ye may differ widely in opinion and temper, but ye shall always love with intense affection all of the same parents born.

4. Live in peace, under the parental roof, as one united family, serving one another with pure and disinterested affection, and let no unseemly dispute disturb the harmony.

5. Quarrel not, be not jealous, be not unkind, treat not the elders with disrespect nor the younger ones with contempt.

6. As ye grow in years and get married ye may go and settle elsewhere with your husbands or wives, but there shall be no separation or disunion of hearts though there may be physical separation.

7. Wherever ye may be your hearts shall live in peace and concord, united in lasting fellowship, and nothing shall break the bonds which God hath established.

8. Marriage is a fruitful cause of dissensions between brothers, and the best of brothers have parted and quarreled and proved inveterate enemies because of their quarrelsome wives.

9. Therefore beware; let none cast away the brother of his heart or his dear sister with a view to please his wife.

10. And let no woman be at enmity with her brothers or sisters to please her husband.

11. Realize the sacred Import of the words brotherly love and brotherhood, and let your mutual dealings be such as may truly serve as a pattern and an example of happy and loving fellowship.

12. That thus little brotherhoods and little sisterhoods may eventually swell into a universal brotherhood and a universal sisterhood in the kingdom of heaven, acknowledging and serving God, their common Parent, as a blessed confraternity of loving souls.

HUSBAND AND WIFE.

1. Matrimony is a divine institution, and it shall he honored as such.

2. They degrade it to a human Institution and an earthly alliance who treat it as a civil contract.

3. Is the husband merchandize and are wives goods to be bought and sold in the market?

4. Is the registrar the god of marriage and doth his seal ratify the marriage bond?

5. It is the soul that marries, and it is the Lord God and He only who ties the connubial knot between one immortal soul and another.

6. Remember that there is no marriage save that which the Lord Himself solemnizes.

7. Therefore when ye marry invoke not the aid of human law or civil authorities to help you to purchase each other as mercantile commodities under a civil contract, but enter into the sacred bonds of matrimony in the presence and under the seal of the Heavenly Registrar.

8 . And who is there among you who can undertake the awful responsibilities of married life without the Lord's blessing and grace?

9. Bow reverently at the feet of the God of Marriage, and devoutly enter the world of trials and temptations with His blessing on your heads and His light and strength in your hearts.

10. And so long as ye live pray and struggle that the connubial alliance of your souls may be perfected year after year unto an everlasting union in heaven.

11. For marriage is not a final consummation but a progressive state of increasing attachment and growing holiness.

12. No man, no woman is truly or fully married; wedlock is only the first step towards the inner partnership which is yet to be and a type of the higher spirit-union which is yet to grow.

13. Therefore let the husband and the wife be more and more fully married and united in spirit.

14. For now they are only half, then they shall be one, an indivisible unity in the Lord.

15. To this end is marriage; therefore ye husbands and wives, trust each other, honor and love each other, and in all things, temporal and spiritual, try to work in perfect accord and harmony that ye may be one.

16. Let not the husband or the wife arrogantly raise questions of the superiority of his or her sex, but let them honor each other as equals and co-workers in God's household.

17. The husband who treats the wife as a menial servant and cannot trust her chastity unless she is in close custody as a prisoner in the zenana, who would always keep her down as a slave and never allow her to rise, is unworthy of her.

18. So is the wife wholly unworthy of her husband who always tries to enslave him and reign over him and keep him fascinated in the chains of carnality and worldliness.

19. Let there be no tyranny on either side, but united service in the Master's establishment.

20. Though equals let not the man or the woman falsely personate each other's character or usurp each other's functions.

21. The Lord has assigned to each a distinctive character and mission in the family, and let none depart from it.

22. Let not the man be womanly, let him not play the housewife: let not the woman seek to be manly, let her not be ambitious of doing man's work.

23. But let each do the work appointed by the Lord, and maintain towards each other most friendly relations as partners; never quarreling as hostile rivals.

24. Woe unto the woman who contradicts nature and defies God, and leaving her legitimate functions indulges in masculine pursuits and sports and amusements and imitates masculine habits. Ruin awaits her and shame and degradation shall become her lot.

25. If pride ruins the house jealousy is another cause of domestic unhappiness. Eschew jealousy as a lie and a sin.

26. Unfaithfulness is the greatest sin against which both the husband and the wife shall guard themselves, the least thought of unchastity in the heart being accounted an abomination.

27. But chastity which is safe only where there is no danger and is ready to succumb to the temptation is not true chastity. Let conjugal fidelity be proof against all manner of temptation and trial. Let husband and wife be so thoroughly devoted to each other that unchaste thoughts shall become impossible in all circumstances.

28. To chastity add love. The former is negative, the latter positive. The former is the bud, the latter is the blooming flower.

29. The husband and wife shall love each other with passionate and enthusiastic attachment and fondly dwell in each other.

30. As they shall work conjointly in regulating the temporal affairs of the household, they shall also pray together and occasionally converse on the eternal interests of their souls.

31. It is a heavenly spectacle when the husband and the wife sit together in some retired place and pray and sing and commune with the Eternal Spirit with joyful hearts.

32. So may they rise when this life is over to the beatitudes of heaven and enter together the mansions of everlasting holiness and joy!

SERVANTS.

1. Blessed is the house where the servants are kindly treated and their wants carefully attended to.

2. The pride of man so puffeth him that he hates and despises his servants and thinks it mean to look after their well-being.

3. Shall the master serve? The servant alone serveth. So argues the conceited heart.

4. Yes the master serveth, no less than the servant. He who serveth not cannot be a master.

5. Even the Lord of heaven and earth serveth, yea He cometh down daily from His exalted throne to serve even the poorest and the lowest of His servants.

6. Then fling away thy pride, boastful man, and think it truly divine to serve those who come to serve thee.

7. The householder led by the spirit of God shall look upon the menials under him as his children worthy of his tenderest care and paternal solicitude.

8. Let him remember that the Lord holds him accountable for these wards committed to his guardianship.

9. And let the master of the house be unto the servants their father, and the mistress of the house their mother, so shall there be exceeding joy among them, and they shall serve both loyally and cheerfully.

10. When thou engagest thy servant give him clearly to understand what his work shall be, explaining to him the exact nature of his duties, the total quantity of work he shall have to perform, the number of hours he shall be allowed to rest each day, and also the precise time when he shall get his wages, whether weekly or monthly or quarterly.

11. Let not wages accumulate, for then the householder runs into debt and brings upon himself the double curse of breaking a sacred contract and inflicting sorrow and suffering, improvidence and debt and habits of recklessness upon the poor and helpless, while he himself rejoices in plenty and eats his bread merrily.

12. Wilt thou cruelly deprive thy servant of his due and deny him his bread and salt while thou art fattening thyself and thy children with his money?

13. God forbid! Against such atrocious selfishness, injustice and inhumanity may He guard thee!

14. Tempt not thy servant, for he who bringeth the poor and the weak into temptation committeth grievous sin.

15. If thou givest thy servant no definite work to do but leavest him amid the uncertainties of a wide sea of general service, making him thy butler, tailor, cook and groom, and loading him with all manner of responsibilities, thou temptest him to be negligent and idle and unfit, and thou spoilest him with too much work and too many cares.

16. The servant who is expected to do everything shall do nothing satisfactorily and shall always cause his master trouble and vexation.

17. Nor shalt thou tempt thy servant by leaving thy cash and jewellery and other precious things scattered on all sides. Nor shalt thou give him charge of thy household furniture and goods without making a list of them or distinctly making him responsible for them.

18. He who keeps no account of his own things, is extravagant and reckless, and does not keep his servants under control and a strict sense of accountability must not wonder or regret if his things are constantly missing and disappearing and his servants growing in dishonesty and unfair dealings.

19. How many have made honest servants dishonest by leading their weak hearts into temptations!

20. These men sin against God by losing through negligence the things in His house of which they are responsible custodians, and they sin against man by plunging him into temptation and corruption: — verily the Lord will punish both the negligent master and dishonest servant.

21. The apartments assigned to the servants shall not be damp or unhealthy: let them have healthy rooms, comfortable bed, warm clothing in winter and nourishing food.

22. And when they are ill neglect not to supply them with proper medicine and diet.

23. As thou shalt punish and scold thy servants when they are disobedient or negligent, thou shalt gladden them with kind words and make them handsome presents when they discharge their duties to thy satisfaction.

24. On occasions of religious festival and domestic ceremony give the menials in thy establishment a joyful feast.

25. The fruits of the season, ice, sweet-meats, clothes and shoes, new or old, shall also prove acceptable presents, and shall cause thy servants to smile and bless thee.

26. Let the man servant and the woman servant live apart from each other, and let them not by cultivating undue familiarity bring scandal and corruption into the Lord's house.

27. Dissipation and drunkenness thou shalt check among thy servants with the severest discipline.  

28. Thou shalt also keep thy children from contracting evil habits in the company of bad servants: these have ruined many a family.

29. Beware of the seductive charms of frail women and harlots who often seek employment in the guise of domestic servants and entrap and ruin the unwary. Against such foul pest close thy doors.

30. Do all in thy power to enforce the strictest moral discipline among thy servants and lead them into the paths of honesty, sobriety and purity.

31. If they can read fail not to put in their hands cheap journals and illustrated popular magazines that they may find profitable employment for their minds during leisure hours.

32. When they are engaged in devotion or other religious exercises interrupt them not.

33. If they are of thy faith admit them occasionally to such services or hymns or readings in the house as may be interesting and profitable to them.  

34. As God rules His servants so shalt thou rule thy servants righteously and in mercy.

CEREMONIES.

1. The householder shall perform all domestic ceremonies in the name of the One Holy God.

2. And he shall shun all admixture of idolatry and superstition.

3. Neither shall he bow before the gods of the land seeking to please kith and kin, nor shall he introduce new forms of idol-worship or new superstitions of his own devising.

4. The purity of his faith shall he preserve unsullied in all rites and ceremonies, and his conscience shall he keep clean and undefiled.

5. Be not addicted to forms and pompous symbolism, and always avoid pageantry and show.

6. For the heart that panteth after these shall prefer the thing of the senses to the things of the spirit and run into the excesses of ritualism.

7. Encumber not the spirit with too many empty forms, but adopt only such rites as the spirit demands and needs, so that the form may be subservient to the spirit and not the spirit to the form.

8. The children of the Spirit rejoice in simplicity, not the superfluity of external observances.

9. There is no merit in rites and ceremonies, no sanctifying efficacy in outward objects or forms.

10. The purest and the grandest rite hath no saving power in itself, nor are things in themselves hallowed which we call hallowed.

11. Flowers and incense, fire and water, flags and pictures may prove helpful to devotion; but woe unto him who magnifies them as sacred things.

12. Times and seasons, hours and months may be appointed for particular devotional or household purposes and may therefore seem holy; but woe unto him who ascribes holiness unto them and thinks other seasons unholy.

13. Recitations of scriptural texts, priestly ministrations, ablutions, vows, all these verily have their uses, and may be made to subserve most sacred purposes; but woe unto him who thinks that they are therefore sacred in themselves and none is saved without their saving merits.

14. And yet thou shalt observe all rites and ceremonies enjoined by the Lord with becoming solemnity, doing nothing recklessly or with irreverence.

15. Whenever there is a domestic festival to be celebrated or any important sacrament to be performed conduct thyself according to the rules and discipline of thy Church, so that the ceremony may be solemn and impressive.

16. And let ail the members of the Holy Church adopt uniformity of procedure and a fixed and definite ritual in matters essential leaving room for differences in things non-essential to suit varying tastes and the diverse needs and customs of different races and communities.

17. Thus shall there be unity of worship and likewise unity of ritual in the homes of all who are loyal to the Holy One and His Church.

JATKARMA Oft BIRTH-FESTIVAL.

1. When a child is born there shall be rejoicing in the house.

2. And the occasion shall be celebrated with becoming demonstrations of joy and gratefulness.

3. For is not the birth of a child the advent of an immortal soul, the enlistment of a new soldier to fight against evil and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth, a fresh accession to the ranks of workers in the Lord's vineyard, and the appearance of a new star of joy and hope in the firmament of the domestic world to gladden the hearts of parents?

4. Is not the child a precious gift of Providence, a fresh proof of the Lord's loving kindness?

5. Is not this new-born babe an angel of innocence and divine beauty in whose face is the image of the very God?

6. Wilt thou then treat this great event in the household with cynical indifference, O householder?

7. Rejoice father and mother, brother and sister, rejoice all ye in God's house, rejoice kinsmen and neighbours, and give unto this bright angel a fitting reception and a joyful welcome, and pour out your heart's thanksgivings unto the Merciful Lord.

8. After the birth of the child it shall be thoroughly washed and cleansed and anointed, and dressed in a suit of fresh garment of pure white linen shall be presented to the mother.

9. And the mother shall joyfully look at the child, and kiss it with overflowing affection.

10. And then assuming a prayerful attitude she shall thus invoke Divine blessing: Lord, I have seen the face of this new-born child Thou hast given me. I thank Thee for Thy gift. Father, bless this child, and make It Thine for ever.

11. Then shall the father come and see the child and pray likewise.

12. And then shall brothers and sisters come, and other relatives, and they shall behold the face of the babe with joy and thankfulness, and pray for Divine blessing in their hearts.

13. Great care shall be taken of the child for four weeks after confinement, and the laws of health and sanitation shall be rigidly observed under medical advice and direction, and it shall be treated as a sacred trust.

14. Within a month from the day of birth the jatkarma or birth-festival of the child shall be celebrated.

15. The sanctuary shall be decorated with fresh flowers on the day appointed.

16. After the introductory portion of the usual morning service the father shall stand before the family altar, and offer the following prayer:

17. Merciful God, I thank Thee for having with tender care protected this child in the mother's womb, and preserved it, in its helpless and defenceless condition, from all manner of danger and disease. I thank Thee that, in darkness and solitude, Thou didst shape its limbs with artistic symmetry and beauty, and having furnished it with all necessary appliances Thou hast in the fulness of time brought it into the world to do Thy work and serve Thy people. And as I thankfully bow before Thee for this Thy gift, which is unto me a fresh token of Thy love, a treasure and a joy, grant that I may fully realize my responsibility and discharge my stewardship with fidelity. Conscious of my weakness and imperfections I cast myself under Thy guidance, and most humbly do I beseech Thee to give me faith and strength and true paternal love, that I may as Thy devoted servant keep this infant under Thy guardianship and care, and rear it for Thy service. Bless this child, and be unto it Father and Mother and Friend, that it may ever repose on Thy tender lap far from all evil. God of this house, make the new-born child a real joy in all things unto its parents and a blessing to the whole family. For all Thy mercies, Good God, we ascribe unto Thee glory everlasting.

18. Then shall the minister pronounce the benediction, and the entire congregation shall say:

Peace, Peace, Peace.

19. A hymn shall be chanted, suitable to the occasion, at the close of the ceremony.

NAMKARAN OR NOMINATION CEREMONY.

1. The namkaran ceremony shall be held within six months from the date of the birth of the child.

2. On the day appointed, the child shall be taken into the bath-room for the ablution.

3. It shall be anointed with flower-oil, and then out of a new and clean cistern water shall be poured on its head, and the body shall be rubbed and cleansed.

4. The child shall then be dressed in a new suit of clothes appropriate to the occasion and decorated with ornaments such as the means of the parents shall provide, not profusely but tastefully.

5. Let sandal wood be rubbed against a piece of stone with water, and let the fragrant paint be applied to the forehead of the child, as is the national custom.

6. And during all this time there shall be national music as is usual on such occasions, to add joy to the festivity.

7. The relatives and guests shall enter the family sanctuary or assemble in some other place appointed for the purpose and elegantly decorated with evergreens and flowers and flags of various colours.

8. The minister of the congregation to which the family belongs shall officiate as family priest, or the upadhaya, or some other missionary or elder of the Church.

9. He shall conduct service in the prescribed order, and at the conclusion of the introductory portion the minister shall send for the child.

10. The father of the child shall carry it on his arms, and standing before the vedi in the midst of the congregation.

11. He shall pray in the manner following: O Lord of the universe, whom we love and trust and adore as our Household Deity, to Thee I present and commend this my beloved child. Merciful Father, Thou hast safely preserved and nourished this helpless child amid the dangers of the world: and as a Loving Mother Thou hast nursed and suckled it, and it has grown from day to day in strength and stature in the sweet milk of life Thy breast hath supplied. And now, having made it fit, Thou hast called it into Thy presence to give it a name whereby it shall be designated and known unto the world as a person and establish its individuality as a member of the human family; and also to put into its mouth the first morsel of strong food in substitution for the milk of helpless infancy, and thereby celebrate, amid the festive joy of the family, its initiation into man's estate. For all these mercies accept, O God, my warmest thanks. Help us to approach Thee with abounding gratefulness and joy in our hearts, and present this child of Thine at Thy holy feet for the honors Thou hast reserved for it. Graciously vouchsafe unto this child Thy sweet kiss and Thy tender blessing, and give it to-day its name and its rightful place in Thy house. And while its lower self takes its position in the world, grant, O Spirit Eternal, that its soul may grow and be fitted for its true place among the immortals in Thy heavenly kingdom. Grant unto us strength that we may so train and educate this child that it may prove Thy dutiful child and faithful servant. Make it truly a joy unto its parents and an ornament of the family. Be with this our beloved child for ever, and prosper it under Thy benignant care. Unto Thy holy and merciful Name be glory and honor time without end!

12. The child shall then be presented to the arms of the minister and he shall thus name the child: In the presence of God Almighty and before the congregation of His faithful believers I give unto the son [or daughter] of Sri ..... the name Sriman [or Srimati] ..... May the Lord of Mercy bless and prosper the child!

13. A flower garland shall the minister put round the neck of the child, and kissing its forehead thus bless it: In the name of our good God I bless thee, dear child, and to His care I commend thee.

14. The whole congregation shall then say

Peace, Peace, Peace.

15. And the usual benediction and a suitable hymn shall conclude the proceedings.

16. Service over, the child shall be taken into the inner apartments and presented to the mother, who shall carry it on her arms into the dining-room, which shall be tastefully decorated for the occasion, the ladies of the house and all the female relatives and children forming a procession.

17. The child shall be seated on a small wooden raised seat or carpet.

18. And rice and curries of all sorts, fruits and sweet-meats shall be arranged on plates before the child.

19. Out of these dishes, the mother shall put into the child's mouth a little of each, beginning with rice or rice-pudding or bread, saying: This rice I administer unto thee. The Lord bless the rice unto thy well-being.

20. After the mother has administered rice and curries, the chief among the female relatives and guests shall do likewise.

21. And as the child eats, the ladies shall sound the conch-shell and the children shall make joyful sounds.

22. There shall also be music at the time in the outer courtyard of the house.

23. After the rice ceremony is over the child shall be brought into the parlour, where relatives and friends shall make presents and impart blessings and kisses and good wishes.

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DIKSHA OR RITE OF INITIATION.

1. Unto both boys and girls suitable education shall be given embracing all branches of general knowledge.

2. And when they are fit special instruction shall be given in the essential and elementary principles of the New Dispensation by the family priest or some other competent teacher nominated by him.

3. When the boy has attained the age of sixteen or about that time, previous to marriage, he shall be formally admitted into the Church of the New Dispensation, on being declared qualified.

4. The rite of initiation shall take place in the Iocal tabernacle on the usual day appointed for service or on special days, or in the family sanctuary, at at some other place suited to the occasion.

5. On the day appointed the candidate shall solemnly enter the bath-room, and there wash and cleanse himself by holy ablution.

6. After he has been anointed water shall be poured over his head and body, and he shall say in his mind, Glory to Sachchidananda [Brahman, or the Supreme Spirit, Vedantas.].

7. Then out of a new and bright metallic vessel, bearing the inscription of the flag of the New Dispensation, water shall be poured over his head by the officiating priest, and the candidate shall say within himself, As the Lord of water purifies the body, so may He purify my heart and make it clean; and as this santijal [water of peace] comforteth my body, so may the water of grace bring peace to my soul!

8. At the conclusion of the ceremony of water-baptism the candidate, the priest and all around shall say unitedly, Peace, Peace, Peace.

9. Dressed in a new suit of pure white linen with a yellow gairic cloth hanging round the neck, the candidate shall be conducted into the tabernacle in due time, and he shall occupy the seat in front of the vedi reserved for candidates for initiation.

10 After the introductory service the minister shall say: Let the diksharthi, or candidate, who desireth admission in the holy Church of God, be brought before me.

11. The spiritual instructor or the father or an intimate friend of the candidate shall stand forward with him before the vedi as his sponsor, and say, Revered minister, unto thee I commend this candidate named Sri ..... for admission into the Church of the New Dispensation, and I declare him qualified to the best of my knowledge.

12. On the presentation of the candidate the minister shall thus interrogate him: Hast thou, O diksharthi, made up thy mind to join the holy Church of the New Dispensation?

The candidate shall say. Yes.

Minister: Dost thou know and believe in the essential principles of the New Dispensation?

Candidate: Yes.

Minister: Art thou called by the Lord to join His Church?

Candidate: Yes.

Minister: Art thou resolved to submit to the discipline of the Church and to bear witness unto the truth in thy daily life?

Candidate: Yes; so help me God.

Minister: Dost thou believe that God is one, that He is infinite and perfect, almighty, all-wise, all-merciful, all-holy, all-blissful, eternal and omnipresent, our Creator, Father, Mother, Friend, Guide, Judge and Saviour?

Candidate: Yes.

Minister: Dost thou believe that the soul is immortal and eternally progressive?

Candidate: Yes.

Minister: Dost thou believe in God's moral law as revealed through the commandments of conscience, enjoining perfect righteousness in all things? Dost thou believe that thou art accountable to God for the faithful discharge of the manifold duties, and that thou shalt be judged and rewarded and punished for thy virtues and vices here and hereafter?

Candidate: Yes.

Minister: Dost thou believe in the Church Universal, which is the deposit of all ancient wisdom and the receptacle of all modern science, which recognises in all prophets and saints a harmony, in all scriptures a unity and through all dispensations a continuity, which abjures all that separates and divides and always magnifies unity and peace, which harmonizes reason and faith, yoga and bhakti, asceticism and social duty in their highest forms, and which shall make of all nations and sects one kingdom and one family in the fulness of time?

Candidate: Yes.

Minister: Dost thou believe in natural inspiration, general and special? Dost thou believe in providence, general and special?

Candidate: Yes.

Minister: Dost thou accept and revere the scriptures?

Candidate: Yes, so far as they are records of the wisdom and devotion and piety of inspired geniuses and of the dealings of God's special providence in the salvation of nations, of which records only the spirit is God's but the letter man's.

Minister: Dost thou accept and revere the world's prophets and saints?

Candidate: Yes, so far as they embody and reflect the different elements of Divine character, and set forth the higher ideals of life for the instruction and sanctification of the world. I ought to revere and love and follow all that is divine in them, and try to assimilate it to my soul, making what is theirs and God's mine.

Minister: What is thy creed?

Candidate: The science of God, which enlighteneth all.

Minister: What is thy gospel?

Candidate: The love of God which saveth all.

Minister: What is thy heaven?

Candidate: Life in God, which is accessible to all.

Minister: What is thy Church?

Candidate: The invisible Kingdom of God, in which is all truth, all love, all holiness.

Minister: Then avow thy faith in the presence of God Almighty.

Candidate: This day the_____ of 188_, I ..... do in the presence of the Holy God solemnly avow my full faith in the essential principles of Pure Theism and enter the Church of the New Dispensation. So help me God.

Minister: In the name of God I charge thee to eschew all manner of untruth and sin and sectarianism, and lead a life of faith and purity, love and devotion, unto the glory of God and of His holy church.

Candidate: Most Merciful God, grant unto me Thy redeeming grace that I may magnify Thy truth and prove worthy of Thy Church.

Minister: May the Lord bless thee and be with thee for ever!

The minister shall then present unto the candidate the Flag of the New Dispensation, and two of the members of the congregation shall stand forward and present unto him on behalf of the Church, a copy of Scriptural Texts, a copy of the New Samhita and a carpet for daily devotion, and embrace him with brotherly love.

The candidate shall then bow reverently before the Lord, and the whole congregation shall say,

Peace, Peace, Peace.

BIBAHA OR MARRIAGE CEREMONY.

1. None shall marry before attaining the age of puberty.

2. Premature marriage is not merely a physical evil and a fruitful source of disease and suffering, but is likewise a social curse in as much as it brings on degeneracy: nay it is a great moral evil and a sin in the eye of the Lord.

3. The virginity of girlhood shall be honored; he who dishonors it is guilty of hideous sensuality, a filthy crime and an abominable sin.

4. Let nature fix the marriageable age in different climes, for nature's ordinance is the law of God.

5. Neither marry too early nor too late, according to thy whim or pleasure, but let nature determine in each individual case when the body and the mind are fit to marry.

6. Not age alone or climate, but health, pecuniary position, character, all these shall combine to determine the time of marriage.

7. In the choice of a wife every man shall follow, not his carnal impulses nor his worldly cravings, but his better judgment, and also the sage counsel of his parents and guardians.

8. Indiscretion and rashness in marriage are most disastrous, and let young men and young women beware.

9. Where the wishes of the parties and the riper judgment of their guardians are in full accord there surely is a guarantee of happiness and success.

10. Either the parties shall select and the guardians approve or the guardians shall select and the parties approve.

11. Before the marriage takes place the parties shall by cordial interviews make their acquaintance closer and more intimate till it ripens into mutual confidence and friendship.

12. But such interviews shall take place in the presence of guardians or friends, and no undue familiarity shall be permitted.

13. There are those who defile and ruin their character, and then to hide the scandal they go and marry, thinking that marriage covereth sin and shame.

14. Such marriages are unclean and impure and are dangerous to social morals, and where conception takes place before the day of marriage, what horror, what dire infamy!

15. If persons of wrecked morals wish to mend their lives and show sincere contrition they may marry, and by such reclamation of the fallen society shall no doubt benefit; but beware let not the purity of the house of God be in the least compromised or sacrificed, and among the pure let no manner of uncleanness be suffered to enter.

16. No man shall have more than one wife, no woman shall have more than one husband.

17. The Church interdicts polygamy and polyandry and neither barrenness nor incurable disease nor unchastity shall be considered a justifiable pretext for violating the strict rule of monogamy.

18. Nor shall persons who have married divorce each other and marry again.

19. Not even in cases of adultery or cruelty or absolute dislike shall divorce be permitted.

20. If friends recommend it or earthly courts sanction it, they do so for earthly convenience or pleasure, and have no regard for the Lord's heavenly ordinance.

21. The law of God declares the marriage tie sacred and indissoluble.

22. Let not earthly hands untie the sacred knot which the Lord hath tied.

23. If those who fancy they have been divorced from each other and released from all conjugal obligations, and marry again under such pleasant hallucinations, they shall be guilty of bigamy before the throne of God, and woe unto them who contract and those who solemnize such unlawful alliances.

24. Nor shall men or women seek to dissolve the marriage bond in consequence of disunion and disagreement in religious views.

25. Where the husband and the wife were originally members of another denomination and one of them refuses to join because the other has adopted the new faith, or where one of them secedes and formally joins another denomination after both have for a time professed the new faith, the deserted party shall not make the desertion a pretext for another marriage, but shall set an example of faith and resignation.

26. If differences of opinion or temper or occasional moral failings lead to serious rupture or even separation, every possible effort ought to be made towards reconciliation and reclamation during the entire life-time of the parties, for the solemn relations and obligations of marriage can never be slackened or ignored.

27. Let men and women remember then that once married they are for ever married, and that divorce hath no place in the Church of God.

28. If the husband or the wife dies when very young, the survivor may marry again, but if in advanced age, the survivor shall do well to think no more of marriage, but dedicate his or her life to the Lord.

29. The parties marrying shall not be related to each other in any degree of consanguinity or affinity forbidden by national custom.

30. None shall marry a near relation, for that would be both shockingly unnatural, immoral and harmful.

31. No marriage shall be allowed where a relationship can be traced between the parties through one common ancestor who stands to each of them in a nearer relationship than the fourth degree in the line of the father or the mother, or where one of the parties is the lineal ancestor or the brother or sister of some lineal ancestor of the other.

32. After the parties have approved of each other and finally determined upon marriage, their guardians shall ratify the match by mutual presents or by written stipulation or by betrothal or otherwise.

33. If the time proposed for marriage be still distant and there be reasons to make the match binding, or if the alliance be of more than ordinary importance and one commended by Providence more for the union of races and the extension of His kingdom, a solemn ceremony of betrothal shall be instituted, even before the marriageable age is completed, whereby the guardians shall make the compact sacred and inviolable in the presence of God and a few witnesses.

34. Such betrothal shall be considered morally tantamount to marriage and quite as binding on the parties, but it shall not give them permission to live as man and wife till they have completed their age and marriage has been duly consummated.

35. About a week before the day appointed for marriage the national ceremony of Anointing shall take place.

36. Fragrant oil and perfume of various kinds shall be administered to the bridegroom and the bride in their respective houses, and water shall be poured on them and flowers scattered over them by their respective friends and relations, the ladies sounding the conch-shell, offering their blessings and good wishes.

37. From that day to the day of marriage shall be amusements, festivities, music and dinners, and much rejoicing in both houses.

38. On the day appointed for marriage the house of the bride shall be decorated with evergreens and festoons and flags, and especially the courtyard or any other place selected for the nuptial ceremony.

39. In the evening a procession shall be formed of the friends and relatives of the bridegroom, and he shall be accompanied richly dressed and seated in a suitable vehicle with music and lights, to the house of the bride.

40. On the arrival of the party the bridegroom shall be welcomed at the gate by the father or guardian of the bride and other elder members of the house, and he shall be escorted to the place reserved for him, where he shall sit on richly embroidered carpet on a raised seat.

41. When the guests have all taken their seats the guardian of the bride shall stand up, and say with becoming deference unto the assembly: Grant me permission that I may perform the blessed ceremony of marriage on this auspicious day, and say ye Svasti.

42. The guests shall say, Svasti, so be it.

43. The bridegroom shall then be led to his seat on a carpet facing the guardian of the bride in front of the minister's vedi, and the ceremony of Varan or Welcome shall take place in the manner following.

VARAN.

44. The father or guardian of the bride taking a plate full of flowers, sandal-perfume, rosewater, and a bouquet in his right hand shall say to the bridegroom: Accept this arghyam.

Bridegroom: This arghyam I accept.

Father of the bride: This wedding dress do thou accept.

Bridegroom: I accept it.

Father of the bride: This finger ring do thou accept.

Bridegroom: I accept it.

45. The bridegroom shall then retire into the dressing-room and there change his attire, putting on the new wedding dress just presented to him. He shall then be led into the female apartments, and there the mother of the bride, with all the other ladies assembled, shall similarly do honor to the bridegroom and administer the rite of Varan.

46. The bridegroom shall return to his seat accompanied by the bride, handsomely dressed and decked in jewellery, and they shall sit in front of the vedi, facing each other.

MUTUAL CONSENT.

47. The minister shall conduct service in the prescribed order, and at the conclusion of the introductory portion, shall interrogate the bridegroom thus: Sriman ..... Wilt thou have Srimati ..... as thy wife?

Bridegroom: Yes.

Minister to the bride: Srimati ..... Wilt thou have Sriman ..... as thy husband?

Bride: Yes.

MAKING OVER CHARGE.

48. The father or guardian of the bride shall make over charge to the bridegroom in the manner following: This day, the _____ day of _____ in the year _____, the _____ day after the full [or new] moon, _____ day [day of the week,] in the holy presence of the All-witnessing God, I make over charge of my beloved daughter, prettily dressed and adorned with jewels, Srimati ..... into the hands of Sriman ..... great-grandson of ....., grandson of ....., son of Srijukta ..... May he accept the solemn charge of guardianship.

Bridegroom: In the holy presence of the All-witnessing God I take over charge of Srimati ..... great-grand-daughter of ..... grand-daughter of ....., daughter of Srijukta ..... Svasti!

Father of the bride: Neither in things spiritual nor in temporal wealth and enjoyments shalt thou neglect her.

Bridegroom: I will not.

Father of the bride: In consummation of this auspicious ceremony of surrender of guardianship, I give unto thee godly Theist Sriman ..... these gold and silver presents and these various articles, of household furniture for thine use.

Bridegroom: I accept these gratefully. Svasti!

COVENANT.

49. The bridegroom shall take the right hand of the bride with his own right hand, and round their hands the priest shall twine a pretty flower garland and tie the love-knot.

Bridegroom: Srimati ..... This day, the holy God being my witness, I take thee as my lawful wife.

Bride: Sriman .....This day, the holy God being my witness, I take thee as my lawful husband.

Bridegroom: In prosperity and adversity, in happiness and misery, in health and sickness I will assiduously promote thy welfare so long as I live.

Bride: In prosperity and adversity, in happiness and misery, in health and sickness I will assiduously promote thy welfare so long as I live.

Bridegroom: May my heart be thine, may thy heart be mine, and may our hearts thus united be the Lord's!

Bride: May my heart be thine, may thy heart be mine, and may our hearts thus united be the Lord's!

Bridegroom: Be thou my friend, may I be thy friend; may our friendship never be dissolved!

Bride: Be thou my friend, may I be thy friend; may our friendship never be dissolved!

PRAYER.

Bridegroom: O God, help me to keep this marriage covenant.

Bride: O God, help me to keep this marriage covenant.

MINISTER'S CHARGE.

50. The minister shall thus address the married couple: This day, by the grace of the Merciful God and in His holy presence, you are joined by the ties of wedlock. So long you were moving singly in the path of life, mindful only of self-improvement. Now the weighty responsibilities attached to your mutual relationship are reposed in your hands. To-day you take the first step in your worldly life: advance with caution. Beware; be not entangled in the meshes of earthly fascination; let not the world's pleasure and prosperity make you forgetful of the Giver of all pleasures. Fully relying on the True God be constantly employed in promoting mutual well-being and augmenting each other's happiness. Perform all household work as God's work, and always keep alive this noble precept of Theism in your hearts:

"Brahmanistho grihastha syat tattvajnana parayanah
"Yat yat karma prakurvita tat Brahmani samarpayet.''

The God-trusting householder shall be versed in religious knowledge. Whatsoever work he doeth he shall render unto the Lord.

Give all ye possess unto the Lord and He shall keep you from all manner of evil. Make your home the home of the Lord and a holy and happy sanctuary of the New Dispensation.

51. To the bridegroom: Sriman ..... Be always engaged in promoting the true welfare of thy wife. To-day God has committed to thy hands the onerous duties of domestic life. Subdue thy evil propensities and perform righteous deeds. Preserve the equanimity of thy heart in all conditions of life. As thou shalt strive to preserve and prosper thine own soul so shalt thou also endeavour to lead the soul of thy wife in the sacred path of truth. By instruction and example keep her constantly engaged in beneficial domestic duties, that she may ever walk with thee as thy companion in the path of truth and happiness.

52. To the bride: Srimati ..... Thou shalt do such work with mind, words and deeds as may be conducive to thy husband's welfare. Rely upon him with single-hearted trust, and do all that he commands for thy benefit. Be devoted to thy husband and active in righteousness. Be not extravagant in thine expenses, and quarrel with none. Keep thy thoughts, words and actions pure, and be always engaged in furthering the progress of thy soul with thy husband's help.

53. The minister shall thus pronounce the benediction: May the Merciful God help this married couple to advance in the path of truth and peace everlasting! May He adorn their home with all that is true and good and beautiful, and make them for ever happy in His holy church of the New Dispensation!

54. A suitable hymn shall conclude the ceremony, and the entire congregation shall say,

Peace, Peace, Peace.

55. Where the law of the land is doubtful regarding the rights of inheritance and succession the bridegroom and the bride shall, with a view only to secure such rights on behalf of the issue of their marriage, get the marriage duly registered by recognised officers of the State, in the presence of three witnesses.

ANTHYESHTI, OR FUNERAL CEREMONY.

1. There shall be neither levity nor indifference when the solemn hour of death draws near.

2. The final departure of an immortal soul from this world shall be a scene of impressive solemnity and active preparation.

3. Let the departing pilgrim duly dispose of his earthly estate, and then take leave of his relatives and friends and servants gathered round his bed, and give his last blessings, kisses and respects, and say his last words of farewell.

4. And those around shall also say their last words and bid him farewell.

5. Having thus done his last duty to the world he shall quietly draw himself away from things external and temporal and retire into the inner self to prepare himself for his journey to eternity.

6. And let those who are near and dear to him and let all his spiritual elders discharge their last duty by rendering every requisite aid in the solemn outfit.

7. Prayers, scriptural readings, hymns, and such other ministrations shall be administered unto him as shall call him to repentance and faith and hope, and fully awaken him to the realities of the next world.

8. Let him be made to feel that he is standing on the shores of eternity, and that he will soon be off in the ark of faith for his distant home.

9. Let him feel too that his kind and good Mother is with him to take him to his blessed home, and that the cheers of saints are welcoming him homeward.

10. Therefore let no thoughts or cravings of this world disturb him, let not lamentations and cries depress him, but let all circumstances combine to keep up his equanimity, and help him to look, not earthward but heavenward; and whoso thus helps him by counsel or words of cheer is his true friend.

11. Ye relatives and friends, try no longer to encage the spirit-bird about to fly, but help it to be free that it may soar upward singing the Lord's name.

12. Nothing so sweet on death-bed as the dear Name, therefore let all who love and honor the departing pilgrim chant the sweet Name of the Merciful, and gladden and inspire his heart.

13. Thus prepared let him cast his last glance at those around, and then closing his eyes in peace, resign himself into the arms of the Lord.

14. And let his heart quietly pray: Father, it is finished. In Thy bosom let me find peace eternal. My only Hope now and for ever, my Father and Mother dear lead me to my sweet home. Peace, Peace, Peace!

15. On the physician declaring life to be extinct, the body of the departed shall be cleansed and perfumed, the hairs of the head shall be duly arranged, and the body dressed in a new suit of clothes shall be stretched on a new bed, and a fresh white linen sheet shall be thrown over it, keeping only the face exposed.

16. Rose-water shall be sprinkled on the bed, and fresh flowers of various colours strewn over it.

17. The chief mourners shall then gather round the departed, and kneeling pray thus: God of the sorrowful, have mercy on us, wipe off our tears and breathe peace into our troubled hearts. Eternal Spirit, vouchsafe Thy peace and joy unto the departed soul, and prosper Thou Thy servant in Thy blessed home.

18. Friends having received intelligence shall now assemble in a spacious room where the body shall be removed, and all present having cast their last look and retired, the chief mourner or the priest shall put flower garlands over the body of the departed and then cover the face.

19. Then shall the priest offer the following prayer In the midst of the assembly of family and friends: Eternal God, in whose hands are the destinies of individuals and nations, and before whom we are as nothing, we humbly approach Thee with deep grief in our hearts and tears in our eyes. The death of our beloved brother [or sister] has sorely grieved us, and filled the family with sorrow inexpressible. Look compassionately, O Merciful Father, upon these sorrowing and helpless survivors, who have been utterly cast down, and are laid low in the dust. Rouse them and cheer them, and help us all so to resign ourselves unto Thee that we may be able to say, Thy will be done. All is vanity, O God, Thou only art True; therefore teach us to make Thee our all here and hereafter. Our brother [or sister] has been released from all the bonds of this world, and is free from all its cares and burdens. Grant, Good God, that the soul of the deceased may grow in faith in its new abode, and purified by Thine unbounded grace find joy and blessedness everlasting in Thee.

20. The whole congregation shall say,

Peace, Peace, Peace.

21. The body shall then be carried on a decent bedstead with due solemnity to the place of cremation, mourners and relatives accompanying.

22. If it be late at night or if it be raining or if there be any other hindrance the funeral procession shall be deferred till a more seasonable hour.

23. Upon arrival the bedstead with the body shall be kept on ground well cleansed and watered.

24. The funeral pyre shall then be erected of dry and combustible wood in sufficient quantity so that in size it shall not fall short. Its length shall exceed at least by one cubit the length of the body of the departed.

25. And the body, as it is covered, with the entire bed shall be gently stretched on the pyre, and sandal wood so arranged over it as to prevent any part of it being exposed.

26. Neither shall the body be rudely handled nor any limb mutilated, nor shall any thing barbarous or repulsive be permitted with regard to the body, which, though dead, shall be fitly honored.

27. Over the pyre shall incense and resin and chips of sandal wood be placed.

28. The chief of the mourners present or the priest shall then advance towards the pyre with a lighted lamp or torch in his right hand, and apply it to the pyre, saying: In the name of God I apply this holy fire to the last remains of the deceased. The mortal shall burn away and perish, but the immortal liveth. O Lord, keep and bless the departed soul in heaven!

29. After the whole body has been consumed the ashes shall be reverently deposited in a bright metallic urn, and carried to the house.

30. The urn shall be kept in a suitable place in the house till the day of the Sraddha ceremony, when it shall be interred with becoming honors.

SRADDHA CEREMONY.

1. Mourning shall be natural and not an exhibition of grief.

2. Neither shalt thou wholly repress nor shalt thou affect grief for the departed.

3. But let natural affections and sympathies have full play, and let the heart freely give vent to its deep sorrow.

4. Wilt thou amuse thyself and have thy usual round of enjoyments and festivities when thy honored or beloved relative has passed away? Or wilt thou show the utmost callousness and unconcern at the event thinking it a sin to shed tears? God forbid!

5. In the house of God there shall be no heartlessness, no hard stoicism, but all things shall be natural.

6. Let grief be moderate and within bounds, and not excessive.

7. For too much grief affects the brain, brings on disease, begets distrust in Providence, induces sourness and melancholy, cripples faith, hope and love, and makes man a misanthrope.

8. Let thy sorrow be real, O believer, but let it not be the wild shrieks and lamentations of the godless and the unbelieving, but the grief of one who believeth in God and immortality, grief tempered by resignation and trust, and profitable unto the maturing of faith, humility, spirituality and asceticism.

9. The Lord hath ordained grief for high and sacred purposes, and Death has He appointed for our discipline that we may remember the uncertainty of life and the vanity of earthly riches and honors, and seek the treasures of eternal life.

10. The period of mourning shall extend in all cases uniformly over seven days from the day of death, though in individual instances it may be prolonged according to the nearness of the relation and the intensity of grief.

11. During this period such signs of mourning shall be adopted as are enjoined by local usage and national custom, but bodily torture and extreme hardships and whatsoever is harmful to health or rude or repulsive shall be avoided.

12. Besides such diverse signs mourners shall put on a uniform badge of mourning on their persons in the shape of a stripe of yellow gairic cloth, which in this land of the Aryans is held as the national emblem of asceticism.

13. In dress and diet the utmost simplicity and an aversion to luxury and mirth and joviality shall prevail.

14. As an announcement and a warning to outsiders a large sheet of garua cloth shall be put up lengthwise on a wall in some prominent part of the house, one end touching the floor.

15. After the period of mourning is over, that is on the eighth day, the mourners shall all bathe and cleanse themselves in the manner appointed for ablutions, and they shall form a procession carrying the sacred urn in which the ashes of the dead are deposited to the place fixed for their interment.

16. The chief mourner shall carry the urn and the chief among the friends shall carry the sheet of gairic cloth mentioned above waving as a flag, and the entire procession shall move with solemn and slow pace, chanting a melancholy dirge.

17. On arrival at the spot the priest shall offer a prayer thus: Heavenly Father, here we lay at Thy command and as a sacred memorial the ashes of the departed. Bless Thou the ashes of him [or her] whose spirit has gone unto Thee, and unto the departed spirit and also unto all surviving relatives and friends grant Thy peace which perishes not.

Peace, Peace, Peace.

18. The priest shall cover the urn with bricks and mortar, himself using the trowel.

19. Over this shall a small column be subsequently erected, and the name of the dead shall be inscribed on a slab of marble to be fixed on the column.

20. The procession shall return to the sanctuary or meet at the place appointed for the sraddha ceremony, and there, all having taken their seats, the minister shall conduct the usual service.

21. Suitable scriptural texts shall be recited by the minister and two adhyapaks or elders, the minister expounding and explaining them.

22. The chief mourner, or the eldest son shall thus pray as the sraddhakarta on the death of the father, his brother sitting by his side: Lord, Thou gavest and Thou hast taken away. The departure of our honored and beloved father has made us fatherless and helpless. Where he is gone we know, not: the strange unexplored regions where the dead are called and from which they return not no man knoweth. This we know that our father, freed from the sorrows and sufferings and trials of the world, has gone to another world. At Thy feet, O Father of father, give our father's spirit a place, and grant that he may gather heavenly holiness and peace in Thy company time without end. Reveal Thy bright and loving countenance unto him, and help him to drink the nectar of Thy sweet love and be immersed in Thy joy. Thou knowest, O God, how helpless we have become in the death of him who was to us our preserver and protector, our support and strength amid the difficulties and perils of the world. But as Thou art the helper of the helpless and the Father of the fatherless we seek Thy protection in our present condition of bereavement and sorrow. Vouchsafe peace to our troubled and distressed hearts, and speak sweet words of consolation to our disconsolate minds. Thou art the solace of the afflicted and the joy of the grieved. Turn our hearts, dear Lord, from the fleeting pleasures and honors of the world, to the riches of the world above. Comfort us with the assurance that all those who are lost to us are gathered in Thy home, and that we too, when our day cometh, shall be admitted into blessed reunion with the immortal spirits in that happy home. Sanctify our lives and fit us for our eternal abode in the realms of glory above. Glory, glory, glory to Thee, Eternal King.

23. The minister shall then pray and pronounce benediction thus: Mighty God, upon this solemn occasion may we feel that we are but as dust and that Thou only art real, eternally real. Here is man and in a moment he is not. Now family and friends and earthly possessions gladden and cheer us, now they are gone and the soul is launched on eternity, alone and resourceless. Therefore we pray Thee, O Eternal, to fix our hearts on things spiritual and eternal. Intensify our faith in the next world, and prepare us for life eternal. Give Thou to the spirit departed all the light and glory of heaven, and though parted outwardly may we continue united in spirit. By Thine infinite grace may earth be transformed into heaven, and while here may we have a foretaste of its joy, and learn to live in Thee with Thy blessed family of immortals and saints.

May the Lord of mercy grant heavenly peace unto this family and make a heaven of this home!

24. The sraddhakarta shall thus invoke divine blessing: Blessed be my revered father, grandfather, great-grandfather and all my forefathers! Blessed be my beloved kinsmen and friends! Blessed be the ancient Aryan Rishis and Munis of this land! Blessed be all native and foreign prophets and religious leaders! May the disembodied spirits of all, known to us or unknown, friends as well as foes, righteous as well as unrighteous, who inhabit different spheres of the spirit world be blessed!

25. He shall then announce sraddha charities And gifts thus: To-day the _____ day of _____, in the name of God I give away these charities with reverence and humility, for the benefit of society and in honor of the departed.

Peace, Peace, Peace.

 

VRATAS OR VOWS.

1. Besides these principal domestic rites and ceremonies the holy Church of the New Dispensation enjoins vratas or vows for Individual devotees for the accomplishment of higher spiritual purposes.

2. Vows, be it remembered, have no merit whatsoever, but they have efficacy, and each has its uses, which none can dispute.

3. A vow shall never be undertaken for the sake of glory or honor, but only for its advantages.

4. Nor shall vows which are good for one be laid down as good for another; nor shall those which are good for the season be accounted good for all seasons.

5. For verily vows are for individuals, and only apply like medicines to particular conditions of life and to particular exigencies.

6. Where there is no actual need a vow is a superfluity and a useless show.

7. As many wants and needs the soul hath so many are the vows which the Church shall administer unto it for its sanctification.

8. There are vows of chastity and of asceticism, vows of temperance and of self-denial, vows of yoga and of bhakti, vows of forgiveness and of charity, vows of scholarship and of self-knowledge, vows of humility and of obedience, and vows of kindness to animals.

9. There are likewise vows of spiritual matrimony and filial devotion, vows of fraternal love and paternal affection, and vows of household economy and cleanliness.

10. There are vows for men and for women, for adults and children, for widowers and widows, for kings and subjects, for celibates and married men, for the rich and the poor, for apostles and house-holders, for masters and servants, for the healthy and the sick.

11. And so there are also vows social and domestic, vows intellectual, moral and spiritual, vows political, patriotic and philanthropic.

12. But no man can fulfil a vow without the strength of the Lord.

13. For man only proposes and undertakes sanctification, the grace of God giveth success.

14. Remember, O devotee, thou hast no power over evil, and whatsoever thou doest will not avail to put down a single vice.

15. Prayer is the life of all vows, and in prayer alone is their success.

16. Not then in the form or the rite, nor in the duration of vows is any merit, but in the humility and the sincerity of the heart's prayers unto the Lord.

17. While therefore thou undertakest vows, fling off all pride and arrogance and cast thyself entirely upon Divine grace, and seek with singleness of heart the light and help of thy Father in heaven.

VOWS: RIPUSAMHAR

1. First and foremost of vows is Ripusamhar or the conquest and annihilation of one's spiritual foes, the passions.

2. Inasmuch as purity is above all things the vow of self-conquest and sanctification is above all vows.

3. Surely the chief concern of man is to be holy and to be freed from the yoke of the prevailing vices to which he is subject.

4. There be some who are of a wrathful disposition, and some who are lustful, some who are covetous, and some who are proud, and some who are very selfish, and the hearts of these men are always full of impure and carnal thoughts and cravings, which hinder devotion and paralyze prayer.

5. Constant and rigorous discipline is therefore needed to subjugate and destroy these passions.

6. Let the heart feel the enormity of the guilt attached to these vices and repent humbly and sincerely for days and weeks, and let it give itself to constant prayer and self-examination, and withdraw from frivolity and mirth.

7. When the heart is duly prepared and the spirit of the Lord moveth it a day shall be appointed for taking the vow.

8. Early in the morning the penitent sinner shall cry unto the Lord, no man hearing, confessing all his secret sins and deeply lamenting the foul impurity of his heart.

9. His tears shall be real and sincere like those of a man whose very bones have been broken by sin and in whom the furies of hell are ever tormenting the heart, and he shall be humbled down to the dust as one who is unworthy to show his face before God and man.

10. After ablution in the manner already prescribed, he shall join the morning devotion in the family sanctuary, and service over, he shall either alone or amid the congregation proceed to take the vow.

11. He shall say: The grace of the Lord which conquereth all sin help me! The dust of the feet of all saints who have attained holiness and life eternal be with me!

12. Then shall he thus rebuke and chase away the evil in him, naming the particular passion he desires to conquer: Anger [or Lust or Covetousness or Pride or Selfishness,] thou hast polluted my heart and made it like unto a hell. My very bones are black and my blood is full of corruption, and in my breath is the stench of iniquity. Thou enemy of my soul, thou enemy of my God, thou cruel fiend, thou hast deposed conscience and become my master and oppressor, and art always troubling me with foul and wicked thoughts. And though I pray I find no peace, no purity because of thine infernal and poisoned shafts. Therefore will I put thee down and slay thee in the strength of the Holy God. The Son of God within me says, Get thee behind me, and with holy resolution I will drive thee away. Be gone infernal Anger. The Lord hath commanded me to confront thee in open encounter and to put an end to thy vile sway and have done with thee. Led by the Spirit of God and reinforced by the powers of heaven I now meet thee, and plunge this dagger of the Holy Vow into thy breast. Perish, perish, that I may live and grow in holiness from this auspicious hour. May heaven and earth bear witness unto my victory, and may Divine blessings descend upon this converted sinner!

13. He shall conclude with the following prayer: Saviour of sinners, help Thou my soul and bless it that I may conquer mine enemy for ever and never again succumb to its temptations. Make this victory Thou hast achieved in my soul to-day an everlasting triumph of light over darkness, and may all the honor and all the glory be Thine. Victory, victory, victory unto Thy Holy Name for ever.

VOWS: JUVENILE TRAINING.

1. Unto boys and girls pictorial lessons are of great value.

2. They serve to impress on tender and susceptible hearts the great truths of religion and morality and awaken and educate the best sentiments of the young in a most effective manner.

3. Therefore while young, between the age of ten and twelve, boys and girls shall take the Vow of Chitra Sadhan or pictorial training, and be educated by illustrative drawings for the period of a week.

4. These drawings shall be simple and rough and shall be executed on the house floor by means of white paint made of chalk or rice powder mixed with water.

5. The lessons shall be given and the drawings executed by the mother or an elder sister or some other female guardian regularly every afternoon.

6. The candidates shall be taught either in groups or each individually.

7. On the first day the children shall put on new cloth and a flower garland shall be put round the neck.

8. They shall enter the sanctuary led by the mother, and reverently bow before the Lord, their heads touching the ground.

9. The mother shall then lead them on to the place of sadhan, and begin the ceremony thus,

10. All shall unitedly say, Glory to the God of the young, to the Loving God of boys and girls be glory evermore. To our dear heavenly Father and Mother we give glory.

11. The candidate shall say: This holy Vow is for my true welfare. God bless me His child!

12. The mother shall first draw the figure "1," and the child shall place flowers over it and say; One God, one Faith, one Family, one Scripture, one Salvation.

13. Over the second figure representing the flag of the New Dispensation the child shall similarly scatter flowers and say; Victory to the New Dispensation.

14. The third figure shall represent the map of Asia, Europe, Africa and America and the child in honoring it shall say: On earth peace and good will and among the four continents unity.

15. Then the child shall pass on to the other drawings on the floor, placing fresh flowers on each, saying as follows:

16. Figure of a money bag: more precious is truth than earthly treasure.

17. Sun and moon: Bright like the sun may my righteousness be and tender like the moon my love.

18. River: Like the river may my life flow on giving the water of life to thousands and scattering plenty and prosperity on all sides.

19. Like the sandal tree may I give perfume to the enemy who smites and persecutes me.

20. Mountain: may my faith be firm as a rock and my character immovable as the Himalaya.

21. If the candidate be a girl the following drawings shall be added in her case:

22. Necklace: As necklace adorns the neck may chastity be my pearl necklace.

23. Bangles: May charity be the diamond ornament of my hands.

24. Veil: May modesty be my veil.

25. The candidate shall bow saying: Great is this Vow; the Lord make it fruitful.

26. After the ceremony is over, the drawings shall all be washed and effaced, and the same practice shall be repeated daily for a week.

27. On the last day the candidate shall say at the conclusion of the ceremony,

Peace, Peace, Peace.

28. He shall feed those children who are his friends and companions, give honour to his parents and elders, and give alms to the poor, and food to cattle, and birds and insects.

VOWS: SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE.

1. When the husband and the wife are moved and called by the Holy Spirit to advance to a purer alliance they shall obey the call and make immediate preparations for matrimony in the kingdom of heaven.

2. For they married imperfectly when they first married and only in part, and now shall their union be perfected.

3. So long have they been companions in the world, now they shall be companions in heaven.

4. For whereunto is marriage? Unto the begetting of children and the advancement of earthly interest and happiness, saith the carnal man.

5. Not so, saith heaven's Samhita, but marriage is for training husbands and wives for the Kingdom of God.

6. Therefore let men and women who are married marry each other again that so their friendship on earth may ripen into spirit communion in heaven.

7. Between forty and fifty is the age most opportune for this second wedding or the matrimony of souls.

8. Life's burdens have been borne, its chief duties have been discharged, the home has been adjusted, and the joys and sorrows of the world have been experienced, and there has been enough of earthly conjugal life.

9. Now let them think of the privileges, duties and joys of spirit marriage.

10. Three days shall they devote to suitable preparations, spending the time in self-examination, meditation, reading, samjam or discipline and united prayer.

11. On the fourth day, after ablution the husband and the wife shall put on new gairic cloth, and attend morning service in the sanctuary.

12. After regular service they shall sit on new carpets facing each other.

13. The husband shall say to the wife: This day we meet in heaven to celebrate our celestial wedding in the presence of the Lord, our High Priest, and before the immortals as our witnesses. Blessed be the Lord!

14. The wife shall say, Amen, so be it. Blessed be the Lord!

15. Husband: We have had enough experience, O beloved, of the joys and sorrows, the trials and temptations of the world. We have worked together, and enjoyed and suffered together in life's chequered path. We have served the Lord our Master with hearts and hands united as joint servants. And we have had our reward. Now the Lord our Master calls us to a higher world of service and joy, and commands us to consummate and perfect our previous marriage by celebrating to-day the union of disembodied spirits and undertaking the holy vows of spirit husband and spirit wife. So shall we be joint servants in His holy kingdom for time and eternity and live everlastingly, three in one, in deep communion. Art thou ready, beloved?

16. Wife: Ready to obey the Lord's injunction. But, O beloved, the vow is difficult and I am weak. So help me God!

17. Husband: May the Almighty help our weak souls and vouchsafe saving light and strength!

18. Wife: Amen.

19. Husband: Seven days have been assigned unto us for the fulfilment of this sacred and solemn vow and the perfect strengthening of the new matrimonial bonds. Seven days therefore shall we practise the holy vow with fidelity and humility and prayerful trust, relying upon the Lord.

20. Wife: So be it.

21. Husband: Give me thy right hand, daughter, and servant of God, and now let me with this flower garland tie a true love-knot round thy hand and mine as a symbol of sweet spirit union.

22. Wife: So let it be.

23. Husband: If this love-knot be a real bond of souls we lay this day a foundation of eternal reunion. To-day we marry in time, but we marry for eternity; we are now united on earth, we shall be found united in heaven.

24. Wife: So I believe, so I hope, so may it be.

25. Husband: Accept thou, O fellow-pilgrim, this gairic cloth, this ektara, this carpet, and this collection of sacred books. Accept also this Flag of the New Dispensation and be ever true and loyal to this Royal Flag of our King.

26. Wife: These I accept with a grateful heart.

27. Husband: This is the Lord's command that we do keep our hands and hearts clean; renounce anger and pride, carnality and worldliness; grow in faith and righteousness, love and devotion; give alms to the poor and relieve suffering; and that we by reading, prayer, meditation, holy conversation and discipline as fellow devotees gradually enter into that Yoga with each other and with our God which is the perfection of all devotion and happiness. God bless our union and make it holy and happy!

28. Wife: Amen.

29. The husband shall pray as follows: God of Yoga, by true yoga bond bind our souls that I may be in my wife and she in me and we two in Thee in perpetual harmony and peace. Make us pure and chaste and keep us from all that is evil and unclean. Raise us from this world and make us live henceforth in Thee in the realms of light above, in sweet concord and perfect joy.

30. And then the husband and the wife shall reverently bow before the Lord, saying. Blessed be our God, the soul's joy for ever.

Peace, Peace, Peace.

31. For seven days the husband and the wife shall pray and hold communion and chant the Holy Name together using the ektara as accompaniment. They shall daily during the holy week read sacred books and converse on deep spiritual subjects. They shall also give alms, feed birds and domesticated animals, and water plants, and cull fresh flowers for the Lord. And they shall feed and serve the elders of the Church, one every day, and make suitable presents.

VOWS: CELIBACY.

1. The candidate shall pray and take the covenant as follows:

2. Here am I in obedience to Thy call, O God Almighty, to take the vow of celibacy. If it be Thy will and pleasure that I should not enter the married state, but keep aloof from its cares and trials, its pleasures and temptations, and consecrate my entire life to Thy service, I will sacrifice all my carnal desires and worldly cravings and follow Thy bidding with my whole heart. This day the day of in the year _____, in Thy holy presence. Truth being my witness, I take the sacred Vow of Celibacy, and do most solemnly promise to observe the rules of the Order so long as I live on earth. In the sacred flame of chastity I burn up to-day all that is carnal, sensual and worldly, and I dedicate my sanctified soul to philanthropy, charity and devotion. Hold me up by Thy redeeming grace that I may never slip off the straight path of chastity. From woman's blandishments preserve me, from the earth's snares and sorceries save me, that I may be ever loyal to the flag of my Holy Order. Let others marry and be married. May I keep the injunction which specially cometh to me from Thee. And may glory be unto Thy name time without end!

WIDOWHOOD.

3. This poor, helpless, forlorn and disconsolate widow falls at Thy feet, O merciful Father, and seeks peace and sanctity in Thy grace. My husband has gone to a better world, and in him I have lost my all. In utter helplessness I look to Thee as mine only hope and refuge.

O Thou widow's Friend, Thou Husband of the husbandless, I come to Thee to take the Vow Thou hast ordained for me. My husband has departed from this world. May he prosper in a better world and find eternal joy in Thee! And may I, his poor wife, though separated outwardly, continue for ever united with him in spirit! But grant, O Lord, that I may henceforth regard Thee as my true Husband, and give mine entire love and fidelity to Thee, Make me Thine for ever. This day, the _____ day of _____ in the year _____, _____ I take the Vow of Widowhood in Thy holy presence. I will not marry again: a second husband I will never take. Grant, Good God, that my life may always be the life of a widow, simple, self-denying, devoid of carnality, meek, forgiving, charitable, patient, devout, contemplative, given to prayer and discipline, and always busy in the service of the Lord, Thus shall my humble life be through Thy grace a blessing to myself and to others. Glory to Thee, God of our beloved New Church.

SADHAK.

To arrest my worldliness and turn my heart towards Thee Thou hast, O God, in the plenitude of Thy mercy brought this sinner into Thy holy altar that I may take the Vow which awaits me. It is Thy wish, my Father, that I should no longer pass my days as the worldly-minded do, but that I should be among the spiritual who love Thee and serve Thee as their life's chief vocation. This day, the _____ day of _____ in the year _____, _____ in Thy holy presence, I solemnly take the Vow of the sacred Order of Sadhaks [or Devotees] and do bind myself by covenant to practise devotion and discipline and to serve the holy Church of the New Dispensation to the best of my power. So help me, my Father and Saviour.

VOWS: ASCETIC HOUSEHOLDER.

1. The candidate after the usual service shall pray and covenant as follows:

2. Great and arduous are the duties of the sacred Order to which Thou hast called me, O Lord. But as it is good in Thy sight that I should take the Vow, I will obey Thee and rely on the strength of the Holy Spirit. I know not how to harmonize household duty and asceticism, and my weak heart trembles at the idea. Grant me strength and poverty of spirit, humility and self-denial that I may, though a samsari [worldly] householder, pass my days as an ascetic. This day, the _____ day of _____ in the year _____ , I take the holy Vow of the Ascetic Householder, and solemnly pledge myself to the observance of its rules and injunctions. All my earnings I will give and surrender unconditionally to the Holy Church of the New Dispensation, and will spend them for the benefit of my family and for public good as the Holy Church shall command, sacrificing mine own inclinations and cravings. I will contract no debts which I am unable to repay. I will thankfully accept all Thy gifts, and in the midst of the world's pleasures and honors I will in Thy strength fulfil the vow of poverty. So help me and bless me, my God.

MISSIONARY.

3. After the prescribed period of probation, education and discipline extending over a year is over the candidate shall be introduced to the minister by one already belonging to the Order in the manner following:

4. This man saith he hath been moved by the Holy Spirit to enter the Holy Order of Missionaries and called to take its Vows. I present him to thee, Revered Minister, and to this congregation, and beg that the holy vow may be administered to him.

5. Minister: Is this Order thine own choice or art thou really called to it?

6. Candidate: Called.

7. Minister: By whom?

8. Candidate: By the Holy Spirit.

9. Minister: How dost thou know it?

10. Candidate: My best impulses and aspirations tend in this direction; my ideas, tastes and capacities are all adapted to it; my whole life has naturally grown into it.

11. Minister: Dost thou believe that while yet in thy mother's womb the Lord ordained thee, and that thou comest here only to ratify nature's ordination?

12. Candidate: Yes, so I believe, Revered Minister.

13. Minister: Wilt thou faithfully carry out the injunctions of this Holy Order all thy life and prove by life-long fidelity that he who is once a missionary is for ever a missionary.

14. Candidate: Yes. So help me God.

15. Minister: In what relation wilt thou stand to the Lord's Church and its congregation.

16. Candidate: Not as master or ruler, but as a devoted and loyal servant, serving all to the best of my ability.

17. Minister: How wilt thou provide for thyself [and for thy family]?

18. Candidate: I surrender and consecrate myself [and my family] unto the Church, and will take no thought for the morrow as to what I shall eat or put on, but resign myself in faith to the Providence of the Merciful Father.

19. Minister: Then avow publicly thine acceptance of the vow of this sacred Order.

20. Candidate: This day, the _____ of _____ in the year _____, I do most humbly and solemnly take the Vow of the Missionary Order. I renounce all secular work and dedicate myself and mine entire life to the New Dispensation and the service of mankind and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. I will preach the holy faith in its fulness, never compromising it for man's sake. I will preach truth, love, holiness and devotion, and the reconciliation of all in God. And in all my preachings I will magnify the New Dispensation. I will not seek gold or silver, I will take no thought for the morrow. No other trade than that of bringing souls to God will I ever ply. I will leave all my affairs to be managed and my wants to be supplied by the Church. And to the best of my ability I will so work and toil that the Church shall not incur pecuniary loss on my account. I will lead the life of an ascetic in poverty, humility and resignation. So help me God.

Give me, great King, from whom I receive to-day this holy commission of a covenanted missionary, strength and faith and parity, that I may prove worthy of the calling, and glorify Thy name on earth.

21. Minister; May the God of the New Dispensation bless thee and help thee!

22. All the brother missionaries present on the occasion shall then come forward and embrace the new member of the Order, and they shall present to him kamandalu and ektara.

23. The congregation shall conclude the ceremony by singing a hymn, and saying,

Peace, Peace, Peace.

 

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The British Indian Association
by Banglapedia
Accessed: 2/15/20

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

-- Bengal British India Society, by BR Khan

The British Indian Association was founded on October 29, 1851 at Calcutta with Raja Radhakanta Dev and Debendranath Tagore as its President and Secretary respectively. Other members of the Association included Ramgopal Ghosh, Peary Chand Mitra and Krishnadas Pal. Its membership was kept exclusive to Indians.

The object of the Association was 'to secure improvements in the local administration of the country and in the system of government laid down by Parliament'. The Association gave leadership to remove the existing defects in the laws and civil administration of the country and to promote greater welfare of the Indians. In 1852 the Association sent a petition to Parliament 'relative to the East India Company's charter' fallen due to be renewed in 1853. The Association informed parliament that Indians were not benefited by their connection with Great Britain 'to the extent they expected'.

It submitted a list of grievances, which afterwards became a part of the Congress demand. These were the relaxation of the pressure of the revenue systems, the improvement of judicial administration, the protection of the life and property of the people from molestation, relief from monopolies of the East India company, encouragement of indigenous manufacture, education of the people and the admission of the Indians to the higher administrative services. The Association demanded that in the future two-thirds of Indian Legislative Council's representatives should be Indians.

From its inception the Association had an all-India outlook and maintained close contacts with associations of similar character, which were established in Poone, Madras and Bombay. For about quarter of a century, the Association was the spokesman of India. When the Government of India put restriction on higher education (1879), the Association vehemently protested. Being predominantly an organisation of the landlords and of the upper class, it was obviously concerned with those measures of the administration that affected their class interests.

The exclusive character of the Association and its high rate of annual subscription came under public criticism. The Muslims of Bengal who were largely raiyats and peasants had little interest and connection with this Association. So in order to protect their own interest the Mohamedan Association was founded in Calcutta in 1856. The British Indian Association, however, welcomed it. The leaders of this Association gave their co-operation during the Indian National Conference (1883 and 1885) and the Conference of the Indian National Congress (1886) held in Calcutta.

In 1859, despite its pro-zamindari and landed aristocracy interest the Association refused to join the indigo planters in their efforts to get Act x of 1859 repealed and supported the cause of the raiyats. In 1860 also it urged the Government to set up a Commission of Enquiry for solving the question of indigo cultivation.

The Indian Association ceased to operate after the abolition of the zamindari system in West Bengal in 1954. [ABM Mahmood]

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University of Hawaii Press
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 2/16/20

University of Hawaiʻi Press
Parent company University of Hawaiʻi
Founded 1947
Country of origin United States
Headquarters location Honolulu
Distribution self-distributed (US, Asia)
Scholarly Book Services (Canada)[1]
Eurospan Group (EMEA)
Publication types Books, Academic journals
Official website http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu

The University of Hawaiʻi Press is a university press that is part of the University of Hawaiʻi.

The University of Hawaiʻi Press was founded in 1947, with the mission of advancing and disseminating scholarship by publishing current research in all disciplines of the humanities and natural and social sciences in the regions of Asia and the Pacific. In addition to scholarly monographs, the Press publishes educational materials and reference works such as dictionaries, language texts, classroom readers, atlases, and encyclopedias. During the 2006–2007 fiscal year, the Press published 94 projects: 80 books and monographs and 14 scholarly journals.

At 30 June 2007, the Press had published 2,323 books and other media, 1,289 of which are currently in print. With sales of over $3.7 million, the Press is ranked as a mid-sized university publisher by the Association of American University Presses and is considered by scholars to be a leader in the fields in which it publishes. In 2005, UH Press published more academic monographs on East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) in English than any other university press, and was second only to RoutledgeCurzon among all English-language publishers (Chen & Wang 2008:37).

History

The Press was established in 1947 at the initiative of University of Hawaiʻi President Gregg M. Sinclair.

GREGG MANNERS SINCLAIR...taught English in Japan before coming to the University of Hawaii’s English department in 1928...

His interest in Japan led to the founding of the University’s Oriental Institute and he served as the first president of that institution. The Oriental Institute established the University’s role in international relations, and would later lead to the establishment of the federally funded East West Center in Hawaii. He was successful in bringing some of the world’s best minds to Hawaii for two East-West Philosophers’ Conferences, supported by a series of notables ranging from maharajas to America’s most wealthy...

Sinclair was Chairman of the Citizen’s Advisory Commission on Statehood for Hawaii and an influential member of the Democratic Party.

-- Gregg Manners Sinclair, by libweb.hawaii.edu

Its first publications included a reprint of The Hawaiian Kingdom by Ralph Kuykendall and Insects of Hawaii, by Elwood C. Zimmerman, both of which have become classics. Other enduring classics from its early years include the Hawaiian-English Dictionary, by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Elbert, first published in 1957, last revised and enlarged in 1986, then reprinted 16 times; and Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands, by Gavan Daws, whose Press edition was first published in 1974 and reprinted 19 times.

In 1971, the University of Hawaiʻi Press combined operations with the East-West Center Press and renamed itself the University Press of Hawaiʻi, thus adding greater coverage of Asia to its previous strength in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. In 1981, the East-West Center withdrew its subsidy, and the name reverted to University of Hawaiʻi Press, but the focus on Asia continued to grow, so that at least half its titles now focus on Asia, with the other half devoted to Hawaiʻi (30%) and the Pacific (20%).

The East–West Center (EWC), or the Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West, is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. It is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii...

[F]ollowing radio reports of an April 16, 1959 speech in Washington, D.C. by then Sen. Lyndon Johnson (D-TX) that proposed the creation of an international university in Hawaii "as a meeting place for the intellectuals of the East and the West," history professor John Stalker and Meller urged President Snyder to respond at once to Johnson's suggestion.[2] With the prospect of federal funding, President Snyder appointed a faculty committee chaired by Turnbull to rapidly prepare a substantive proposal for creating an international college.[3]

On June 9, 1959, Sen. Johnson introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate to establish an educational center in Hawaii to provide for "cultural and technical interchange between East and West," with a companion bill introduced in the U.S. House by Delegate John A. Burns (D-T.H.);[4] the Mutual Security Act of 1959, signed by U.S. President Eisenhower on July 24, 1959, called on the State Department to study the idea and report back to Congress by January 3, 1960.[5]

On May 14, 1960, President Eisenhower signed the Mutual Security Act of 1960 which authorized the creation of a Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West (East–West Center) at the University of Hawaii, and on August 31, 1960, signed the Department of State Appropriation Act, 1961, which appropriated $10 million for the Center (including $8.2 million in capital spending for six new buildings), and on September 30, 1961, President Kennedy signed Supplemental Appropriation Act, 1962, which appropriated an additional $3.3 million for the Center.[6]

On October 25, 1960, the University of Hawaii signed a grant-in-aid agreement with the State Department to establish and operate the East–West Center, and received its first installment of $1.1 million in federal funding on November 8, 1960.[7]

University of Hawaii art professor Murray Turnbull served as interim director and acting chancellor of the East–West Center through 1961,[8] when anthropologist Alexander Spoehr, the former director (1953–1961) of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu, was appointed as the East–West Center's first chancellor, serving for two years before resigning at the end of 1963.[9] University of Hawaii president Thomas H. Hamilton served as acting chancellor of the East–West Center for a year and a half from January 1964–June 1965.[10] In July 1965, he was succeeded by former newspaper publisher and diplomat Howard P. Jones, the former U.S. ambassador to Indonesia (1958–1965),[11] who served as chancellor for three years before being succeeded in August 1968 by linguist Everett Kleinjans, the former vice president of International Christian University in Tokyo, who had lived in Asia for sixteen years.[12]

On May 9, 1961, then U.S. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was a guest at groundbreaking ceremonies for the East–West Center's first six buildings.[13] Five of the new buildings, designed by architect I. M. Pei, were built along the new East–West Road where a new 21-acre (85,000 m2) East–West Center campus just west of Manoa Stream on the east side of the university campus replaced chicken coops, temporary wooden buildings for faculty housing, and the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station.[14] A sixth building built under the federal grant for the East–West Center was Edmondson Hall, designed by architect Albin Kubala and built on McCarthy Mall.[15]...

EWC program areas include Education, Research, Seminars, a Washington, D.C. office (which also houses and administers the United States Asia Pacific Council), an Office of External Affairs and the East–West Center Foundation....

The East-West Center Foundation is a private non-profit organization, established in 1982 to broaden and diversify private support for the Center. The success of the East-West Center is built on effective public-private partnerships. Funding from the US government covers most of the Center's basic operating expenses, while programming depends on private funding by individuals, private agencies, foundations, corporations and governments throughout the region.

-- East-West Center Foundation, by East-West Center...

The Research Program conducts studies on economic development, trade, energy, governance, politics, security, conflict reduction, population, health, and environment. Under the Research umbrella is the Pacific Islands Development Program (the research and training arm and regional secretariat of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders representing 22 Pacific island nations)...

Also under the Education Program are the Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) (a certificate program for graduate-level students and mid-level professionals)[1], AsiaPacificEd and the Asian Studies Development Program (both work with primary, secondary, and college educators to infuse Asian Pacific content in curricula), and Education 2020 (a focus on new approaches to educational challenges in the Asia Pacific Region)...

East–West Seminars bring professionals from government, civil society, business and the media together for short-term dialogue and exchange programs to share knowledge and address issues of regional and global concern. Included in the Seminars Program are the Media Program (provides journalist with first-hand examination of issues in the region and the U.S.), Senior Policy Seminar (brings together top level foreign affairs and security officials, private sector and civil society leaders to discuss key regional issues), and the Asia Pacific Executive Forum (brings to American cities discussions on topics that affect the economics and business of the region)...

Approximately half of Center funding comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region. In 2005 the EWC received a total of $37 million (including $19.2 million from the U.S. Congress)...

Alumni include heads of government, cabinet members, university and NGO presidents, corporate and media leaders, educators and individuals prominent in the arts.

-- East–West Center, by Wikipedia

https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/bookseries/east-west-center-press/
EAST-WEST CENTER PRESS
Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples: India, China, Tibet, Japan (Revised English Translation)
The Chinese Mind: Essentials of Chinese Philosophy and Culture
The Indianized States of Southeast Asia

UH Press output included journals from the very beginning. Most of the Press's inaugural budget appropriation was allocated to the journal Pacific Science, whose first issue appeared in 1947. However, Pacific Science did not bear the UH Press imprint until 1953, two years after Philosophy East and West made its debut from UH Press (Kamins & Potter 1998:234-240).

The number of journals gradually expanded over the next few decades, with the acquisition of Oceanic Linguistics (in vol. V) in 1966 and Asian Perspectives (in vol. XII) in 1969, and the founding of Korean Studies in 1977, Biography in 1978, Buddhist-Christian Studies in 1981, and Asian Theatre Journal in 1984, all initiated at the University of Hawaiʻi. Flush State budgets in the late 1980s and early 1990s permitted several further initiatives by other campus departments. The literary journal Mānoa and the "island affairs" journal The Contemporary Pacific made their debut in 1989, followed by the Journal of World History in 1990, and then China Review International in 1994, just before severe budget cutbacks eliminated all university subsidies to the Journals Department.

Journals production struggled along, with some editorial offices assuming more of the burden, until Press subsidies were partially restored in 1998 and the department was restaffed. All 12 journals made their debut in the Project MUSE database of journals in the humanities and social sciences in 2000-2001, but Pacific Science switched to the BioOne collection of natural science journals in 2008. The Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers began publishing with UH Press in 2000 (in vol. 62) and made its debut in Project MUSE in 2004. The Asia Society's Archives of Asian Art began publishing with UH Press in 2007 (in vol. 57).

Book Editorial Program

During the 2007 fiscal year, the Press considered approximately 1,300 manuscripts and proposals, of which 60 were accepted for publication by the Editorial Board. As of 30 June 2007, 122 books were in press. Each book undergoes rigorous review, including preliminary evaluation by an in-house editor. Manuscripts that show promise are then evaluated by two external readers who are specialists in the subject matter. Those that receive two positive peer reviews are presented to the Press's academic editorial board, which makes the final determination about whether to publish.

East Asia is an especially important regional focus. During 2000-2005, the Press published 184 academic monographs on the region, 82 on China, 81 on Japan, and 21 on Korea. The three principal subject areas were language and literature (with 23 on China, 25 on Japan, and 7 on Korea); religion and philosophy (with 21 on China, 13 on Japan, and 2 on Korea); and history and fine arts (with 20 on China, 20 on Japan, and 7 on Korea) (Chen & Wang 2008:38).

The monograph series published by the Press indicate some principal areas of concentration.

• ABC Chinese Dictionary Series (ed. by Victor Mair)
• Critical Interventions (ed. by Sheldon Lu)
• Dimensions of Asian Spirituality (ed. by Henry Rosemont, Jr.)
• Hawai‘i Studies on Korea (with the UH Center for Korean Studies)
• Intersections (with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center)
• KLEAR Textbooks in Korean Language (with the Korean Language Education and Research Center)
• Kuroda Classics in East Asian Buddhism and Studies in East Asian Buddhism (with the Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values)
• Modern Korean Fiction (ed. by Bruce Fulton)
• Monographs of the Biographical Research Center (Honolulu)
• Monographs of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (with the Kyoto University Center for Southeast Asian Studies)
• Monographs of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy
• Nanzan Library of Asian Religion and Culture (with the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, Nagoya)
• Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications (with the UH Department of Linguistics)
• PALI Language Texts (with the UH Social Science Research Institute)
• Pacific Islands Monograph Series (with the UH Center for Pacific Islands Studies)
• South Sea Books (with the UH Center for Pacific Islands Studies)
• Perspectives on the Global Past (ed. by Jerry H. Bentley and Anand Yang)
• Pure Land Buddhist Studies (with the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley)
• Studies in the Buddhist Traditions (with the University of Michigan Institute for the Study of the Buddhist Traditions)
• Spatial Habitus: Making and Meaning in Asia's Architecture (ed. by Ronald Knapp and Xing Ruan)
• Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning and Memory (ed. by Rita Smith Kipp and David P. Chandler)
• Topics in Contemporary Buddhism (ed. by George Tanabe, Jr.)
• Writing Past Colonialism (with the Institute for Colonial Studies, Melbourne)
• The World of East Asia (ed. by Joshua Fogel)

Marketing and sales

The Press is represented in North America and Hawai‘i by independent commission sales representatives; in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East by London-based Eurospan Publishers Group; and in the Pacific and Asia region by its sales subsidiary, East-West Export Books (EWEB). EWEB also represents 55 other university presses and scholarly publishers in Asia and the Pacific. The Press maintains stock in warehouses in Pennsylvania, Honolulu, Canada, and England, and serves as a distributor for over 50 publishers and several individuals, providing sales, marketing, promotion, warehouse, and business services on a commission basis.

Each year the Press displays its recently published books and journals at a range of professional meetings and trade shows held throughout the world, reaching a combined total of about 700,000 attendees at those events. The annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies is its most important academic exhibit each year. Other major scholarly venues include the American Academy of Religion, American Anthropological Association, American Historical Association, American Library Association, Association for Asian American Studies, and College Art Association. Principal trade show venues have included the Australian Book Fair, BookExpo America, Canadian Booksellers Association Trade Fair, Frankfurt Book Fair, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and Taipei International Book Fair.

For the 2007 fiscal year, the top five bestselling books by dollar revenue were the revised and enlarged edition of the Hawaiian Dictionary by Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert; the Beginning 1 volume of the Integrated Korean textbook series by the Korean Language Education and Research Center (KLEAR); Broken Trust by Samuel P. King and Randall W. Roth; the 4th edition of Japanese Culture by Paul Varley, and the 3rd edition of the Atlas of Hawaiʻi by Sonia P. Juvik, James O. Juvik, and Thomas R. Paradise.

Journals

The Journals Department currently handles production, manufacturing, fulfillment, and delivery for the following scholarly journals.

• Archives of Asian Art, sponsored by the Asia Society
• Asian Perspectives: The Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific
• Asian Theatre Journal, journal of the Association for Asian Performance
• Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, sponsored by the Biographical Research Center
• Buddhist-Christian Studies, journal of the Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies
• China Review International, reviews of scholarly literature in Chinese studies
• The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs, sponsored by the UH Center for Pacific Islands Studies
• Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, sponsored by Research Institute of Korean Studies, Korea University, and Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
• Journal of World History, journal of the World History Association
• Korean Studies, sponsored by the UH Center for Korean Studies
• Language Documentation & Conservation, sponsored by the UH National Foreign Language Resource Center
• Mānoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing
• Oceanic Linguistics, sponsored by the UH Department of Linguistics
• Pacific Science, journal of the Pacific Science Association
• Philosophy East and West, sponsored by the UH Department of Philosophy
• Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

The Department also distributes two journals.

• Azalea: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture for the Korea Institute, Harvard University
• Journal of Korean Religions for the Institute for the Study of Religion at Sogang University

References

1. "Our Publishers | Scholarly Books". Retrieved 2017-12-02.
• Chen, Su, and Chengzi Wang (2008). Who Has Published What in East Asian studies? An Analysis of Publishers and Publishing Trends. Library Resources & Technical Services 52:33-40.
• Kamins, Robert M., and Robert E. Potter (1998). Malamalama: A History of the University of Hawaiʻi (University of Hawaiʻi Press), ISBN 0-8248-2006-1.
• University of Hawaiʻi Press Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2006-2007.

External links

• University of Hawaiʻi Press

[admin]

U.S.-Asia Pacific Council
by John D. Negroponte, Deputy Secretary
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC
April 11, 2008

Thank you Ambassador Roy for your kind introduction. It is so good to be with you here today.

You know, I’ve been involved with Asia since I joined the Foreign Service at the age of twenty-one. I was assigned to Hong Kong in late 1960, arriving there in January 1961. In 1964, I was assigned to our Embassy in Saigon after almost a year of Vietnamese language training. And I worked almost continuously on the Vietnam question thereafter, until we signed the Paris agreement on Vietnam in 1973, first as a member of our delegation to the Paris Peace talks, and then as Director for Vietnam on the National Security Council.

Since then, I have continued to work on United States policy towards Asia, as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in 1980-81, and as ambassador to the Philippines from 1993 - 1996. I’ve observed Asia’s extraordinary transformation from a variety of perspectives. And it is Asia's development, present and future, as well as our nation's relationship with the changing Asia, that I would like talk with you about today.

By almost any measure, Asia today is thriving. Not only has the region avoided military conflict for nearly three decades; relations between the major powers have never been better. Chinese President Hu Jintao’s upcoming visit to Japan reflects this trend.

Nearly all the countries in the region have dynamic, market-based economies. And robust democratic systems are flourishing throughout the region, as evidenced by Indonesia’s remarkable transformation, Thailand’s recent return to democratic rule, and recent elections in Taiwan and Korea.

There are a few laggards like Burma, where misrule by dictators stifles economic opportunity for an oppressed people. But most Asian states are focused on bettering the lives of their citizens. Over the past three decades, more people have risen out of poverty faster in Asia than over any other period in human history. For example, in what the World Bank has described as one of the most successful anti-poverty campaigns ever, Vietnam reduced its poverty rate from 58% of the population in 1993 to under 14% in 2007.

The economic rise of China, combined with Japan’s continued status as the world’s second largest economy, leads to great expectations that these countries will expand their global roles as responsible stewards of the very international order that made possible their success. As we strive to solve major issues confronting the international community–from climate change to preventing the spread of dangerous weapons–the United States looks increasingly to our partners in Asia not only to help, but to lead.

These positive developments in Asia were by no means guaranteed, and indeed were no accident. Hardworking Asians deserve primary credit for the region’s economic accomplishments. But Asia’s prosperity has been made possible by a broader international economic and security order sustained by American leadership. Following the Second World War, the United States put in place the building blocks of the global economic and trading system that Asian economies from Singapore to Taiwan have used to fuel their growth. After the end of the Cold War, the United States pushed to establish the World Trade Organization–including making China a member in 2001. We also have strongly promoted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and fashioned high-quality free trade agreements with Singapore, Australia, and Korea.

America’s military alliances with like-minded Asian partners have fueled prosperity by encouraging regional powers to compete for the fruits of peace rather than prepare for the dangers of war. Our alliances with Japan, Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand remain the cornerstone of peace and security in Asia.

Over the past 7 years this Administration has reinvigorated these alliances to ensure that we and our allies have the flexibility to address future security challenges–not only in Asia but around the world. The transformation of the U.S.-Japan alliance has been especially remarkable. America’s Asian alliances have grown stronger, not weaker, since the end of the Cold War. Our strong alliances and close cooperation continue through periods of leadership change, including those in Japan, Korea, Thailand and Australia over the past year.

The Bush Administration has also comprehensively engaged with Asia’s rising powers, including the largest, China. China’s rise is one of the major events of our time. It is a growing player in the international community, and we are encouraging China to play a responsible and constructive role. This approach requires patient, creative diplomacy. We’ve seen progress with North Korea, and are urging China to do more in Sudan beyond their provision of engineering troops. We believe China must also do more with respect to Iran and Burma.

We currently convene over 50 bilateral dialogues and working groups with China, spanning subjects from aviation to counterterrorism, and from food safety to non-proliferation. The Senior Dialogue, which I lead with my counterpart in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, covers the full spectrum of global security and political issues. It has provided an opportunity for open and frank discussion on the broadest range of issues, including those over which we differ, including human rights and Tibet.

This dialogue includes, of course, the Taiwan Strait, where the United States is committed to ensuring peace and stability. We make known our concern about China's rapid increases in military outlays, and we encourage the Chinese leadership to be more transparent about its military spending, doctrine, and strategic goals. Transparency and exchanges will most effectively build trust and reduce suspicion.

In addition to China, the United States has reached out to new and old friends in Southeast Asia. We have a growing partnership with Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, a country that has made a remarkable transition to democracy. To help cement Indonesia’s success, the United States has pledged over $200 million to assist civic, governance, and educational institutions in Indonesia.

Our relationship with Vietnam has also entered a new chapter. Our countries enjoy significant and growing trade and economic ties; an emerging military-to-military relationship; successful cooperation on health and development issues; growing cultural and educational links; and a shared interest in ensuring peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

2007 marked the 30th anniversary of U.S. relations with ASEAN, and our ties with that organization are growing. We nominated a U.S. ambassador for ASEAN Affairs earlier this year.

I see three major tasks that the United States faces in the coming decade as we look at Asia: (1) further improving regional cooperation to complement our existing bilateral security alliances, (2) promoting continued prosperity, and (3) accommodating rising Asian powers into the international system while also challenging them to assume global leadership on major international issues.

The Six-Party Talks bring together North Korea’s neighbors and key regional players on an issue with overlapping interests and a clear, focused purpose: denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. While the process of denuclearization is far from complete, we hope an eventual peace and security mechanism for Northeast Asia will form to institutionalize the security cooperation we are forging through the Six Party process. This would be separate from, but supporting, any peace regime that may emerge on the Peninsula. It would also in no way infringe upon our alliances.

As Asia continues to engage with the global community and Asian leaders focus on economic growth, the United States must continue its work to further knock down barriers to trade and investment. That’s why President Bush endorsed a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTA AP) during his visit to the APEC leaders meeting in November 2006. We look forward to working with partners in APEC to make this initiative a reality.

More immediately, Korean President Lee’s visit here next week reminds us that we need to work with Congress to ensure passage of our Free Trade Agreement with the Republic of Korea. Approval of this high-standard FTA with our treaty ally will help American businesses and workers and demonstrate continued U.S. leadership in the world’s most dynamic region.

While institutions established after WWII have served the U.S., Asia, and the international community in many respects, we must work to ensure that growing Asian nations are integrated into this framework. Today, China’s booming economy is driving energy demand, yet it is not a member of the International Energy Agency. For a number of years now, we have supported Japan’s permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council, so that the world’s second-largest economy can meet its broader responsibilities to uphold international peace and security.

With global influence and power comes responsibility. Now is the time, as beneficiaries of the global trading system, for Asian powers to take the lead in trade liberalization under the WTO's Doha Round. The world needs and expects today's global winners to be tomorrow's pacesetters, not to lag behind the pack. Addressing climate change in the coming decade will also require inclusion of the developing world–most notably China as well as India.

Ladies and gentlemen, for more than 60 years, the United States has worked with friends and allies in Asia to promote free markets and the free exchanges of ideas. Unlike the beginning of the Cold War, when strongman rule was a feature of the region, the ballot box has gradually transformed the face of Asia. America now has democratic partners across the region, committed to political liberty, human rights, and rule of law.

While trends in Asia are positive, and the long-term future of this dynamic region bright, the United States must and will remain engaged in Asia to jointly address the problems and issues confronting us–especially in the coming year. We will continue to consult and collaborate with our alliance partners as the foundation of our strategy for Asia. We will continue to push for progress in the Six Party Talks, which represents the best path forward to a more stable Northeast Asia. We will continue to work with and encourage China to become a responsible actor in the international system. And in Southeast Asia, in particular, we will continue to support democratic reform and economic development as hopeful alternatives to extremism and terrorism.

Ongoing challenges will require our full attention, but they will not distract us from our commitment to playing a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific–a region that is defined far more by the scope of its opportunities than by its challenges. America is a Pacific nation, and our prosperity and global stability are increasingly tied to that of Asia. The goal we seek, as we have for decades, is an Asia that is growing in peace, prosperity, and freedom–and we will continue our work with Asia’s leaders and its people to achieve that goal together.