Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/161
then is not difficult to determine. It tries to efface almost all the tradition of his nation and replaces it with that which is Jewish or biblical. The produced effects never come anywhere near to the expectation. Many heathen institutions receive a Christian coating and become part of Christianity. Old heathen gods become saints of Christianity; and some of the old heathen customs become Christian customs. Still, some outward semblance of uniformity is produced. Again, as one nation adopts Christianity, it then spreads it in a modified form. Then, in fact, what that nation tries to do in its missionary work is to propagate the ideas and institutions of its own nation under the cloak of Christianity. A great part of European Christianity is derived from the Christianity of Greece and Rome. And with that Christianity, Greek and Roman institutions have been transferred. Latin and Greek have become almost sacred languages, though the original scriptures were perhaps in Hebrew, and though (as some scholars believe) Jesus himself spoke Aramaic. European nations now have accepted Christianity, and when they try to propagate it they do not try to propagate the ideas of Christ so much as they try to propagate the ideas and institutions of their own country, under the pretext of propagating Christianity. A clear example of this kind would be seen in India. In Southern India there is a custom of tying tali at the bride's neck.[1] Christian missionaries have an objection to this heathen article and wish to replace it by a ring, though the exchange of the ring itself is a relic of European heathendom. Even the abhorrence of the Hindus for
- ↑ See the word tali in Thurston's Castes and Tribes in Southern India, Madras, 1909.