[Footnote 108: Born in 1818.]
[Footnote 109: ekam[=a]tr[=a]dvit[=i]ya (masculine); with this form contrast below, in the Br[=a]hma Dharma (religion) of Debendran[=a]th, the neuter ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam. The only God of the first Sam[=a]j; is a person; that of the reform is exoterically Nature.]
[Footnote 110: But, as will be noticed in the four articles (which are in part a compilation of phrases from the Upanishads) the personality of Brahm[=a] is not insisted on for the outer church. For this reason, although the inner church doubtless understands It as He, yet this neuter should be preserved in the translation. The articles are so drawn up as to enable any deist to subscribe (without Vedantic belief as a condition of acceptance) to the essential creed of the Congregation. One or two sentences in the original will reveal at a glance the origin of the phraseology: brahma (being) v[=a] ekam idam-agra [=a]s[=i]t; tad ida[.m] sarvam as[r.]jal; tad eva nityam, ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam; tasmia pr[=i]tis … tadup[=a]sanam. Compare Ch[=a]ndogya Upanishad: sad (being) idam agra [=a]s[=i]d ekam ev[=a]dvit[=i]yam; and the V[=a]jasaney[=i]-Br[=a]hmana Upanishad: brahma v[=a] idam-agra [=a]s[=i]t, etc.]
[Footnote 111: It is interesting to see this fervor, or ecstatic delirium, surviving from the time of the Rig Veda, where already (albeit only in the latest hymns, which are quite Brahmanic) flourishes the mad muni: and fervid ascetism ('heat,'tapas) begins to appear as a means of salvation. RV. x. 109, 136.]
[Footnote 112: "I regard myself as Christ and C[=a]itanya," reported by Sen's own missionary as the words of the former. Sen's disciples deny some of these assertions, but they seem to be substantiated, and Sen's own language shows that he claimed miraculous powers. Compare the discussions on this point, JRAS. xiii. 281 ff.]
[Footnote 113: This was afterwards excused on the ground that the marriage would not have been legal without these rites. But Sen presumably was aware of this in advance. From the performance of the rites he had the decency to absent himself. It should be said, however, in Sen's behalf, that the marriage itself had nothing revolting about it, and though in consenting to it Sen violated his faith, as is evident from the protest of the Sam[=a]j, yet was the marriage not an extreme case of child-marriage, for both the 'children' were sixteen. Sen's own excuse (he thought excuse necessary) was that he was inspired when he consented to the nuptials.]
[Footnote 114: The theistic tendency in the Hindu mind is so exaggerated that even now it is with the greatest difficulty that the vulgar can be restrained from new idolatry. Not only priests, but even poets are regarded as gods. Jñ[=a]ndev and Tuk[=a]r[=a]m, the hymn-makers of the Mahratta Vi[t.]h[t.]hals, are demi-gods to-day (IA. xi. 56. 149). A few striking examples are almost requisite to make an Occidental reader understand against what odds the deism of India has to contend. In 1830 an impudent boy, who could train snakes, announced that he could also work miracles. The boy was soon accepted as Vishnu's last avatar; hymns, abhangs, were sung to him, and he was worshipped as a god even after his early demise (from a snake-bite). A weaver came soon after to the temple, where stood the boy's now vacant shrine, and fell asleep there at night. In the morning he was perplexed to find himself a god. The people had accepted him as their snake-conquering god in a new form. The poor weaver denied his divinity, but that made no difference. In 1834 the dead boy-god was still receiving flowers and prayers. Another case: In the eighties some Englishmen on entering a temple were amazed to see revered as an avatar of Vishnu the brass castings of the arms of the old India Co. This god was washed and anointed daily. Even a statue of Buddha (with the inscription still upon it) was revered as Vishnu. In 1880 a meteorite fell in Beh[=a]r. In 1882 its cult was fully established, and it was worshipped as the 'miraculous god.' A Mohammedan inscription has also been found deified and regularly worshipped as a god, JRAS. 1842, p. 109; 1884, pt. III, pp. I, LIX.]
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