are one, feel as one and mean to make a common stand, long before they will come to realise this all. Godsend Books and How should man read them? One day, while I sat in the night reading History and comparative sociology, I could not help being overwhelmed by the thought that of all superstitions, which outliving their utility, continued to block human progress, the superstition that attributed Divine origin to a set of books and consequently held every word in them as infallible, as God’s truth, was most responsible for perpetuating senseless animosities and ignorance, which hampered rational advance of mankind not only in science and social solidarity but even in religion itself and ranged man against man and creed against creed with deathless enmity and schism. Verily there have been in human history, more men victimised to death and disaster in the name of God and the Gospels than in the name of the Devil and the Dollar. Nevertheless, it cannot be gainsaid that the greatest boon that mankind could have ever received at the hands of its creator would be a book emanating directly from him setting forth in unmistakable accents His will and command, which he meant us to follow, either for man’s good or God’s glory or for both. In that case, instead of groping from error to error in the dim and fickle light of our unaided human reason, we could have treaded on this fair earth under the Divine Guidance with surest steps and in full confidence that it led us to bliss here and hereafter. We know for certain that this generous hope had actually prompted many a prophet in his search after truth and anxiety to receive a revelation directly from the supreme source of wisdom. Had all the prophets succeeded in receiving their commands from the Creator of man in words and substance uniform, unequivocal and uncircumscribed by time and place or if so mentioning clearly the limitations that defined and determined them, our difficulties and controversies with regard to the authenticity of the revelation would have been very much simplified, if not altogether eliminated. But as it is, revelation differs from revelation in the God-sent books as much as in any man-written books and it is due to the explosion of these mines of discrepancies and contradictions which the God-sent books carry within themselves, that the citadel of orthodoxy is often shattered and the forces of doubt and disbelief rush through the breach to complete its ruin. While I was thus overwhelmed by forces of scepticism and sat sorely afflicted in heart, I felt a strange lassitude creeping over me and sealing my

eyes with sleep. But the train of thought that occupied my mind nevertheless continued in subconscious or superconscious state and I fancied as if a Pandit stepped forth and accosted me thus: ‘Listen’, said he, ‘you wished you had a revelation to enable you to know the right path and to dispense with the erring and confused guidance of human reason. Well, there is such God-sent book as that—the most ancient and the most infallible, emanating as it did from the all-wise and Almighty God Brahma Himself. The only reason that makes you doubt the authenticity of a God- sent book seems to be that it contradicts and even controverts other books that also severely claim to be God-inspired; but it only proves that all of them cannot be really so. It does not rule out the possibility of one of them being a really God-inspired Gospel. Well, that real Gospel, that only true revelation, is this ‘Veda.’ If other Gospels contradicted it, it only proves that they are not really reliable. Their refutation of this Veda, the first and foremost word of God, only refutes themselves.’ While our friend, the Pandit had not even finished this exhortation rushed in the High Priest of the Golden Temple at Jerusalem and with a solemn wave of hand brushing aside all the reasoning of the Pandit as you would a cobweb, said, ‘Not so! The real revelation of the Almighty Father that rules this heaven and earth is that which He, our Lord God, stretching his mighty hand out of the burning cloud of fire and flame that surrounded Mount Sinai delivered to Moses on that fateful day. If Vedas were true, Jehova would have at least mentioned them once in that Holy Book. But, on the contrary, he expressly rules out your Molachs and Thors, your Maruts and Varuns. Jehova is a jealous God and bears the presence of no other God before Him. So only obey and reason not. If others contradict his our Holy Testament, they only belie themselves.’ ‘True! True! what my friend says is even so! But, persuasively puts in my friend, the missionary, so meek, so humble, at this stage, ‘but the Law of Moses emanating though it did from the Lord was nevertheless supplemented and fulfilled by a later revelation which even He, our Father in Heaven charged. His son, the Prince of Peace to proclaim, as was even foretold by Moses and the Prophets of old. The Code issued on Mount Sinai was like an angry ordinance of some sullen Sultan meant only for the troublous times, times of emergency when men went astray and sacrificed to Molachs and worshipped the Golden Calves. But the Law of Life, the law as such that brings Peace unto men contained in the sermon on the Mount. The New Testament is the fulfilment of all old revelations.

Question not, reason not, nay even fear not, only believe in the Bible, in our Lord Jesus the Christ, and thou art saved. Leave all and follow me, says the Christ! But all of a sudden, an angry voice interrupted him here and throwing back the crowd of many a respectable representative of scores of other prophets and Gospels. each claiming his book as the real God-sent book that had been waiting there to take a chance of finding a new recruit in me to their respective faiths, an excited moulavi darted forth and simply commanded me to believe none else but him. ‘Behold’, said he, stroking his beard with fiery restlessness ‘behold this Holy Koran! Abraham and Musa and Isa and other Prophets were prophets indeed but their works, these old and new testaments are, as men now possess, full of interpolations and absurdities. As to the Vedas, it is sacrilege even to name that mumbo-Jumbo of idolatrous crowd along with the works of prophets that went before. It was to end the reign of these scheming impostors that God ordered the last and the greatest of the line of his prophets, Mohomed the Prophet—be his name ever blest, to reveal the Holy Koran on earth. This and this alone is God’s work, all else is the work of Satan. And the only way how man should read it and nothing else! Trust it and reason not. If they do so well and good: if they don’t, to eternal perdition they go!’ At this outburst of this zealous Moulavi, those representatives of several other Gospels who were waiting with equal earnestness to do me a good turn of saving my soul by recommending to me their respective Gospels as the only authentic ones, gently fell back to avoid any unpleasant development their intrusion seemed likely to cause. But I myself rose up and approaching them requested to oblige me by favouring me with a copy of each of their own Gospels and assuring, said, ‘Gentlemen, I revere every one of these God-sent books as deeply as you do though perhaps for reasons other than yours. All these books that claim to be divine revelations are doubtless a precious treasure, which men will do well to guard and preserve and use for their benefit. God-sent or not they are partly Godly indeed. It cannot be for nothing that millions of men have for generations owed allegiance to them and many a soul might have found a solace in them as in no other wordly thing.’ Being requested thus, they all presented me with copies of their religious books— the stately looking Parsee who kept watching over conversation but seemed very reluctant to show off his sacred book as the hawkers do their tinsels in the market place, presented me a copy of the ancient and renowned Zendavesta; the yellow-clad Bhikku of his venerated and venerable and

Tripitaka but seeming quite indifferent to claim for his Holy books, the gilded title of a God-sent revelation! The followers of the unlucky prophets Museilama and Al-aswad who set themselves up as rivals to Mahomed and claimed the prerogative of Prophethood for themselves, the followers of the Veiled Prophet’ and of the ‘Moon Maker’ and of the Prophet Karmala and of several others offered to me copies of their Gospels. Even the Mormons obliged me by letting me have a copy of the famous golden book the Prophet Mormon received only very recently in America as an up-to-date word of God. Nor did any one of them forget to recommend to me and for reasons similar to those used by the Pandit and the Missionary and the Moulavi, that his Gospel was the only real revelation of God and the best way how man should read it and it alone. Thereupon, I thanked them all and bidding goodbye, bowed low—and as I was doing so, I awoke. But the impression that the dream had left upon my mind was so vivid that I could hardly avoid believing it, as innumerable saints are reported to have done under similar circumstances—to be an actual visitation and no ephemeral illusion. I decided, therefore, to take it all seriously and pondering deeply over what the pious men had said found to my great relief that although each of them had denied to human reason the right of questioning the truth of whatever be the contents of his sacred books, his God-sent Gospel, when one has accepted it as such, yet they all seemed to sanction or concede the use of reason in the act of making one’s choice as to which of the several alleged revelations was the most authentic one. Nay, strangely enough, they had to advance reasons even to prove that men should not reason at all, indulging in the contents of a divine revelation when once your choice is made. In fact, missions as such are but bodies that are out only to reason and argue and persuade men to distinguish the true Gospels from the false ones. Not only that but even the Prophets themselves did not hesitate to argue and reason with men so that they might be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, the imposters from the Prophets and come to believe in the really God-sent books. Does not the Arabian Prophet, for example, thunder from Sura, from paragraph to paragraph, that those who refused to believe in the Holy Koran revealed to him, will be eternally lost and consigned to perdition? And is not this pointing to a rod also a way of reasoning? When asked by the Faithless to produce a sign to prove his divine mission, did he not chide them by reminding them that they had tried to test even the Prophets that went before him, and failed to extract a sign

from them too, and later on pointed out to this wide earth and the rising mountains and the bounteous fields as mighty signs and miracles that attested to his being the real and the only messenger of God? Nay, sometimes, as is recorded in the second and some other chapters of the Holy Koran, he challenged the unbelievers to produce a single line in such a polished Arabian style as that, which marked the lines, in which the Koran was being revealed and flourished their inability to do so as a conclusive proof of the Koran’s being a really inspired and God-sent work. He taunted every now and then the false Prophets who write a book with their own hand and pass it on as God-written and God-sent. This also proves that the art of issuing counterfeit Gospels was well known to the generation and people amongst which the Prophet flourished. It was also for this reason that he not only permitted but commended men to argue and compare such books with his own in the light of human reason and logic and even diction. In the Holy Bible too, we meet every now and then with arguments advanced by Jesus and Christ to combat those who questioned his inspiration and Prophethood. Those who demanded signs and miracles, were at times rebuked for want of faith and at other times supplied with them. ‘Ye build sepulchres unto those whom your fathers stoned to death’ he sternly reminded his persecutors and quoted old prophesies to prove that all they had foretold came to pass in his life and corroborated his Prophethood. In the Vedic-fold, too, lengthy and elaborate discussions as to the authenticity of the Vedas as a God-inspired scripture are a common feature in works, not only heterodox but even orthodox, that aid to interpret them. Even Jaimini himself, after mentioning that a school existed even then, which did not attribute the Vedas to any divine and impersonal agency but boldly asserted that they were the work of men, though highly gifted and spiritual, enters into reasoned argumentation to prove otherwise. All these facts enable us to conclude that on the following four points at any rate, there reigns perfect unanimity amongst the followers of almost all sacred books that are extant today and looked upon as God-sent by the respective creeds. To start with, our friends, the Pandit, the Missionary, the Moulavi, the Rabbi down to the followers of Mormon and Al-swad and the Moonmakers and even of the Aga khan and Kadiani, each and all, not only admit but strongly maintain that all these books that claim to be God-sent cannot altogether be such, as the mutual contradictions and glaring antagonisms, with which they abound, do incontrovertibly prove. The

second point that characterises each and all of them equally, is the insistence in which they indulge in citing these very contradictions as an undeniable proof that all the Prophets and books that differ from their own, must be misleading and false for the simple reason that their own Gospel being God-sent and true cannot be false, and therefore the other books, which contradict it cannot be true. The third point that seems common to all, is the latitude which not only their respective followers but even the Prophets to whom these God-sent books were severally revealed, conceded though very confusedly and reluctantly to human reason, the right of distinguishing the false Prophets from the true one and the man-written books, that merely pose as God-written and God-inspired from the truly- inspired revelation in the light of logic and tradition and such other wordly tests of comparative criticism. The fourth point that distinguishes the sectarian propaganda of each and all of these conflicting religious schools is the fact that each Prophet, although he does not hesitate to lay human reason under contribution so long as it is useful to him in exposing the falsity of all other Prophets, excepting himself, to win over recruits to his side with a very laudable desire to save their souls, proceeds straight way to deny the right of human criticism and argument and reasoning to those very recruits, as soon as they get themselves definitely enlisted in the roll of believers in his creed. They are, thenceforth, to obey whatever the Prophet or his God-sent book commands and question naught or argue. Taking our stand then on these points, which more or less are common to all the Prophets and holy books of the different religious systems that prevail today, not to mention those that flourished in the ancient Babylonians and the people of the Pharaohs and other now extinct races and systems, it seems quite permissible to us mortals even consistently with the Prophetic traditions of yore, to subject these God-sent books and scriptures to human criticism and comparative study, if we but do it for the sake of ascertaining which one of these Gospels satisfies most our human expectation of perfection that a really God-sent book ought to possess. Although as we have seen already, all of them cannot be equally true, if at least one of them comes up to our expectation at the end of this enquiry and reveals all the attributes—which we are justified in associating with a God- sent book, with a work that emanates from the source of wisdom and goodness and knowledge from Providence, at once omniscient and omnipotent—blessed indeed are we! That was the most cherished boon we

longed for; but if unfortunately our investigation proves barren in the end and none of these revered works seems likely to establish its claim to the right of being regarded as Divine revelation it is given out to be then we must make ourselves bold to acknowledge and proclaim the truth and expose the superstition that attributing Divine infallibility, to human institutions, opinions and fancies however exalted, admirable and even beneficial they be in themselves relatively to human knowledge and ability, gave rise to so much bloodshed and misery in the past. If comparative criticism led in the light of human reason brings us further on to assess the true value of these revered scriptures, which when looked upon as man- written instead of God-written, will perhaps command greater respect from all reasonable men and could be read, interpreted and followed in a way that will save these precious books from being abused by fanaticism and render them not only quite harmless but even more useful and beneficial to man than now in his search after the True and the Good and the Beautiful. With this end in view, let us first address ourselves to the task of reviewing the Vedas, the Holy Bible, and the Quran sharif in the searchlight of human reason, before we pledge our allegiance to any one of them as an inspired and infallible scripture, as God-sent Gospel. Abhinava Hindu Dhwaja (Hindu National Flag) The National Flag does not only indicate but also establish the National Ideal. A nation’s greatness invariably finds expression through its ideal. The character of a nation depends upon the ideal that the nation sets upon itself. Nations with narrow ideals never achieved lasting greatness in the past. A sublime ideal has been the necessary requisite of a nation’s success to greatness and glory. Nations after nations illumined the pages of the world’s history only to disappear after a while, most of them having their downfall even before attaining the pinnacle of prosperity. The Hindu Nation alone traces its unbroken train of civilised existence from beyond the dawn of history and will continue its victorious march so long as its noblest ideal and its imperishable widest outlook on life are not forsaken. Speaking generally, the ideal of other past and living western nations has been considered to be Abhyudaya (worldly prosperity) for worldly enjoyment, which, being confined to mere material prosperity, cannot solve the knottiest problems for the amelioration of mankind.

But the Hindu nation is the only one that has accepted the ideal of perfect Abhyudaya as based on the foundation of complete Nihshreyas (Spiritual bliss). Hindu philosophers maintain that worldly Abhyudaya is imperatively necessary for mankind in order that by acquiring a happy and easy-going worldly life it may ultimately lead to the highest Nihshreyas (bliss). They know that the culmination of worldly Abhyudaya cannot be any other than Nihshreyas itself. It is Abhyudaya that makes human Nihshreyas possible, and it is Nihshreyas that purifies and controls the highest goal of Abhyudaya. It is because the Hindu race maintained this eternal ideal of harmony of worldly and spiritual aspirations that the Hindu Nation, in spite of successive waves of calamities, which overtook it, came out triumphantly again-and-again and is still a living race holding its ground. Hindu social lawgivers laid down the foundation of social organisation on the non-competition principle of division of functions and mutual aid in order to realise glorious Abhyudaya on way to Nihshreyas. To enable the smooth development of it, the Hindu society from the Sudra to the Brahmin have been allotted their respective duties. But for the proper fulfilment of all these duties and for the protection of the social life, there is necessity of Kshatra Tej (power). Its symbol is the Kripana (sword). In the absence of this Kshatra power as protector, the modus operandi of the Brahmin, the Vaishya and the sundra, which are conducive to the welfare of society, are almost impossible. The community that does not possess such Kshatra Power is bound to die. If education, agriculture, cattle-production, commerce and all arts and crafts are divorced from society, the community may still continue its lingering existence, but the want of Kshatra Power is likely to endanger the very existence of society. The Kshatra Power, in fact, guides, protects and harmonises the national commonwealth. All these considerations ought to be borne in mind when we set ourselves to the task of determining the flag of the Hindu Nation. The earth that feeds society, the law that gives nourishment, the book that imparts wisdom, the spinning wheel that symbolises arts and crafts—all these and many others can become symbols and much can be said in respect of each of them. But the crowning representative of all these symbols—the only correct symbol of Abhyudaya—is Kripana (sword). In this one, all other symbols are represented. The main symbol for the Hindu National Flag, therefore, should be the Kripana.

But the ultimate aim of the Hindu Abhyudaya is Nihshreyas and keeping this in view, the Hindus should endeavour to reach the highest goal humanly possible, which is the special characteristic of the Hindu Nation. Hindus have perfected a science based on experiment, which can be termed the highest blessing on human life. This Shastra is called the Yoga. It is the highest means of the full development of man’s internal powers. It is, therefore, very necessary that a clear symbol of Yoga, which indicates the way to the highest bliss should be fixed on the flag of the Hindu Nation. The symbol is that of the Kundalini. It is not the characteristic of any particular Jati or Varna. It exists in all human beings. On both sides of the Merudanda (spinal cord), there are two nadis (rivers), which are named by the Hindu Yogashastris as the Ida and the Pingala. They are intertwined with each other like a garland. Between these two, there is a third nadi called the Sushumna. In them, there are centres of nerves, which are designated as lotuses in the Yogic language. There are chiefly six lotuses, known as the Muladhara, the Swadhisthana, the Manipura, the Anahata, the Vishuddha and Sahasrara. In the Muladhara chakra, there is a marvellous power, which is coiled up. By Yogic and meditative practices it gets awakened and passing through every lotus (nerve center) and experiencing wonderful psychic superhuman experiences, reaches the Sahasrara lotus. Then the person practicing Yoga experiences wonderfully super-sensous and intense joy and bliss. This stage is designated by the Yogis as that of Kaivalyananda, by the Vajrayanis as that of Mahasuka, by the Adwaitees as that of Brahmananda, and by the devotees as that of Premananda. To acquire this supreme joy or bliss is the highest ideal of man, be he a Hindu or a non-Hindu (Muslim, Christian or Jew) i.e. believer or non-believer, citizen or forester. This Yogashastra is a science of personal experience. Hence, there is no place for difference of opinions. Therefore, the Kundalini that is the Muladhar Shakti or man’s highest progress and eternally blissful state of superconsciousness, which can be personally experienced, can alone be the symbol of the great ideal, at which the Abhyudaya of the Hindu Nation aims. Thus, the Kundalini represents all the ultimate aspirations, feelings, and powers of mankind and the Kripana, which represents the all-sided Abhyudaya aiming at and leading to the nation’s ideal prosperity. These two alone being depicted on the national flag, will be able to indicate and inspire the ideals of Abhyudaya and Nihshreyas.

Pointing at the flag, every Hindu will say: This is the Kundalini—this is the Kripana—-the one represents the highest bliss, the other worldly prosperity; they combine Shanti and Shakti, Yoga and Bhoga, Nivritti and Pravritti, Dhyeya and Dharana; the one symbolizes Aupanishadic Vidya (Highest spiritual attainment), the other denotes Aupanishadic Avidya (worldly advancement); the former reminds one Yogeshwar Krishna, the latter Dhanuradhara Partha of the Geeta. The Kundalini means Jnana Yoga and the Kripan means Karma Yoga. ‘For the protection of the good and the destruction of the wicked.’ All this, whatever that moves in the world, does so, because it is indwelt by the Lord. “Enjoy thou what he has allotted to thee.” This is the Universal message of the Hindu flag to the world. This is the national declaration. In order that kingdom, power and glory may not become polluted by the actions of tyranny and in order to keep the central truth of virtuous conduct always before mankind, the background of this Hindu flag is made of Bhagawa (red orchard) colour. This is the colour of renunciation. There is no Tyaga without Yoga and Kshema. Therefore, the Kripana is for the Yoga Kshema. We not only want to become free, powerful and liberated ourselves, but we want also to make the world so. Therefore, the colour of the flag of prosperity is Bhagawa. The deeper meaning and the philosophic secret of the Hindu flag is, thus, denoted by this Bhagwa-zenda, which is adorned by the kundalini with Omkar and which also holds the Kripana, this has got a very great historical importance. This flag is the final stage in the evolution of the traditional Hindu flag in the past. This is the consummation and perfection. From the very ancient times, the colour of the Hindu flag has been Bhagwa. Even today, the zenda indicating the ideas of victorious Pravritti and Blissful Nivritti is seen always and everywhere on the Hindu temples. When the Moslems were encroaching on the Hindusthan, the Maharashtriya Hindu padpadashahi, which succeeded in overthrowing them by its great forces with Herculean efforts and by organising the Hindu power, had as its flag Bhagwa zenda and everyone knows that the national Guru Samartha Ramdas, who bestowed it on the national hero Shree Shivaji Maharaj, gave it as the flag of Hindu religion for the great national purpose. For the establishment of Abhyudaya and Nihshreyas, Shri Ramdas has defined Dharma as— ‘Activity generates power. He who is active possesses it, but it must be based on the highest ideal of Nihshreyas, firstly as expounding the Kshatras

of great Avatars, secondly Rajakaran (politics), thirdly watchfulness regarding everything.’ This very meaning is denoted by the Hindu flag. Along with the Royal Bhagwa colour of the Maharashtriya Hindu power, there is also the Kripana of the Sikhs indicative of the memory of Guru Govind Singh, another great protector of Hindu nation. Guru Govind Singh used to keep Kripanas by his sides and used to say: ‘The one is of Yoga and the other is of Bhoga, the one is of Shanti (eternal peace) and the other is of Pushti-tushti (prosperity).’ Our Hindu flag also gives the same message. This Kundalini means Yoga and the Kripana means Bhoga. In the same way, Onkar is the sacred name of the great One, with whom the liberated souls become one, is the Highest state of Nihshreyas of Vaidic, Non-Vaidic, Sanatani and modern Hindu. Be there everlasting victory and eternal life to the Hindu flag bearing the symbol of Kundalini with Omkar and of Kripana from this end to that of the world flying with the prowess of millions of warriors accomplishing the highest happiness of all mankind! Since the time when in the Shradhanada paper, Syt. Savarkar propounded very clearly and appropriately the idea of the Hindu national flag, it is being welcomed everywhere. At the Session of the Akhil-Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha at Surat, its learned and venerable president hoisted the flag. At that time, the whole Mahasabha got up, saluting the flag hoisted triumphantly. In the year 1928, the Morshi Taluka Hindu Parishad held its session under the presidentship of Lokanayaka Aney. At that time, the audience, which was more than 5000, stood under the flag and sang the song of the ‘Hindus’ ‘We Hindus are all brothers.’ The C.P. and Berar Hindu Mahasabha met at Akola under the presidentship of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. At the time of entering the mandap (pandal), all the persons assembled saluted the flag. In the Hindu Youth Conference at Akola under the presidency of Dr. Savarkar, the Hindu National song was sung under the very flag. After the Surat Session in all the sessions of the Hindu Mahasabha, which took place at Bezwada under the presidency of Dr. Moonje, at Akola under Sjt. Vijaya Raghava Achariyar’s presidentship, at Delhi under the presidentship of Sj. N. C. Kelkar of Poona, there was a grand salutation of this Abhinava Hindu Dhwaja; the Hindu Flag continued hoisted and flying in every one of the sessions that was held in subsequent years including the last session of Cawnpore under the presidentship of Rev. U. Uttama.

Facts without Comment

Many a good-natured Hindu simpleton is heard to ejaculate with a prudish air: ‘How can this be? I don’t think the Mahomedan proselytising campaign is so bad as your comments suggest. Facts would certainly belie them!’ If they would, none would be gladder than we. But friends, don’t you see that between us, the comment which is decidedly based on a mere ‘I think’, a mere silly hope that hopes against hope, is the only comment that you just passed on my comments? For, my comments are avowedly not based on a mere ‘I think’. But your remark that want only asserts ‘facts would certainly belie them’ is certainly belied by facts, for it is confessedly guilty of being based on no more solid a foundation than a hollow ‘would’. Is it not your business also, Oh good friend, to leave your cosy corner and gather facts for yourselves, if only to prove my comments false? What right have you to demand facts from me alone? Why don’t you bring out your facts which you say would certainly belie my comments? But, although, you have no right to dub my comments as certain to be belied by facts without citing a single fact to support your own, nevertheless, I have determined to treat you with an unalloyed dose of facts and facts alone for which you so dreadfully thirst but to get at which, you would not stretch out your lazy hand so much as an inch further. I hope your green opium dreams would not be disturbed even by this strong dose. We cite only those reports that come of the papers published during this current month alone. If all reports that the press had reported of Mahomedan campaign of conversion during the last four years are to be cited, a volume would not suffice. So, we call only a few of them and only out of those which happened within the last month alone. Mr. Vilas Rai Dal reports from Sambhar: ‘Ever since the Hasan Nizami scheme has begun its nefarious activity, several Hindus have been converted to Mohamedanism. Almost every Mohamedan down to the street urchins are ever on the lookout for a helpless or unprotected Hindu that they might hammer upon and entangle him in their net. Only very recently, they caught hold of two Brahmin women and made them Mohamedans. One Hindu preacher opposed them. But as the chief officer as well as lower ones are Moslems, they soon intimidated him into silence. The Moslem shopkeepers, those who visit Hindu ladies for selling glass bangles, Moslem servants in Hindu houses—all try to seduce or kidnap boys and girls and

generally force them to accept Mohamedanism. Only the other day, I visited one of these victims and as a sample of what happens in scores of cases at Sambhar, I reproduce our conversation. The name of the victim is Taka. He was a Brahmin. He burst into tears as soon as the subject of this apostasy was touched and said: I was a Kashmiri Brahmin. I was one day suddenly called by a certain survey officer who was a Moslem, notorious for partiality and fanaticism in Hindu circles. He offered me a pan but as I refused to eat it, his servants suddenly fell upon me and belaboured me so mercilessly that I fell senseless on the ground. When I recovered, I found myself a helpless prisoner in the Moslem hands who took me to a mosque, cut off my choti (shikha), paid off my debts to the Hindu shopkeepers, changed my name to Nizamuddin and kept me under a close Moslem surveillance. My wife and uncle came to see me but returned deadly shocked and weeping at my helpless state.’ This Brahmin wished to come back to the Hindu fold. He disclosed several cases of Hindu victims in Sambhar alone, whose names were noted down by me. The Christians also are making great progress in this State. If things go on like that, Sambhar would cease to contain a Hindu home.” The Hindu reports “The Mohamedans have organised a secret society in the district of Nababshah whose activities are assuming dangerous proportions. In this one district, and in one month, four or five Hindu lads have been kidnapped. “A Hindu woman has lodged a complaint that some Moslems of Karachi have decamped with her young son and that she could not ascertain his whereabouts. “In the town of Naushahara, the Hindu papers report the presence of a disciple of Hasan Nizami school who, guised as a Sufi, has been busy seducing young Hindu boys away, making them abjure the Hindu faith. One of his own pet disciples gave out his secret designs.” The Sindh Kesari reports that Moslems have kidnapped a young Hindu lad at Karachi aged 16. The Daily Hindu of Hyderabad observes: “The campaign of kidnapping, seducing and abducting Hindu boys and girls is being persistently carried on throughout Sindh. The Khilafatists are at the forefront. On the 17th of April, some Mohamedans had secured a Hindu lad —Har Nathoo, eight years old. They had kidnapped the boy at some other place. Evidently a Hindu leader came to know of this wretched affair and succeeded in recovering the boy, who was duly re-initiated into the Hindu

fold by restoring his sacred thread and the Shikha. Thereupon, the local Mohamedans made a Mohamedan woman to file a suit against the Hindus for having forcibly converted to Hinduism her lad, namely, Har Nathoo. But the police inquiry resulted in establishing the Hindu contention. But seeing the case had resulted against them, the Moslems stole the lad right from the police custody and were on the point of despatching him to Hyderabad. But fortunately, some Hindu gentlemen detected the poor lad thus being forcibly smuggled by the Moslems and once more, the police secured his possession. None of the Moslems is as yet arrested.” The same paper publishes that a Madrasi Hindu with his wife and daughter got stranded in Hyderabad on account of his money being robbed on the railway station. Moslem propagandists, who are ever on the lookout in Hyderabad for an opportunity to catch any helpless Hindu in their nets, got hold of that Madrasi and took him to Moslem quarters. But fortunately, a Hindu Sikh gentleman got news of the affair and took the duped Madrasi, his wife and daughter to the office of the Hindu Sabha, and thus saved them. A Hindu girl was abducted and held in illegal custody by some Moslems in Hyderabad. The Hindus on coming to know of this dreadful affair, informed the police and released the poor girl. Mr. Subhanilal reports that a Hindu woman named Amara Bai was on the point of being abducted by two Moslems, Muhmud and Jumma. They had arranged every thing for the forcible carrying away of that woman. Just then, some Hindu gentleman detected it and informed the police. But the police too seemed inclined to let the Moslems have the possession of the woman. As the Hindu yielded not and threatened further proceedings, they at last succeeded in saving the woman and sent her back to her husband, who is a resident in Delhi. The scandalous activities of Bengali Moslem gundas and proselytisers, working hand in hand, have become so persistent and so notorious that one cannot understand how the Hindus in East Bengal have grown so incredibly emasculated. Hundreds of cases have occurred in that part continuously for the last three years and more, monotonously repeating the same story of a Moslem abducting or outraging and then forcing the Hindu girl or wife to Mohamedanism. To choose only one case, let us cite the story of Gubrasani, the daughter of the mukhtyar of Gaivanda. Khijuruddin and other Moslem rowdies rushed in the house of her father and forcibly carried this poor girl

away. She was confined and tortured, dishonoured and outraged, but she refused to give her consent to live with them as a Moslem. She once got an opportunity, effected her escape and reaching a railway station, was on the point of leaving the place. But the Daroga there happened to be a Mohamedan, he intervened and handed back that helpless girl into the hands of those Mohamedan miscreants who had abducted her. At last, the whereabouts of the girl being known, the police arrested those Moslem criminals along with that Daroga and the case was tried before the Magistrate of Rangpoor. The miscreants were punished but an important side-issue brought to light in an authoritative way the evil that is corroding Hindu life in Eastern Bengal not only now—now that it is brought to light —but for decades and decades in the past. The accused in this case wanted to get their case transferred from Rangpoor to some other court on the ground that the popular feeling at Rangpoor was so excited against them as to affect the decision of their case. The Magistrate set aside and refused to grant their petition, observing with silent eloquence that cases of Hindu women being similarly abducted and ill-treated have become such a common occurrence in Eastern Bengal, that people have ceased to take any special notice of them and so they could never excite the popular feeling there. These words of a magistrate are so plain and yet so dreadful that the ‘Agrasar’ is made to observe that no stronger remarks could be passed in condemning the effeminacy that has overtaken the Hindus of East Bengal and the criminal negligence, with which West Bengal passively witnesses all this, without so much as raising a word of protest against this Moslem rowdyism that has such a fanatical method in its monstrous madness. A breath of Lord Lytton has shocked our sense of chivalry, but the rude and indecent clasp of the garlic-smelling Moslem gunda may be silently borne. From Badan, the sad tale of the oppression of Mohamedan Zamindars informs us that one Devi Bhavani, a Hindu Chambhar, was the latest victim of religious fanaticism. He was all of a sudden attacked by half a dozen Moslems, under the protection of Zamindars, and was forcibly fed with unclean food at the hand of Mohamedans; the whole society of the Chambhars is being intimidated and oppressed with a view to forcing them to embrace Islam. The Zamindars have ordered washermen, barbers and other castes not to render services to the Chambhars unless they leave the Hindu fold. The Mohamedan police too is passively witnessing this dreadful and criminal campaign of religious persecution. The villages of

Datagant, Bikhanli, Khiri and several other places in the district of Etava are groaning under similar religious persecution and Hindus in dozens and scores, have been systematically forced to leave the faith of their forefathers. Mr. Devi Dutt Dwivedi declares that some of these Hindu victims to Moslem barbarism have prayed to be readmitted into the Hindu fold through shuddhi. Before the District Magistrate of Sylhut, a Hindu widow stated that she got widowed at the age of ten. She was aged about fourteen years, at the time of her complaint. Once while she was bathing at a ghat, one rascal Mubarik suddenly fell on her, thrust a piece of cloth in her mouth and decamped with her. He kept her in confinement and committed a series of outrages. He took her then to a rich Mohamedan, threatening her all the while with a pointed dagger to acquiesce in all that he did and said. In the meanwhile, she saw her brother coming down with a constable, at the sight of which, she suddenly cried aloud ‘brother! oh my brother! Here, am I, thy sister Tarangin!’ The story and its pathos need not be gone into further enough to state that in this case, at least the rascal Mubarik got sentence of four years rigorous imprisonment. We can multiply similar incidents reported from Kashmir to Kamorin ad nauseum. But we refrain from doing so and will end this sad tale with two significant remarks. One is a caution printed prominently in the Arjun—the leading Hindi Daily of Delhi. It warns all Hindus that inasmuch as the filthy activity of Moslem gundas has been renewed in Delhi, Hindus should not allow their sisters and wives and mothers and daughters to go unattended, to bath, to the ghats of the Jamanaji nor would they remain outside after dusk. For, several reports have reached us that show that Moslem gundas take most indecent liberty with Hindu ladies and harass them most dreadfully in some quarters of the city. This is the state of the capital of all India! What are we to think of out-of-the-way villages and towns on the frontier or in the Punjab in Sindh and other provinces! This also must be borne in mind that each of these cases that has come to light conceals behind it dozen that are not known. Last of all, in the presence of such grave and persistent provocation, there is not a single case of a Hindu being guilty of carrying or trying to kidnap or abduct a Moslem boy or girl under the influence of fanatical barbarism. Fortunately, it is not in their grain.

Here then, are a few facts and no comment. In fact, comment on such facts does only clothe their naked heinousness. Let them see, who have eyes to see! —Mahratta, 3-5-1925 ❑ .

The Late Shriyut V.V.S. Aiyer In Memoriam

Heavy griefs have often embittered our life, but none heavier than what thy sudden death caused, Oh friend, ever taxed our capacity to endure. Memories of those momentous years and trying days rise in a flood and struggling to find a vent, keep knocking at the gates of our heart. How we wish we could have spoken them all and recited our reminiscences; but our lips must remain sealed. How we long to write of thy goodness and gentleness of disposition—how, when betrayed, thou stood'st unshaken, how thou served'st them who owned thee not and how thou suffered'st when unknown and madest not the slightest mention of it when thou gotst known—how we long to write of it all; but our pen is a broken reed. The noble story of thy life must for, the time being, may perhaps for all time to come, remain untold. For while those who can recite it are living, the time to tell it may not come, and when the time comes when all that is worth telling will no longer remain suppressed and will be eagerly listened to, the generation that could have recounted it might have passed away. Thy greatness, therefore, must stand undimmed but unwitnessed by man, like the lofty Himalayan peaks. Thy services and sacrifices must lie buried in oblivion as do the foundations of a mighty castle. The news of thy sudden death was bitter enough. But bitterer by for, is this our inability to relate to posterity under what heavy obligations thou hast placed them and to express the fulness of our personal and public grief. For, indeed, he was a pillar of strength, a Hindu of Hindus and in him, our Hindu race has lost one of the most exalted representatives and a perfect flower of our Hindu civilization. Ripe in experience, hallowed by sufferings and devoted to the service of man and God, the cause of Hindu Sanghatan was sure to find in him, one of its best and foremost champions in Madras. In 1907 A.D. or somewhere there, one day the maidservant at the famous India House in London handed a visiting card to us as we came downstairs to dine, and told us the gentleman was awaiting in the drawing room. Presently, the door was flung open and a gentleman neatly dressed in European costumes and inclined to be fashionable, warmly shook hands with us. He told us he had been a pleader at Rangoon and he had come over to England to qualify himself as a full-fledged barrister. He was past thirty and seemed a bit agreeably surprised to find us so young. He assured us of his intention to study English music and even assured that he was eager to

get a few lessons in dancing as well. We, as usual, entered our first mild protest against thus dissipating the energy of our youth in light-hearted pastime when momentous issues hung in balance. The gentleman, unconvinced but impressed, took our leave promising to continue to call upon us every now and then. He was Shriyut V.V.S. Aiyer In 1910 A.D., somewhere in March, we stood as a prisoner then only very recently pent up in Brixton—the formidable prison in London. The warder announced visits. Anxiously, we accompany the file of prisoners to the visiting yard. We stand behind the bars wondering who could have come to call on us and thus invited the unpleasant attentions of the London police. For, to acknowledge our acquaintance from the visitor's box in front of the prison bars, was a sure step to eventually get behind them. The visitors are let in. They crowdedly pass past our window. Presently, one dignified figure enters the box in front of us. It was V.V.S. Aiyer. His beard was loosely waving on his breast. He was unkempt. He was no longer the neatly dressed fashionable gentleman. His whole figure was transformed with some great act of dedication of life. “Oh leader!” he feelingly accosted us, “why you left Paris at all”! Soothingly, I said: “Friend, what is the use now of discussing it here. Rightly or not I am here, pent up in this prison-and the best way now is to see what is to be done next, how to face the present.” While fully occupied in discussing future plans, the bell rang and the warders came rushing and shouting unceremoniously: “Time is up.” With a heavy heart, we looked into each others’ eyes. We knew it would perhaps be the last time we ever saw each other in this life. Tears rose, Suppressing them we said: “No! no! We are Hindus. We have read Gita. We must not weep in the presence of these unsympathetic crowds.” We spoke in Hindi; curious crowds of English men watched the ‘young Indian rebel ‘ and his friend. We parted, I watched him till he disappeared and said to my mind: “Alas! it is well nigh, impossible to see this loving soul again.” For, one of the two fates was certain to fall to my lot, the gallows or the Andamans, and neither could hold any prospect before me of seeing my friends again. This was in 1910 A.D.; fourteen years rolled by, and the impossible actually happened. Travelling the most dangerous and meandering bypaths and bylanes and subterenean passages of life so formidably bordering the realms of death, I met Shriyut Aiyer a couple of months ago. He had travelled all the distance from Madras to Bombay to enable us to revel a