indicates a link to material outside the Victorian Web.
India is a land of many religions. It is the home of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, and in its long history has adopted Islam and Christianity. In spite of its heterogeneous religious outlook, India is still dominated by Hinduism, the religion of the majority. A discussion of India is thus never complete without touching on Hinduism.
Hinduism and British India
Hinduism's success in India is largely attributed to its ability to adapt to diverse circumstances. It is a religion, which is flexible enough to allow opposites to coexist even if they are entirely contradictory; Hinduism simply took the best of other religions which it encountered and from these expanded its own belief system. For instance, Hinduism fused Buddhist ideas about salvation and Karma by accepting the possibility of salvation from the endless cycle of life. However, to the British, Hinduism was often associated with several social abuses, such as infanticide, child marriage, the prohibition of widow remarriage, and other social evils of the caste system. But what was most shocking "Sutte." The custom of suttee was a meritous practice in Hinduism in which widows threw themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands to accompany them to the netherworld. It was an expression of fidelity and love for their spouses.
With the advent of British rule over India, Hinduism came under more
pressures in the form of Christianity. In the sixteenth century, Portuguese and French Catholic missionaries began to arrive in India along with European traders. After the East India Company (EIC) expanded its rule over India, Anglican and Protestant missionaries increased in numbers. Indians, Muslims or Hindus were not prepared to accept Christianity which proclaimed itself the only true religion and often it was seen as the religion of the "white man" and the manifestation of colonial dominance. Socially, Christianity had its impact in its attacks of certain "social evils" and even gained the support of some Hindu leaders. For example, Ram Mohan Roy, the "father of modern India," though a Hindu himself felt attracted to the morality of Christianity. Ram Mohan Roy continued to fight against these social abuses which in Christian eyes, evil. It was mainly through his efforts that the EIC finally passed a law in 1829 declaring suttee illegal. Another great Indian figure, Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948) was also greatly influenced by Western thought. Gandhi was much influenced by Christianity through his contacts with the West; from Christ and the Gospels to the social and humanitarian movements of Victorian Britain. Gandhi however, never converted from Hinduism to Christianity, but some of his ideas were
clearly influenced by Christianity.
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Last modified 6 November 2000