In the year 1774 was born a man of marked ability, named Rammohun Roy. He sought to suppress the Suttee, the burning of Hindu widows with the bodies of their dead husbands. He encouraged native education and the general enlightenment of the whole people. He went back beyond the teachings of priests and of the modern sacred Hindu books, back to the Vedas, and sought to prove that they taught that idolatry was wrong, and that one god should be worshiped. To this Supreme Being he gave the name of Brahma, and hence his sect of reformed Hinduism was called the Brahma or Brahmo-Somaj, or Society of God. After his death, several other leaders arose, the last of whom, the third from Rammohun Roy, named Keshub Chunder Sen, was, perhaps, most in accord with the founder’s spirit. He visited England lately. Under his leading the society is offering an uncompromising opposition to caste, idolatry and superstition, and is accomplishing the best results. PRINCIPLES OF HINDUISM. Hinduism as a system has nothing to say about making men better, it only tells of means to make peace with angry gods. It speaks only threatening and fear. But worse than this--and it would corrupt our pages to do more than mention it--much of its worship is vile; vulgar images are common objects of worship in India. Its teachings as to the next world and the way to reach it are remarkable. There is supposed to be a wide stream between this world and the next, and the only way to cross is by holding on to the tail of the sacred cow when dying. [Illustration: DYING BRAHMIN HOLDING THE TAIL OF THE SACRED COW, SO AS TO ENTER HEAVEN.] One terrible feature of Hinduism is _Caste_. Every Hindu child is born within a certain caste, and above or below that it can never go. It is a most rigid system requiring the members of one caste to have as little as possible to do with the members of another. The four principal castes are--the Priest or Brahmin caste; the Warrior caste; the Merchant caste; the Sudras, or Servile caste; besides these are the Pariahs, who are below all caste. Some of the castes distinguish themselves by the cut and color of their dress, some by the way in which their garments are put on, some by a peculiar mark on the forehead, some by the jewels or ornaments they wear. The bounds of these castes are fixed and immovable. No one, however, rich, or learned, or skillful, can rise above his caste, no one, however poor, or degraded, or vicious, sinks below his caste. Each caste looks up to those above it, and concedes its superiority. [Illustration: A CASTE-MARKED BRAHMIN AT HIS DEVOTIONS.]