From the Caves and Jungles of HindostanBlavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Religion
From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891; India -- Description and travel; India -- Religion
For more than two years before we left America we were in constant
correspondence with a certain learned Brahman, whose glory is great
at present (1879) all over India. We came to India to study, under his
guidance, the ancient country of Aryas, the Vedas, and their difficult
language. His name is Dayanand Saraswati Swami. Swami is the name of the
learned anchorites who are initiated into many mysteries unattainable by
common mortals. They are monks who never marry, but are quite different
from other mendicant brotherhoods, the so-called Sannyasi and Hossein.
This Pandit is considered the greatest Sanskritist of modern India
and is an absolute enigma to everyone. It is only five years since
he appeared on the arena of great reforms, but till then, he lived,
entirely secluded, in a jungle, like the ancient gymnosophists mentioned
by the Greek and Latin authors. At this time he was studying the chief
philosophical systems of the "Aryavartta" and the occult meaning of the
Vedas with the help of mystics and anchorites. All Hindus believe that
on the Bhadrinath Mountains (22,000 feet above the level of the sea)
there exist spacious caves, inhabited, now for many thousand years, by
these anchorites. Bhadrinath is situated in the north of Hindustan on
the river Bishegunj, and is celebrated for its temple of Vishnu right in
the heart of the town. Inside the temple there are hot mineral springs,
visited yearly by about fifty thousand pilgrims, who come to be purified
by them.
From the first day of his appearance Dayanand Saraswati produced
an immense impression and got the surname of the "Luther of India."
Wandering from one town to another, today in the South, tomorrow in the
North, and transporting himself from one end of the country to another
with incredible quickness, he has visited every part of India, from Cape
Comorin to the Himalayas, and from Calcutta to Bombay. He preaches the
One Deity and, "Vedas in hand," proves that in the ancient writings
there was not a word that could justify polytheism. Thundering against
idol worship, the great orator fights with all his might against caste,
infant marriages, and superstitions. Chastising all the evils grafted on
India by centuries of casuistry and false interpretation of the Vedas,
he blames for them the Brahmans, who, as he openly says before masses of
people, are alone guilty of the humiliation of their country, once great
and independent, now fallen and enslaved. And yet Great Britain has in
him not an enemy, but rather an ally. He says openly--"If you expel the
English, then, no later than tomorrow, you and I and everyone who rises
against idol worship will have our throats cut like mere sheep. The
Mussulmans are stronger than the idol worshippers; but these last
are stronger than we." The Pandit held many a warm dispute with the
Brah-mans, those treacherous enemies of the people, and has almost
always been victorious. In Benares secret assassins were hired to slay
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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