and Benares. There could henceforward be no doubt as to the more than heretical
tendency of the theistic doctrine. An electric shock ran through society: all
Hindudom was roused from its slumber, and began suspiciously to ponder what
Brahmism meant by such daring. But the real test of principle was yet to come.
It was comparatively safe to make a few modifications in domestic religious
rites: the marriage of people of different castes compromised the principals
chiefly: it was necessary that the entire Brahma community should by some act
be universally committed to war against the evils and iniquities of caste. Keshub
and his party accepted this necessity, threw off the sacred thread that
distinguished them as Brahmans, and insisted that all who desired membership
with their Samáj should consent to renounce caste. There could be no greater
triumph than this, of principle over traditionalism: it stamped Brahmism as a
power in the land, and not an idle theological speculation.”
Thenceforward, Keshub Chunda Sen became the recognised leader of “the
Brahma Samáj of India,” and the new sect adopted an active proselytism. Branch
Samájes have been established all over the country; missionaries have been sent
as far as Madras and Bombay and the Punjab. Tracts and lectures have been
freely circulated. In Calcutta a so-called “church” has been built, and is well
attended every Sunday evening, not only by men, but by women, for whom
special accommodation is provided. The services are conducted in the
vernacular, so as to be intelligible to all worshippers. Brahmist hymns are sung
to the accompaniment of the harmonium, and the solemn mridong (a kind of
drum): passages are read from a book of selections in which the extracts from
the Bible greatly outnumber those from any other source; extemporaneous
prayers are offered with an intensity of spiritual feeling that could do no disgrace
to a Christian congregation; and discourses are delivered which breathe a pure
and noble tone of sentiment and feeling. Two weekly periodicals, one Bengali
and the other English, the “Dharma Tattwa” and the “Indian Mirror,” are the
recognised exponents of the views and teaching of the Samáj.