The Project Gutenberg EBook of New Ideas in India During the Nineteenth
Century, by John Morrison

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Title: New Ideas in India During the Nineteenth Century
A Study of Social, Political, and Religious Developments

Author: John Morrison

Release Date: December 7, 2004 [EBook #14294]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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NEW IDEAS IN INDIA DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

_A Study of Social, Political, and Religious Developments_

BY THE
REV. JOHN MORRISON, M.A., D.D.
LATE PRINCIPAL, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S INSTITUTION,
CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION, CALCUTTA, AND
MEMBER OF SENATE OF CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY

LONDON
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1907

PREFACE

The substance of the following volume was delivered in the form of
lectures in the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh during Session
1904-5. As "Alexander Robertson" lecturer in the University of Glasgow,
the writer dealt with the new religious ideas that have been impressing
themselves upon India during the British period of her history. As
"Gunning" lecturer in the University of Edinburgh, the writer dwelt more
upon the new social and political ideas. The popular belief of Hindu
India is, that there are no new ideas in India, that nought in India
suffers change, and that as things are, so they have always been. Even
educated Indians are reluctant to admit that things have changed and
that their community has had to submit to education and
improvement--that suttee, for example, was ever an honoured institution
in the province now most advanced. But to the observant student of the
Indian people, the _evolution_ of India is almost as noteworthy as the
more apparent rigidity. There is a flowering plant common in Northern
India, and chiefly notable for the marvel of bearing flowers of
different colours upon the same root. The Hindus call it "the sport of
Krishna"; Mahomedans, "the flower of Abbas"; for the plant is now
incorporate with both the great religions of India, a