e. But if the taint of the intellectual
origin of the Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j be still visible in the eclecticism
that it professes, in its rejection of the supernatural, and in its poor
numerical progress, it has nevertheless done great things for India.

[Sidenote: The Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j and the national feeling.]

As yet the Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j has remained unaffected by the political
aspect of the new national feeling. Early in its history there was,
indeed, a section of the Sam[=a]j resolved to limit the selection of
scriptures to the scriptures of the Hindus, but the late Keshub Chunder
Sen successfully asserted the freedom of the Sam[=a]j, and probably
saved it from the narrow patriotic groove and from the political
character of the third of the new religious organisations, the [=A]rya
Sam[=a]j.

[Sidenote: Pr[=a]rthan[=a] Sam[=a]jes or Prayer Associations of S.W.
India.]

_The Pr[=a]rthan[=a] Sam[=a]jes_ or Prayer Associations of South-Western
India.--The history of India is pre-eminently the history of Northern
India, that is of the great plains of the Ganges and the Punjab. One may
test it by the simple academical test of reckoning what percentage of
marks in an examination on Indian history is assigned to the events of
the great northern plains. It is the same in the more recent religious
history of India. The southern provinces of Bombay and Madras have
contributed very little in respect of new religious life, organised or
unorganised, compared with the northern provinces of Bengal, the United
Provinces, and the Punjab. The Pr[=a]rthan[=a] Sam[=a]jes or Prayer
Associations of Bombay and South-western India are monotheistic like the
Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, and have their halls for their own worship. But
socially they have not severed themselves from their Hindu brethren, and
do not figure in the Census as separate. Even compared with the
Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j, they are few in number. The first Pr[=a]rthan[=a]
Sam[=a]j was founded in Bombay in 1867. In Madras there is a small
representation of the Br[=a]hma Sam[=a]j.

CHAPTER XI

NEW RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS

THE [=A]RYAS AND THE THEOSOPHISTS.

"Let us receive not only the revelations of the past, but also
welcome joyfully the revelations of the present day."

--BISHOP COLENSO.

[Sidenote: The [=A]rya Sam[=a]j.]

III. _The [=A]rya Sam[=a]j_ or _Vedic Theistic Association_--In contrast
to the Sam[=a]jes which are leavening the country but th