ling either for existence or dominance, in the
land of the Vedas.

The principal faiths of the land, with their adherents, were as follows,
according to census of 1891:

Hindu 207,731,727
Sikh 1,907,838
Jain 1,416,638
Buddhist(5) 7,131,361
Parsee 89,904
Mohammedan 57,231,164
Jewish 17,000
Christian(6) 2,284,000

Let us consider these faiths briefly. It will be seen that Christianity
has, as its followers, only one per cent. of the whole population of the
land.

(_a_) Judaism.

The Jewish Community in India numbers only 17,000; these are found mostly
in Bombay and Poonah. Perhaps the most interesting colony of them is that
on the west coast in Cochin. I had the pleasure of visiting them in 1897.
There are 1,500 of them divided into two sections--the White, and the Black
Jews. There is a marked racial difference between the two. The Blacks were
originally the slaves of the Whites as is shown by their historical
documents. It is not known when the Whites came to India. Some think that
they fled there during the Jewish exile. More likely they came upon the
dispersion during the first century of our era. The purity of their blood
and the remarkable fairness of their complexion indicate that the
settlement has been from time to time reenforced from northwestern
countries. They are an exceedingly conservative people; and in their two
synagogues, they conduct their worship perhaps more like the Jews of
twenty centuries ago than do any other representatives of that race today.
The day-school connected with the White Synagogue closely resembles the
little school which our Lord attended at Nazareth.

(_b_) Mohammedanism.

About one-fifth of the whole population of that land is connected with the
religion of the great prophet of Arabia. This is a number largely in
excess of the whole Mohammedan population of Turkey. It is very suggestive
that this faith finds larger growth under the peaceable protection of the
Indian, than under the semi-barbarism of the Moslem, government.

This religion was carried into India in 711 A. D. at the point of the
sword; and its establishment and success for centuries was owing to the
same method. This community is not evenly distributed all over India; for,
more than one-third of it is found in Bengal alone, where it furnishes the
majority of the population. More than one-half of the adherents of this