es represented in a disputation held
at his Court, sent for Christian priests from Goa, and his Minister
Abul Fazl is quoted as having written poetry in which mosques,
churches and temples are classed together as places where people seek
for God.[1081]

Such being the opportunities and approximate dates for Christian
influence in India, we may now examine the features in Hinduism which
have been attributed to it. They may be classified under three
principal heads, (i) The monotheistic Sivaism of the south. (ii)
Various doctrines of Vaishnavism such as _bhakti_, grace, the love and
fatherhood of God, the Word, and incarnation. (iii) Particular
ceremonies or traditions such as the sacred meal known as Prasada and
the stories of Krishna's infancy.

In southern India we have a seaboard in communication with Egypt,
Arabia and the Persian Gulf. The reality of intercourse with the west
is attested by Roman, Jewish, Nestorian and Mohammedan settlements,
but on the other hand the Brahmans of Malabar are remarkable even
according to Hindu standards for their strictness and aloofness. As I
have pointed out elsewhere, the want of chronology in south Indian
literature makes it difficult to sketch with any precision even the
outlines of its religious history, but it is probable that Aryan
religion came first in the form of Buddhism and Jainism and that
Sivaism made its appearance only when the ground had been prepared by
them. They were less exposed than the Buddhism of the north to the
influences which created the Mahayana, but they no doubt mingled with
the indigenous beliefs of the Dravidians. There is no record of what
these may have been before contact with Hindu civilization; in
historical times they comprise the propitiation of spirits, mostly
malignant and hence often called devils, but also a strong tendency to
monotheism and ethical poetry of a high moral standard. These latter
characteristics are noticeable in most, if not all, Dravidian races,
even those which are in the lower stages of civilization.[1082] This
temperament, educated by Buddhism and finally selecting Sivaism, might
spontaneously produce such poems as the Tiruvacagam. Such ideas as
God's love for human souls and the soul's struggle to be worthy of
that love are found in other Indian religions besides Tamil Sivaism
and in their earlier forms cannot be ascribed to Christian influence,
but it must be admitted that the poems of the Sittars show an
extraordin