iation, in order
to find the best in Hinduism, as well as to be fortified against its
worst features.

Never before did the educated men of this land stand up with more
determination for their old ideals, and this is a matter of serious
concern to our cause. On the other hand, the most encouraging fact in
the realm of Christian work in India at the present time is that of
the marvellous place which our Lord has found among the people of the
land, especially the educated, as the ideal of life. They will have
none of Him as a Saviour, and His death has no significance to them.
But His blessed life has become the inspiration and the ideal of life
to the cultured classes of India, in a way which is transforming their
ethical conceptions and which largely eclipses all other
life-influences among them. Herein lies our hope and assurance for
India. But what they crave, and what they say they _must_ have, is "an
Oriental Christ," a Christ who is not presented in a western garb of
life and thought. Herein do we learn a most important lesson for our
life-work, as Christian missionaries in this land of the East.

CHAPTER IX

THE HOME LIFE OF HINDUS

The home life of a people is one of the most decisive tests of its
character and its state of civilization.

In this chapter I shall attempt only to describe the home life of
Hindus. And even within this limitation I can only refer to the
general characteristics which obtain among nearly _all_ Hindus, and
shall pass by the details, which differ so largely in different parts
of the country and among different castes.

It is in the home that the natural religious bent of the Hindu finds
its full scope and most touching manifestations. Generally speaking,
one may say that the house of a Hindu is his sanctuary, where the
tutelar god has its niche or shrine to which daily worship is
rendered. There is hardly any event connected with home life which is
not religiously viewed and made the occasion of definite family
worship. Of the sixteen events in the life of a man, from birth to
death, there is not one which is not viewed from a religious aspect,
and is not accompanied by an elaborate ritual.

There is hardly a respectable Hindu household in which there is not a
shrine containing an idol of stone or of some metal which corresponds
in value to the measure of the family's wealth. "Every morning and
evening it is worshipped by the hereditary _purohit_, or priest, who
visits