and
influence toward the creation and the development of a strong
reactionary religious spirit throughout the land. She has bitterly
denounced every tendency among the people toward Christianity. By her
eloquence, which is remarkable, she has extolled the faith of India,
and has revived and embalmed many of its worst features which were
rapidly passing away; and has even defended idolatry and kindred evils
by trying to harmonize them with modern and scientific ideas! She has
herself become practically a Hindu, expounds Hindu doctrines, and
practises Hindu ceremonies. She has persistently maintained eastern
thought and customs as against western, and has thus endeared herself
to English-speaking Hindus, who regard her as the goddess Saraswati
herself, and are willing to give her a place in their pantheon as one
of the great defenders of their faith against the mighty influences of
the West!

In this matter, Mrs. Besant may be said to have caused irreparable
injury to the people, as she has helped to arrest the tendency toward
religious reform and progress, and has rendered articulate and given
power and expression to the reactionary spirit which is now so rampant
in India. More than any other person, and chiefly because she is of
the West, and speaks in the accents of the West, she has antagonized
progress in this land, not only religiously but also socially, and has
done the greatest disservice to the people of India. In her eyes,
Hindu philosophy and ritual, Hindu institutions and domestic life,
have practically nothing to learn from the West, and need only to be
known in order to be appreciated and loved!

This, doubtless, in good part, accounts for her present popularity.

Yet, one cannot fail to recognize the value of some things which she
is doing. She has recently begun to speak with some emphasis upon
lines of reform. She has been instrumental in stirring within the
people a wider desire for higher education; though one can hardly
understand why she has done so much for the establishment of a college
for men, and has done practically nothing to advance the educational
interests of her much-neglected sex in India.

Upon the death of Colonel Olcott, the President Founder of Theosophy,
in 1907, Mrs. Besant became his successor. So far as the Indian vote
was concerned, this was a foregone conclusion; since her avowed
sympathy with Hinduism in all its forms had gained for her a strong
place in the Hindu heart.