eover, Hinduism itself is being gradually transformed under the
search-light of a present Christianity.

Not only has it been compelled, from without, to give up some of its
inhuman practices, it has also voluntarily, from very shame, relinquished
some of its grossest evils.

There is a very interesting conflict now going on in Hinduism--between the
ultra-conservatives and the progressives. This latter class is composed
almost entirely of men who have been educated in mission and government
schools, and who have been influenced by Christian light and life.

I do not expect much from a Christianized Hinduism any more than I do from
a Hinduized Christianity. And yet we cannot be unmindful of, nor
ungrateful for, that growing sense of shame which leads that faith to
conceal, if not to abandon entirely, some of its worst crimes against man
and to adorn itself in such a way that it may not too violently shock the
sensibilities of a people who are living under the growing light of a
Christian civilization.

This is what the ancestral faith of India is now intent upon doing, at
least so far as the changing situation compels. The influence of educated
Hindus upon the pundits and other religious guides of the land is
increasing annually, and is steadily in favour of religious reform and of
a broad and enlightened interpretation of Shastraic deliverances upon
religious customs. For example, a few years ago, sea voyages were strictly
prohibited to all Hindus. No exceptions were allowed and excommunication
was the inevitable penalty for the violation of this religious injunction.
Today hundreds of Hindus, impelled by an ambition for the best education
and for a broad culture, annually travel to England and to other foreign
lands. Though some of those men are punished for their temerity in defying
this sacred injunction of their faith, it is remarkable how many pundits
arise to defend such travel and to reduce the opprobrium which overtakes a
sea-travelled man. Indeed, every year adds to the ease with which such a
man can avoid punishment for going abroad.

Until recently, Hinduism had no way of reinstating a man who had deserted
his ancestral faith and had thereby broken caste. Today this subject is up
for discussion, and many of the religious leaders are pointing to passages
from their Scriptures which justify such a reinstatement and are showing
methods by which it can be effected. In consequence of this not a few
back-slidin