racle, and Divine Revelation, as dispassionately
in the Vedic, Brahmanical, and Buddhistic cults, as in the Mosaic and
Christian. Belief in God, and reverence for Truth in the light of reason
and conscience, shine from every page of his work.

To flippantly call him an "atheist," or a "destroyer of holy things," as
though that were in any sense an answer to his thesis, and which formerly
was the rule, and may even now be attempted in certain quarters, will
simply brand the bigot as by no means intelligent--if indeed honest--who
attempts it. The majority of such sectarians have grown wise or prudent
enough to ignore all such issues.

There has been a great change in public sentiment since Jacolliot went to
India as an earnest student of these subjects, and in the nearly forty
years since he wrote this book.

The saying that "Truth passes through three phases before being accepted,"
specially applies here. First, people say, "It is not true." Second, "It
contradicts Scripture," and when it at last is triumphant, that
"_Everybody knew it before_."

The truths of which Jacolliot writes have already reached at least the
beginning of the third stage. Of course, "Everybody" here means those who
read, and think, and dare to use conscience and reason.

In referring to a religious debate between a missionary and a Brahman, and
the universal interest manifested among all classes as to the outcome of
the encounter, "hooting the vanquished in either case with strict
impartiality," Jacolliot adds, "We shall be less surprised at this when it
is known that there is not a Hindoo, whatever his rank or caste, who does
not know the principles of the Holy Scripture, that is, the Vedas, and who
does not _perfectly know how to read and write_."

Three hundred and forty millions of people, thousands of them pariahs and
outcasts, sharing refuse with the dogs, with no rights that any one else
is bound to respect, bowing their faces in the dust when a Brahman passes
ten paces away--and yet everyone can read and write!

Max Mueller said he had had in his study at Oxford a young Hindoo who could
repeat the whole of the Mahabharata _without missing a word or an
inflection_ from beginning to end.

These are some of the _remnants_ in the decline of old India after
thousands of years of Brahman rule and slavish domination of the people to
preserve their own exclusive caste and exploitation. Western people have
yet to learn the inevitable tenden