Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 647

DEVELOPING THE INCREDIBLE
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primitive religion of which they constituted themselves
the guardians, and which, however imperfect it may have
been, was far from possessing the monstrous character
which it acquired later in the hands of its avaricious and
hypocritical interpreters.
The Hindu system of religion is
nothing more than a lever of which the Brahmins make use
habitually for influencing the passions of a credulous people,
and turning them to their own advantage. Instead of
bending the moral character of the nation under the yoke
of the primitive creed, they have invented a sham religion
suited to the natural propensities of the people.
Quick to
recognize the special predilections of their fellow-country-
men, they know that everything which is strange and
extraordinary, everything which exceeds the bounds of
reason, is calculated to please them
and they have
omitted no opportunity of using this knowledge to their
;
own
profit.
must be confessed that the imagination of the Hindus
is such that it cannot be excited except by what is mon-
strous and extravagant.
Ordinary objects produce not
the slightest impression upon their blunted intellects
it
needs giants or pygmies to attract their attention. However
It
;
one
may
be acquainted with them, it is easy to con-
If you attempt to amuse or
instruct them, they will listen to you with distracted in-
difference unless you intermingle with your discourse some
extravagant story, some absurd fable, or some fiction that
would overturn the whole economy of the universe. During
the conversations which I have frequently held with Brah-
mins on the subject of religion, if I spoke to them of miracles
wrought by the power of God, they saw nothing extra-
ordinary in them. If I related to them the exploits of
Joshua and his army and the wonders they performed
through the intervention of God in the conquest of the
land of Canaan, they would reply with an air of triumph
by citing the prowess of their Rama, and the wonders,
marvellous in quite another fashion, which attended his
conquest of the island of Ceylon. According to them,
Samson had no more strength than a child as compared
with Bali, Ravana, and other giants. The resurrection of
Lazarus was, in their opinion, quite unworthy of remark
little
vince oneself of this truism.
;