རྗེ། গ্ৰাম্য উপাখ্যান Here I may observe that if Brahmoism meant mere negation of image-worship, it could have claimed no originality, for such a doctrine already existed in the bundle of faiths labelled as Hinduism. The distinctive merit of Brahmoism must, therefore, be not its doctrinal side, not refusal to bend the knee before idols, -for the dogma of monotheism was an old one in India. With what new elements then has Brahmoism enriched Indian life? My answer is, social and not religious. First, the abjuration of caste in practice, while clinging to an Aryan creed and philosophy and rejecting (except in an eclectic form) the Senitic faiths of Muhammad and Christ. Secondly, a close copy of the religious and moral organization (not dogma) of the Protestant peoples of North Europe, viss., regular weekly religious service in congregation, daily family prayer, a scrupulous and ever vigilant protection of children from indelicate words, sights and literature, adult marriage (and the moral restraint which it implies', persistent and deliberate effort for the development of character by systematic preaching and the moral training of the young, the use of the
