________________
61
important to the Christians of America, as they are rich and may well afford to misspend their money, but which is of great importance to my country as it has the tendency of affecting India vitally. But to yon, the members of the Nineteeth Century Club, the subject seellis to have presented an unusual importance, from the fact that this nation spends thousands of dollars far a work, the necessity of which is doubted by many even in this country. Christian Missions to India implies that India is a land of heathens and, therefore, stands on the same level with the Andaman or the Fiji Islands. That a country which has been recognised in all ages the world over as being the Mother of all religions and the cradle of civilization should be considered by Christians as heathens shows how much ignorance prevails in Christendom. I grant that such wrong impressions about India are caused solely by the missionaries who are noted, If not for anything else, at least for ignorance and lack of discrimination.
In the first place, the men sent out to India on missionary duty are, as a European who has mixed with them says, “usually utterly ignorant of the history of India except perhaps its most recent phases and what is still more, they know nothing of I even if capable of understanding ) the Hindu religion and philosophy. The result is, that with a narrow
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org