INDIA 



199 



remarks: "For my part, I 

 may not boast of my suc- 

 cesses in the sacred career 

 during the period that I 

 have laboured to promote 

 the interests of the Christian 

 religion. The restrictions and 

 privations under which I have 

 lived by conforming myself 

 to the usages of the country, 

 embracing in many respects 

 the prejudices of the natives, 

 living like them, and becom- 

 ing all but a Hindu myself 

 in short, by being all 

 things to all men, that I 

 might by all means save 

 some of those have proved 

 of no avail to me to make 

 proselytes. During the long 

 period I have lived in India 

 in the capacity of a mis- 

 sionary, I have made, with 

 the assistance of a native 

 missionary, in all between 200 

 and 300 converts of both sexes. 

 Of this number two-thirds 

 were Pariahs, or beggars, and 

 the rest were composed of 

 Sudras, vagrants, and outcasts 

 of several tribes, who, being 

 without resources, turned 

 Christians in order to form 

 connections, chiefly for the 

 purpose of marriage or with 

 some other interested views." 



Photo by Messrs. Bourne 



's Shepherd} 

 A RELIGIOUS MENDICANT. 



[Bombay. 



The following table shows at a glance the chief religions of India, and their relative 



strength in numbers. The Brahmans are by far the most numerous, being 

 population, while Mohammedans come next with nearly 20 per cent.: 



per 



cent, of the 



Brahrnanic . 



Mohammedan 



Animistic 



Buddhist 



Christian 



Sikh . 



Jain 



Zoroastrian . 



Unreturned . 



Jew 



Minor forms 



TABLE OF EELIGIONS. 



Nunibere. 



207,731,727 



57,321,164 



.'.... 7,131,361 



. . 2,284,380 



1,907,833 



. . 1,416,638 



87,904 

 42,578 



. . 17,194 



185 



Total 287,223,431 



Percentage of 

 Population. 



. 72.33 



. 19.96 



. 3.23 

 . 2.48 



. 0.80 

 . 0.66 

 . 0.49 

 . 0.03 

 . 0.014 

 0.006 



. 100.000 



