Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism 1 1 



ians in subjection some consideration for their religion was neces- 

 sary. Although the Dravidians were worshipers of " mad gods," 

 they were most tenacious of their religions rites. The Aryans did 

 not attempt to compel them to give up their gods, but adopted the 

 policy of bringing the people with their religion into the fold of 

 Hinduism. This process has been going on until the present time.® 

 To what extent the effort has succeeded is evident on every hand." 



8 Gazetteer of Vicagapatam District, I, p. 75. The Khonds, a hill tribe, 

 are an illustration. They are still worshipping simultaneously their aborig- 

 inal god, Poleramma from the Telugu country, and an orthodox Hindu god. 



10 Census of 191 1, Vol. XII, Pt. i, Ch. 4, (paras. 4, 6, 22, 26). "It is 

 well to remember that the strict connotation of the word Hinduism is 

 racial and social rather than theological. At the same time we may ad- 

 mit that Hinduism is in a sense acquisitive. If it strains out the individual 

 gnat, it can swallow with cheerfulness the tribal camel. Some slight pro- 

 fession of faith, and modern efficiency in the nice conduct of ceremony, 

 are sufficient to secure for an aspiring animistic tribe, gods included, 

 admission within the pale. 



" The most debatable Hindu may well worship, and often does worship, 

 the great Hindu deities. Such worship is not a necessary impediment to 

 a simultaneous worship of many minor godlings. The two acts of faith 

 at times co-exist even in Brahmans. 



" Whatever may be their present-day union or interminglement, it is diffi- 

 cult to imagine any original connection of the Aryan Brahmans and their 

 subtle philosophies, with the gross demonolatry of the Dravidian peoples 

 who surrounded them. Holding certain philosophical opinions, which they 

 neither expected nor particularly desired their Dravidian neighbors to share, 

 it is unlikely that the early Aryan theorists made any serious efforts to 

 obtain adherents to their way of thinking. But satisfied with the admission 

 of their undoubted intellectual superiority, they built gradually many a 

 connecting bridge between their own somewhat unpractical speculations, 

 and the extremely materialistic demonologies of the Dravidians." 



E. A. Gait, Census Commissioner for India, in his " Notes on Census 

 Returns of Hindus," dated Simla, 12th July, 1910 (See Indian Social 

 Reformer, Bombay, Nov. 20, 1912), discusses at length the question as to 

 who are to be enumerated as Hindus. " The complaint has often been 

 made that the Census returns of Hindus are misleading, as they include 

 millions of people who are not really Hindus at all, who are denied the 

 ministrations of the Brahmans, and are forbidden to enter Hindu temples, 

 and who in many cases are regarded as so unclean that their touch, or even 

 their proximity, causes pollution. There is of course much truth in the 

 criticism, but the fact that Hinduism has no definite creed makes it diffi- 

 cult to lay down any definite test as to who is, and who is not a Hindu. 



I I 



