104} THE REV. H. D. GRISWOLD^ M.A._, PH.D., ON 



Discussion. 



The Chairman. — We have had an interesting paper ; but, 

 unfortunately, the writer of it not being present, it a little takes off 

 from the point of the discussion that may follow. However, 

 -although he is not here, I suppose we can thank him for it and the 

 Secretary for reading it and Mr. Eouse, who assisted him. 



In the meantime should there be any remarks to be made on the 

 paper by any present we shall be glad to hear them. 



The Secretary. — I am sure we are all indebted to the Rev. Mr. 

 Griswold for drawing up this paper for us. He has had great 

 opportunities of noticing the rise and advance of this newest sect 

 in India, and after the account he has given us of its rise and 

 advance, I think we may, on the whole, feel thankful for the Arya 

 Samaj and for the good it is doing in helping to enlighten the 

 Hindu population, chiefly in bringing them more under the 

 influence of western ideas for the emancipation of the women and 

 the spread of culture. Of course we should all have rejoiced if this 

 movement had really been more towards Christianity ; but it is 

 evidently a step in that direction. Mr. Griswold, very properly, 

 does not venture to take the role of a prophet ; still I think we 

 may go so far as to say that it appears to contain the seeds of 

 dissolution within itself. 



You will see that this movement depends on two factors — it 

 resolves itself into two divisions. The view that the Vedas date 

 back a billion years is a statement that the educated classes in India 

 will ultimately realize to be absolutely absurd ; and then the 

 attempt to show that the great advance in art and science of the 

 nineteenth and twentieth centuries have had their " basic " founda- 

 tion in the Yedas will also, in time, appear to the educated classes 

 to be absolutely without foundation in fact. They will see that the 

 Vedas, however admirable they are in some respects, moral and 

 social, yet the demand upon the view of the cultivated classes that 

 they contain the seeds and basis of all modern invention is that 

 which cannot hold water for a moment and must, ultimately, be 

 disproved. 



These reasons, and others also that I might add, such as that 

 the movement itself, within a quarter of a century, has been split 

 up into two divisions, not absolutely opposed, but divergent sub- 



