Page:Provincial geographies of India (Volume 1).djvu/140

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120
THE PEOPLE: RELIGIONS
[ch.

Census Superintendent, himself a high caste Hindu, wrote: "The definition which would cover the Hindu of the modern times is that he should be born of parents not belonging to some recognised religion other than Hinduism, marry within the same limits, believe in God, respect the cow, and cremate the dead." There is room in its ample folds for the Arya Samajist, who rejects

Fig. 40. God and Goddess, Chamba.

idol worship and is divesting himself of caste prejudices and marriage restrictions, and the most Orthodox Sanatan dharmist, who carries out the whole elaborate daily ritual of the Brahmanical religion, and submits to all its complicated rules; for the ordinary Hindu trader, who is equally orthodox by profession, but whose ordinary religious exercises are confined to bathing in the morning; for the villager of the eastern districts, who often has