পাতা:হিন্দুধর্ম্মের শ্রেষ্ঠতা.pdf/৮৬

( 15 ) Hinduism for the sake of salvation. Those who personned these ceremonies surely acted under an error but it must be admitted that they did them for the sake of obtaining God. Sati is another instance of such sacrificing spirit. Sainyaseeisn is another. It is no common thing to forsake all worldly possessions as Lalla Baboo, the father of the late Raja Pertap Chunder Sing of Pikparall, did and adopt the life of a mendicant. His was not a solitary instance. There are numberless examples of the kind. The Hindoo Religion is in itself a religion of self-imposed privations and a continuous round of hard and irksome duties performed for the sake of obtaining God. The Hindoo Religion can therefore be emphatieally called a religion of sacrifice. The Friend of India cites very remarkable instances of active benevolence which occurred in Christendon and which cannot but command our greatest admiration. There is however much of active benevolence in this country also but it is of an unostentatious character. Unfortunately there are no histories or authentic biographies of individuals who perform great acts or benevolence or else we would have shown our esteemed contemporary that such" benevolence is not rare in India. We shall cite only one instance here which occurred within the sphere of our individual testimony and the particulars of which we doubt not the Editor of the Friend of India will be able to ascertain by inquiry as the scene of occurrence lies within three miles from his residence. In the village of Connagur there was an orthodox Brahmin lady, the wife of the late Baboo Rani Chunder Chuckerbutty, who used to administer medicines to, and nurse with her own hand, children of the lowest castes, whom according to Orthodox ideas it is a pollution to touch, At any hour of the day or night when her services were required by any person in the village or whenever she of herself came to know that such services were required, she used to offer them with the greatest alacrity and willingness of spirit. She used, to bathe as often fie touched any children of the lowest caste, not that