(In the words of a Christian preacher)
Rev. K S. MACDONALD authored book “THE VEDIC
RELIGION-THE CEEED AND PRACTICE OF THE INDO-ARYANS” which was published from London in
1881.
Rev.K S. MACDONALD was a Christian missionary and he came to our
country for work of Christian mission. In the preface of his book he writes how
the attempts made by Christian missionary to prove that the Bible is superior
to the Vedas were opposed by Swami Dayanand and Aryasamaj. The preface of his
books proves that Christian missionary idea to transform the way of thinking of
Hindus of this country to harvest crops for Jesus Christ were made unsuccessful
by the crusader for the Vedas – Swami Dayanand.
I am copy pasting the preface from his book to learn
about the impact of Swami Dayanand on Christian missionary. Moreover this book
was published in life times of swami Dayanand so it also adds our belief and
knowledge about Swami Dayanand. Hindus of this country should learn about the
great contribution of Swami Dayanand to Hindu society.
Dr Vivek Arya
At
the request of the Calcutta Missionary Conference I wrote, during the
cold-weather holidays of 1879-80, a paper on this subject. The following notes
are an expansion of that paper. Members of the Conference and other
Missionaries expressed a desire and expectation that the paper be published.
Impressed by the importance of the subject, and by the fact that there is no
book published upon it, though fully conscious of the shortcomings and
imperfections of my attempt, I have yielded to the desire, in the hope that
others more qualified may take the matter up. I have neither time nor
qualifications for it. At present, much is published bearing directly or
indirectly upon it in Dr. Muir's most learned volumes, of which six or seven
are before the public, in Max Muller's and Monier Williams' more popular works,
as well as in many other books containing, among much other matter bearing on
Sanskrit literature or the Hindu religion, short sketches of the times and
hymns of the Veda. But no one, as far as I am aware, has formally discussed the
religious opinions and practices of the 'Samhita'(or collection of hymns) of
the Rig-Veda from the Christian standpoint.
There
is a special necessity at the present time for such a discussion in connection
with the rise of the Theistic Church, called the Arya Samaj, at the head of
which is Pundit Dayananda Saraswati Swami, who is now engaged in propagating
his own peculiar view of the Veda, and who accepts as an infallible revelation
all the four Vedas, but interprets them monotheistically. The Rev. D. Hutton of
Mirzapore writes to me: 'I have read, with a good deal of interest and
profit, your lecture, which has been appearing from week to week in the Indian
Christian Herald, and I should be glad to get a complete copy of it. We have in
Mirzapore a branch of the Arya Samaj — the new sect, I suppose, I must call
them founded by Dayananda Saraswati, the Vedic reformer. The secretary often
calls on me to talk on religious subjects. It has struck me that parts of your
lecture, put into Hindi, would be useful I feel sure it will be useful in the
vernacular. The Swami, as Dayananda Saraswati is usually called, and his
followers believe the ' Samhita ' of the Vedas to be the work of God and
eternal. A few judicious selections from your lecture would put matters in a
different light. The Swami travels about lecturing eight months, and rests,
like Gautama, four, — only he takes his rest in the cold weather. He has a fair
following in the North-West Provinces, and has printed a number of books.
http://archive.org/details/vedicreligionor01macdgoog
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