Phase which Hinduism will assume-Episode to India's dark History Page 215 LECTURE VI. THE EVANGELIZATION OF INDIA, THE SPECIAL DUTY OF THE Conquests of Cyrus-In what Light represented by Scripture- The present Amount of Evangelistic Agency considered-Questions IBRARY UNIVERSITY CALIF LECTURE I. INDIA CONSIDERED DESCRIPTIVELY AND HISTORICALLY. THE “everlasting hills" of the Hímaláyah range, and the Indian Ocean, constitute the northern and southern boundaries of a land possessing almost every attribute that may challenge human interest. That land is India. Its peninsular portion is washed by the waves of the Arabian Sea on the west, and by the Bay of Bengal on the east. The Indus, rising on the table-land of Thibet, and winding its course through the snows and glaciers of the Himalehs, separates its continental portion from the mountainous countries of Afghánistán and Baluchistán, and forms its western boundary. The Bramaputra, descending like the Indus from the same elevated plains of Thibet, and winding round the fur*Signifying in the Indian language "Son of God." B 2 NATURAL BOUNDARIES. thest extremity of the Himalehs, forms its eastern boundary. Thus the physical outlines of the country are of surpassing grandeur. That chain of mountains of unparalleled height aud capacious breadth,* whose ranges form a zone of natural fortifications of 1500 miles' extent, whose summits are covered with eternal snow, and whose white towering pinnacles pierce the clouds, -those two rivers of sea-like expanse and lengthened course, whose respective tributaries are like independent streams, and which themselves branch off into numerous divisions, describing in their course valleys whose area is equal to that of whole countries,—and again, those seas which gird the Indian coasts to the extent of nearly 4000 miles ;-these all combine to separate India geographically from other parts of Asia, with a boldness and a grandeur not to be witnessed elsewhere. These several boundaries also, by the very physical magnificence with which they define India, seem to afford to it a prestige of pre-eminent greatness among the nations of the earth. Nor, while the outline is magnificent, is the detail of ordinary grandeur. The several parts of this great section of Asia have been filled up by the great Creator on a scale entirely commensurate with the bold outline. Six hundred miles further south of the Himalehs, another range of mountains describes a bold sweep across nearly the whole breadth of the country. These * The Himalehs are computed to occupy an area of 150,000 miles. MOUNTAINS AND HILLS. 3 are called the Vindya range. Again, about a hundred miles further south, another range of hills, called the Sutpúra, skirts the valley of the Nirbudda; and still further, another range skirts the valley formed by the River Tápí. These several ranges may be considered as so many nearly parallel girdles of the northern portion of the peninsula. In connection with its eastern and western points, two other mountain chains, called the Western and Eastern Ghauts, run toward the south in converging lines, and girdle respectively the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. These support the high table-land of Peninsular India. These hills are separated from the ocean by intervening plains of more or less width: sometimes their spurs or offsets reach even to the shore. The several mountainous ranges of India invest its scenery with unspeakable grandeur, and impart to it a magnificent variety. The traveller passes over terrific precipices, descends into deep ravines, and roams over romantic glens. In the northern range are witnessed stupendous avalanches, glaciers, and all the phenomena of Alpine regions. The high table-lands, of which the several mountains are the supports, and to which their sloping and often steep ascents lead the traveller, form another interesting feature of the physical scenery of India. These respectively vary in elevation, and in some parts attain an altitude of 3000 feet. The myriads of people who inhabit these elevated countries experience a more genial atmosphere than the residents of 4 RIVERS AND WATERFALLS. the plains below them, and refreshing breezes modify in a powerful degree the fervour of the tropical sun. The numerous rivers of India no less affect the traveller with admiration and delight. Their course marks out grand geographical divisions. Those which wind along the plain of the Indus run from east to west, and empty themselves into the Arabian Sea. Those which wind along the plain of the Ganges have an eastward direction. The rivers of the peninsula flow from west to east, and empty themselves into the Bay of Bengal. These rivers, drawing their unfailing supplies from thousands of mountainous springs, and enlarged by melting snows and periodical rains, notwithstanding the process of evaporation under a vertical sun, flow on, from age to age, with a wide and lengthened course, unparalleled save in tropical countries, and furnish populous cities and districts with their exhaustless streams. In some cases people resident at more than a thousand miles' distance from each other drink of the same water, and bathe in the same stream. Sometimes their course is abrupt, and deep chasms intervene: they leap over the chasms, and form stupendous waterfalls. To what part soever of God's works in India we turn our eyes, we are entranced by all that is beautiful, grand, and gorgeous. At the same time we behold nothing diminutive or insignificant. The plains of India are oceanic: they seem interminable. Its hills are mountains: its mountains transcend the clouds. |