INDIA
722
INDIA
to Catholics by the highest ecclesiastical authority.
This list forms the second and larger part of the co-
dex entitled " Index librorum prohibitorum", which
contains the entire ecclesiastical legislation relating
to books. The "Index librorum prohibitorum", as
an integrant part of the prohibition of books, has
already been dealt with in the article Censorship
OF Books.
A book is prohiljited or put on the Index by decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Roman Inquisition, of the Sacred Office, or of the Index, which decree, though approved by the pope (in forma communi), always remains a purely congregational decree. It need scarcely be mentioned that the pope alone, with- out having recourse to any of the congregations, may put a book on the Index, either by i.ssuing a Bull or a Brief, or in any other way he chooses. Formerly it was the rule that a book was examined by one of the Roman Congregations only after complaint had been made to Rome. With regard to the t'ongregation of the Index, however, Pius X, when reorganizing the Roman Curia by the Constitution "Sapienti consilio" (29 June, 1908), decreed as follows: " Henceforth it will be the task of this Sacred Congregation not only to examine carefully the books denounced to it, to pro- hibit them if necessary, and to grant permission for reading forbitlden books, but also to supervise, ex officio, books that are being published, and to pass sentence on such as deserve to be prohiliited. Its further task is to remind the bishops of their sacred duty to combat the publication of pernicious writings and give information about them to the Apostolic See, in accordance with the Constitution "Officiorum ac mimcrum" of 25 January, 1S97 (Acta S. Sedis, XLI, 432).
In the reorganization of the Roman Congregations, Pius X did not change the constitution or methods of the Congregation of the Index, but rather confirmed anew Leo XIII's Bull "Officiorum", together with Benedict XlV's "Sollicita ac provida" sanctioned therein. This Bull of Benedict XIV, published on 8 July, 1753, regulates in detail the procedure of the Roman Congregations in the exammation of perni- cious liooks. It strictly commands that the exam- ination of a book be entrusted only to revisors well versed in the particular language and branch of learning. They must be free from all partisanship and prejudice, and must pass judgment not according to their private predilect ions or the tenets of any school, but simply and solely according to the general Catho- lic teaching and the dogmas of Holy Church. Espe- cially when examining books of Catholic authors of merit, they ought, in a spirit of fairness and leniency, to allow them free circulation, if at all possible. In no case ought the book of a Catholic author to be con- demned on the strength of the verdict of one revisor, not even when all the eonsultors agree with him. Together with the report of the first revisor — whose name, however, must not be mentioned — the book must be given to another for a second revision, and only when the second revisor's verdict is in agreement with that of the first are both reports referred to the cardinals for final decision. If, however, the second revisor Ije of opinion that the book ought not to be prohibited, a third shall examine both verdicts as well as the book itself, but without knowing the names of the other revisors. If the opinion of the third coin- cides with that of the first, and with the general vote of the eonsultors, the case may be pas.sed on to the car- dinals. Otherwise the eonsultors are again to give their votes, whereupon the matter is put before the cardinals for final decision.
In the case of writings which, according to the de- cision of the congregation, may be published in a re- vised edition, the congregation should, if possible, hear the author's own defence or else appoint a con- sultor ex officio for the defence. If the book have
been forbidden with the clause "donee corrigatur"
(i. e. until corrected), and the author be willing to
publish an edition in keeping with the wishes and
orders of the congregation, the decree of prohibition
is to be withheld, unless the prohibited edition be
already widely circulated and known. In the latter
case, when promulgating the decree, the new revised
edition is to be expressly mentioned as authorized.
The secretary to the Congregation of the Index is
empowered to communicate the strictures pas.sed on
censured books to the respective authors or their
representatives — but to these only at the author's
request. Otherwise the official secret is to be strictly
observed by all who have taken part in the process.
Books, which at first sight are recognized as very
dangerously heretical or immoral, may be fortliwith
prohibited.
The first printed catalogues of forl)idden books did not appear at Rome, and, even after the institution of civil censorship, lists of books and writings prohibited by the State continued to appear, and are even yet published (see Hilgers, " Der Index der verbotenen Biicher"). The first Roman "Index of Prohibited Books" (Index libronim prohibitorum), published in 1559 under Paul IV, was very severe, ami was there- fore mitigated under that pontiff by <lecree of the Holy Office of 14 June of the same year. It was only in 1909 that this " Moderatio Indicis librorum pro- hibitorum" (Mitigation of the Index of Prohibited Books) was re-discovered in "Codex Vatieanus lat. 3958, fol. 74", and was published for the first time in the " Zentralblatt fiir Bibliothekswesen" (Leipzig, 1909-10). Concerning the curious indexes of 1,590 and 1593, which were printed Init never promulgated, see Hilgers, "Der Index der verlioteiien Burlier", 12 sq., 524 sqq., 529 sqq. The last and best edition of the Index, published by Leo XIll (Rome, lOOU) and now in force, was reprinted in 1901, and again under Pius X in 1904 and 1907.
Petzikii.dt, CtitiilnfjuJi Indiciff lUiruruni prnliibitorum et ex- puranndorum (Dresficii. 1K,59); HErs<ii, Dir hulins lihrnrum prohibiturum dca sechzrhntrn Jahrfiundtrlti (Tiibinccn, ISH6).
Joseph Hilgehs.
India. — In popular language the name " India ", in its widest extension, is taken to inchule British India proper. Native States, Portuguese and French India, Burma, and Ceylon, and is even sometimes stretched to include Indo-China. In its strictest sense, how- ever, it means the Indian Empire properly .stncalled. The Indian Empire, as at present constituted, com- prises (besides the peninsula) Burma, .'\den, the Lac- cadivc, Maldive, Andaman, and Nicobar Islands, but does not include Ceylon, which is a Crown colony [lolit^ ically distinct. Its total area exceeds 1,800,000 square miles — fifteen times that of the United Kingdom, nearly one-sixth of the area of the whole British Em- pire, and three-quarters of the area of Europe. ."Miout 1,000,000 square miles are directly under British rule, the rest consisting of Native States and Agencies and the small pos.sessions of France and Portugal. The greatest length, from Kashmir to Cape Comorin, is 2022 miles, and the greatest breadth, from Eastern Burma to Karachi, 2,520 miles. The land frontier measures about (iOOO, and the coast line about 9000, miles. It will be useful at the outset to point out the impossibility of forming one united conception of any- thing connected with India. It is not a country but rather a continent, comprising such a variety of phy.si- cal features, climates, seasons, products, races, reli- gions, customs, and languages as to rec|uire an encyclopedia l\v itself. Nor can any amount of knowledge gathered in one part of this immense ter- ritory be taken as applicable without qualification to another.
Physical Features. — The peninsula is separated on the north from Tibet and Central Asia by the Himalaya, Hindu Kush, and Karakoram mountaiBS,
