INDIA. 543 INDIA. majority of the people acloiowledge Hinduism or Uraliiiianism (q.v. ) as their faith. In the census of 1901 their numher is given as over 200,000,000. Next in proportion, claiming about a third of this number, is Mohammedanism, which was intro- duced into India in the eleventh century, and spread with great rapidity. Its adherents claim no less than 00.000,000 souls throughout India, their numbers being largest in the nortli. To- gether these religions make up the faith of 00 per cent, of the entire population. The number of Buddliists is given at over 9,000,000; they are nearly all inhabitants of Burma. Statistics show that the number of nature-worshipers, who are rouglily classed under the head of animistic, is no less tlian 8,i500,000; while the Sikh religion is professed by over 2,000,000 individuals. Besides these there is a large representation of .Jains, over 1 .000,000, and a scattering number of Parsis, nearly 100,000. The spread of Christianity amon,^ the natives has been considerable, for the number is given at about 3,000,000 souls. There are nearly 200,000 Jews. Separate articles will be found devoted to the most important branches of Indian religions. ( See Brahmanism ; Buddhism ; Jainism; Mohammedanism; Parsis; Sikhs.) The results of the religious survey of India in the census of 1901 present the following statis- tics. The first table is itemized by provinces for British India, with totals for native States and agencies. The second is the summary of the Christian population: second, Brahmanism proper, or the faith incul- cated by the priests in the religious books called Brahmanas, and in the philosophical Upanishads (q.v.) ; third, the period of the two great re- ligious reforms. Buddhism and .Jainism (q.v.), both of which were a reaction against decadent Brahmanism; fourth, the newer Hinduism or Brahmanie counter-reform, a wider and more catholic faith which sprang out of the schismatic reform movement; and, finally, the later Hindu sectarian outgrowths and the tendencies of the popular faiths. The Jiig-Veda and Atharva-Vcda represent the literature of the earliest period; the Yajur-Veda is nearer to the .second religious phase, or the Brahmanism of the priests ; the sacred books of the Buddhistic and .lainistic ref- ormations are written respectively in Pali (q.v.) and Prakrit (q.v.) ; again, the great Sanskrit epic poems of the Jlahabliarata and the RCnnai/una represent both the purer Brahmanie stage and the later sectarian tendencies; for the latter our chief source of information is that class of mytho- logical works known under the name of Puranas (q.v.) and Tanfras (q.v.) ; the material for the developments after B.C. 1500 must be gathered from various sources. With reference to the time of these eras we can only say in a general way that the Vedic ]>eriod runs from a very early jjcriod down to about B.C. 1000 or a couple of centuries afterwards, and merges into the Brahmanie age, which closes perhaps about B.C. 500. The age of Buddhism was about B.C. 500 to a.d. 500, and the ADMINIflTRATIONS, PROVINCES Ajmore-Merwara Andamaiisand Nicobars Assam Baluchistan Bengal Berar Bombay Burma Central Provinces Coorg Madras North Western Frontier Province Punjab United Prnvs. of Agra and Oudh Total Provinces Total States and Agen- cies Total all India Population and Religion 380,819 9.264 3,429,459 21,897 46,740,661 2,.388,016 14,200,047 284.880 8.171,925 159.817 34,048,097 134,252 7,874,413 40.757,137 158,600,684 48,545,738 207,146.422 Sikhs 264 370 605 2,947 328 1,449 1,122 6,525 477 92 28,091 1,517,019 1,574,508 620,760 2,195.268 Jains 19,922 61 1,797 8 7,457 19,639 227,696 93 47,.'!n6 107 27.431 37 42.745 84.401 478,700 865,448 1,334,148 Bud- dhists 1.S60 8,911 547 9,184.112 169 4.182 788 9,411,440 65.310 9.476.750 164 2 3 166 388 630 76,009 245 969 41 356 46 445 578 79,942 14,248 94,190 Mohamme- dans 72.031 4.207 1,681.317 279.154 25.205.342 212,040 3,760,175 339,4,30 295,291 13,6.54 2,467,361 1.957.777 10,825,698 6,731,034 53,804,501 8,653,560 62,458,061 Chris- tians 3,712 486 35,969 4,026 275,125 2 375 208!930 147„525 24,809 3.683 1,024.071 5,273 65,811 102,469 1,904,264 1.018.977 2.923,241 Animis- tics 8.399 1.068.334 i.'iii.i'n 129.964 69.930 399,390 1,335,573 3,305 641,730 5,899,396 2,684,964 8,584,349 Total 476.912 24,649 6,126,295 308,198 74,742,699 2,764,013 18,544,456 10,362,200 9,870,619 180,607 38,209,371 2,125,476 20,330.313 47,691,726 231,758,434 62,458,995 •294,212,429
- Jews numbering 18,228, and minor sects numbering 2,686 are not included in tills table.
Christians .According to Race and Denomination for All India Church of Eng- land Presby- terian Bap- tist Metho- dist Congre- gation- alist Luth- eran and allied Roman Catholic Syrian Others Total 111,764 35,781 305,917 9,693 1,439 42,799 2,10S 2,017 216,915 5,998 2,420 6S.4S9 421 140 37.313 1.400 2S7 153.767 33,964 45,697 1.122,508 6 1 571,320 4,323 1,469 145.284 169.677 89.251 Natives 2,664,313 Total 453,462 53,931 221,040 76,907 37,874 155,454 1,202,169 571,327 15J.076 2,923,241 For convenience of treatment the religious period of epic Hinduism, according to Hopkins, development of India may be divided into the covers about the same centuries. From a.d. 500 following periods: First, the Vedic era. or to a.d. 1500 is the era of Brahmanie counter- earliest religious beliefs of the Aryan Hindus; reforms and of sectarianism, while since that
