But at no -period of its history has India been an altogether unenlightened country.
Fresh knowledge, new forces and faculties, have to be acquired by positive and strenuous efforts, while, on the other hand, delusions and superstitions are to be abandoned by an attitude of conscious neglect; or to use the phraseology of the Hindus, Avidyd, nescience - the mental state of the unenlightened - through which the individual energies are scattered and dissipated in futile effort, is gradually replaced by Vidyd, the higher wisdom which dispels the darkness of the mind, awakens our latent faculties and concentrates our efforts in the direction of that harmonious union, which ultimately results in Nirvana.
The same encyclopedia gives the definition of pagans as " unenlightened, idol worshipping, raw rustic heathens " .
