“One of the tangible results of the visit of Shaykh ‘Abdur Rehman Hindi of Damascus was that the Arya Samaj of Agra invited Mírzá Maḥmúd and Shaykh Muhyeddin Sabri to address the Arya Samaj congregation when they visited Agra, and their meetings are now open to all Bahá’í visitors; western tourists inclined to lecture should please make special note of this.

“The Arya Samajists liked these lectures so much that they extended the invitation to their centenary at Muttra at once to us and besought Mírzá Maḥmúd to attend the function. He accepted the invitation on behalf of the Bahá’í Community and assured them that if he were unable to come some representative would surely come.

“The Arya Samaj are a protestant movement in Hinduism who are trying to reform Hindu society and bring it up-to-date without reference to the orthodox interpretation of the Hindu scriptures; although as far as possible they try to read their interpretations into the ancient texts.

“This was their hundredth anniversary of the birth of their regenerator, Dayananda Sarasvati, and extensive preparations had been made to celebrate it all over India in addition to the huge celebrations organized to be held at Muttra, thirty miles north of Agra.

“The celebrations lasted more than a week and it was said that more than 2,000,000 visitors were taking part. There were huge pendals and extensive camps put up, the main pendal itself being 225x225 feet. The platform accommodated about 2,000 persons and when full the pendal must have contained 25,000 squatters, as there was only one single chair for the president, all others sitting down on the ground.

“Prof. and Mrs. Pritam Singh, with a number of students from the Cawnpore, Siyyid Maḥfoozu’l Haq, the editor of Kaukeb-e Hind from Delhi, Siyyid Abid Husayn, Saiduddin Baruney and the writer from Agra were the Bahá’í delegates to the Centenary, ten in all.

“The management were kind enough to allot a camp to the Bahá’í delegates adjacent to the main pendal and the camp manager’s tent on a raised platform to the north, where in gold letters on red ground ‘Bahá’í Camp’ was displayed to all passers-by and attracted a large number of enquirers. The Bahá’í delegates were engaged from early in the morning till late in the evening answering questions, especially after the address on the Bahá’í Movement had been read. One question that almost everyone asked us was, ‘Why have we not heard of the Bahá’í Movement before today?’ and ‘Why do you not come out into the public more Often?’ The next most persistent ques- tion was, ‘Where can we get books on this Movement in Hindu or English?’ or ‘Have you books in Hindu or English?’ The more enthusiastic would exclaim that this is the Movement that India needs today, and the more sober ones would say, ‘We, as Arya Samajist, can agree with everything that the Bahá’í Movement says.’ Some even went so far as to ask whether their leaders had conferred with us.

“In short, the representative spent five unforgettable days at the ancient city of Muttra, distributing about 5,000 booklets to eager recipients, being the only non-Arya body who were permitted to distribute their literature within the camp.”

From Miss Agnes B. Alexander has been received the following account of Bahá’í activities in Japan:

“The Bahá’í Message of the coming of Bahá’u’lláh and the dawn of a new age was first taken to Japan during the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá by Bahá’í travelers who visited that country. It was not until 1914, though, that two Bahá’ís, through instructions from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, went to reside in Japan for the sake of spreading these teachings. Residents of Honolulu, they had been prepared there, where the tide moving eastward meets the tide moving westward, for this work in Japan.