James Forlong

Who was James Forlong?

James George Roche Forlong was a Major General of the Indian Army who trained as an engineer in Scotland and England. He joined the Indian Army in 1843 later filling various posts including that of Secretary and Chief Engineer to the government of Oudh. Exposure to Indian religions while doing missionary work led him to abandon his Christian faith, and into some very heterodox ideas about religious origins, including those of the ancient Hebrews. These found expression in his massive work of comparative religion, Rivers of Life, with its markedly sexual, some would say blasphemous, interpretation of religious rites and symbolism. He was an Honorary Associate of the Rationalist Press Association, to which he left a sum of money in his will. He died in 1904.