India (Religions and Religions Literature of. In the present state of uncertainty in regard to their chronological order, it seems advisable to treat the comparatively few monuments of the literature of India with which we have become acquainted in connection with the various periods of the religious history of the country for which they form the sources of our information. The character of the first two periods is depicted in several writings which may be classified as monuments of Vedic and of Sanskrit literature. The first embraces the hymns of the Veda, the Brahmanas, and the Sutras. The Veda-Sanhitas or Veda texts exist in four collections: Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. The Rig-Veda is the largest and most valuable collection. The hymns are grouped in it chiefly according to their asserted authors. They comprise 1,028 sukta, hymns, and 10,580 rik, verses, which are divided into 10 mandala, circles or books. The Sama-Veda-Sanhita is a body of verses culled from the hymns of the Rig-Veda, along with a few others, arranged into forms suitable for chanting. It is supposed to be older than the compilation of the Rig-Veda, as it does not contain any of the verses in the latter which appear to be of a late date.

The Yajur-Veda gives the verses and formulas of words to be recited during the progress of the ceremonies attending sacrifice. There are two editions of it, which however differ only in arrangement. The black Yajur-Veda or Taittiriya-Sanhita gives also dogmatic explanations, while the white Yajur-Veda or Vajasaneyi-Sanhita contains only the verses of the ritual. The Atharva-Veda seems to be a continuation of the tenth mandala of the Rig-Veda; it is a collection of hymns of various date and character, but predominantly superstitious. The Brahmanas furnish descriptions of the ceremonies prescribed in the Sanhitas, and numerous legends bearing on them; but they are full of repetitions. They have an addendum of philosophical speculations, called Aran-yaka, forest portion, probably from the fact that philosophers generally lived as hermits in the woods. A portion of the Aranyaka is called Upanishad, session, and contains speculations depicting the Brahmanical system of pantheism. The Sutras are collections of practical rules respecting matters of ceremony and worship. Such are especially the Crauta-Sutras, or the revealed, while the Grihya-Sutras, or the domestic, seem to be oral traditions giving rules of conduct and general behavior.

Sutras which explain the language, mythology, or astrology of the Vedas are called Vedangas, or members of the Vedas. Those which attempt to analyze the philosophy of the Vedas bear the name of Vedanta, or purpose of the Vedas. Linguistically considered, these last belong to the next, or Sanskrit period, distinguished by a later character of the language. Prof. Max Muller divides the interval in which the books enumerated appeared into four periods. The first of these, the Chhandas period, or the period of spontaneous poetic productiveness, he computes to have lasted from 1200 to 1000 B. C., and during that time the most ancient of the Vedic hymns were composed. The second, the Mantra or "sacred formula " period, comprises the next two centuries, and its hymns bear traces of the growth of a sacerdotal spirit and system. The third or Brahmana period closes at 600 B. C, and the fourth or Sutra period is assigned to the time subsequent to it, and ending 200 B. C. Prof. W. D. Whitney, however, holds that this chronology is "a mere conjectural hypothesis, which is not fairly entitled even to temporary and provisional acceptance." Among the works belonging to the Sutra division are sometimes reckoned the Praticakhyas, which are treatises explaining the phonetic peculiarities of the text of the hymns, and the Anukramanis, which are indices to the texts, and state the author, theme, length, and metres of each hymn.

During the period that Sanskrit gradually ceased to be the national tongue, there seem to have appeared also a number of works which are of considerable importance for the history of the country as well as for its religion. They are the Dharmacastras or books of laws, 56 in number, of which the famous laws of Manu, which the Hindoos still regard as the standard of their public and social law, are probably the oldest. In its present form, and from the internal evidence of its opposition to Buddhism, this work is supposed to date from about the 4th century B. C. It lays down the rules which are to guide persons of various castes in their behavior toward each other, and contains a multitude of cosmogonic speculations. The chief monuments of this age, however, are two long epics or Itihasas. One is the Mahabharata, which describes the feuds between the Pandavas and Kauravas, royal races, descendants of the Bharatas. In its present form it consists of more than 100,000 double verses or clokas, of which the best known portions are the Nala and the Bhagavad-Gita. Lassen places the redaction of this epic between 400 and 350 B. 0., Benfey in the 3d century, and Weber in the last two centuries before our era.

The other epic is the Ramayana, which describes in about 24,000 double verses the great deeds of Rama, a prince of Ayodhya or Oude, resulting in the extension of Aryan dominion over the Deccan and Ceylon. Rama is represented as an incarnation of Vishnu, and Brahmanic asceticism and hierarchy are dominant features in it. As the Ramayana contains no allusions to Buddhism, Lassen considers it the older of the two epics; but Duncker assigns it to a later date, as it does not describe an equally well defined priesthood. It is generally believed that both epics were originally oral productions; but they are ascribed to special poets. The Ramayana is said to have been sung by Kuca and Lava, the sons of its hero, who had learned it from the Brahman Valmiki. Their names were subsequently contracted into Kucilava, which came to be applied to any bard or actor. The Mahabharata is ascribed to Vya-sa, who is said to have been an eye-witness of the events. Vaicampayana, his pupil, recited it for the first time at the great serpent sacrifice of the king Janamejaya. Suta Ugragravas recited it a second time at the sacrifice of Cau-naka. The narratives of the Mahabharata and Ramayana are continued by the Puranas, which are of a much later date, and which are written in the interest of religious sects subsequently developed; they must therefore be spoken of after an account of the earliest forms of the religion of India. - The Rig-Veda states in several passages that the gods are 33 in number, though according to its own showing this number is far too small.

There are three classes of gods: of the heavens, the air, and the earth. The separation of the heavens and the air or atmosphere is based on a distinction between light and air. The home of the gods of light is beyond those of the air. Light is not considered as dependent on the solar body, but as an independent and eternal force. The domain of the gods of the air lies therefore between the earth and the source of light, and their main office is to provide a free passage for the light and rain which the gods furthest off wish to pour upon the earth. The Hindoo idea of what is divine seems to attach itself to that of light. The word for god is deva, which comes from the root div, meaning to shine or glitter. Surya is the principal godhead in heaven, Vayu or Indra of the air, and Agni of the earth. The gods of heaven never appear as sensual and mythological as those of the other two spheres. There are some whose symbol of divinity is not limited to a single object of nature; such is Aditi, who is either a god or a goddess, and whose sons are the Adityas. This divinity is rarely mentioned in the older Vedas as a personification, but generally as the abstract idea of the eternal and infinite.

The sons of Aditi are Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Bhaga, Daksha, and Anca; but in some instances as many as seven, eight, and even twelve Adityas are mentioned. Without the distinction being always clearly maintained, it seems that Mitra is the heavenly light of the day, and Varuna of the night. The latter sometimes appears as the lord of all three regions. The sun has several names. Surya is the usual designation, though Savitri also occurs frequently in the Vedas, but he is generally coupled only with the golden and glorious attributes of the sun. Gods of heaven often represent only special phenomena of light. The Acvin are a problematical pair, gods of the earliest daylight. Very circumstantial stories are told of the wonders they have done in healing and saving. Ushas, the dawn, is the beautiful virgin who opens the gate of heaven, chases away the night, and invigorates man and beast. The beneficent effects of solar light are represented by Pushan. He protects and multiplies all that man owns, guides him on his journeys, protects him against robbers and thieves, and directs departed souls. His chariot is drawn by goats, and he carries a goad. He is sometimes invoked in conjunction with Indra, but has little in common with the gods of the sphere of the air.

Vishnu must also be reckoned as a sun god. His name is seldom mentioned in the Vedas. He has passed through the whole universe with only three steps, and has taken his domicile near Indra. He has given the earth to man, the descendant of Manu, as his inheritance. The unbroken order of the world is principally due to him. In the Vedas he is the friend of Indra, whose place in the worship of the Indian people he afterward usurped. - In the sphere of air there are demons, dark beings, Rakshasas and Asuras. The other gods of this region have to battle with them in order to chase them away. They receive new vigor for these contests from the sacrifices which man offers up to them. In course of time they became more popular than the Adityas, but they grew also more humanlike than they. Their chief was Indra, the god of thunder storms. Though the Maruts and Vishnu were at his side, it was he alone who conquered the demons, and therefore it is he who shields man in battle. His principal antagonist among the demons is Vritra, or he who covers up or hides. This Vritra disposes the clouds so that the waters of heaven cannot descend upon the earth.

Pani imprisons the waters like cows in the caverns of the rocks, but Indra liberates them and makes them flow upon man over the corpse of Vritra. Indra moves about in a golden chariot, drawn by reddish horses with golden manes and hair like the plumes of a peacock. Prayer harnesses Indra's horses; Tvashtri, the artist of heaven, fashioned a thunderbolt for him; and heaven and earth, and even Tvashtri himself, tremble when his thunder rolls. The gods of wind and rain compose Indra's suite; they are Vayu, the Maruts or Rudras, and Rudra himself. Vayu is the wind, but little else is known of him. He was succeeded in the veneration of the people by Vata, who is the soul of the gods and the source of the world. There are 27 or three times 60 Maruts or Rudras, sons of Rudra and Pricni, the kind gods of the rain; they form Indra's armed body guard, have iron teeth and roar like lions, and they sometimes darken the sun, but always remove their curtains after a while. Rudra, the strongest of them all, roars the loudest; he is the god of storms, whom man must fear, and whose sacrifices must not be neglected. He is besought to spare the lives of the members of the family, and also of the cattle.

In course of time he came to be regarded as the forerunner of Siva (Civa). - The third division, that of the gods of the earth, is the pantheism of the Hindoo religion. Light is the revelation of the divine, and as far as man can produce light, so far can he attain toward the divine. Agni, the god of fire, was let down from heaven by Mataricvan, the messenger of Vivasvat. The Rishi (pious) Atharvan found him concealed in wood, and by friction induced him to come out. Indra probably begat him between two stones, or perhaps the aurora gave birth to him, or he may be a child of Indra and Vishnu. His origin is threefold: of heaven, of earth, and of air. He has a twofold activity. He is a messenger between the gods and man, not as a low subordinate, but as a viceroy and guardian of the heavenly light on earth; he pierces the demons with his arrows, and he keeps man from evil; in a word, he is the protector of human beings. His other office is to act as messenger between man and the gods; whenever a fire is lit, the gods must come, for Agni calls them; what the gods do for man is due to his intercession. The consequence was that soon the merits of Indra came to be those of Agni; he became the Vritra-killer. Soma is also a god.

It is a beverage prepared from the plant asclepias acida or from sarcostemma viminale; the juice of these plants was fermented, mixed with milk and flour, and offered to the gods. It was the hidden fire, its intoxicating power, which man adored. Soma lends immortality as well to man as to the gods. His works are as great as those of Agni, for even Indra must first be intoxicated to gain strength to kill Vritra. The gods were thus considered to be in need of the offerings of man to carry out their purpose. In fact, without prayer and sacrifice the gods cannot rule the world. Prayer necessitates their fulfilling man's wishes. Concentrated devotion and penance are mightier than all the gods, and hence the priest, the hermit, the devotee, and the wise are greater and more powerful than the gods themselves. This is the key of Brahmanism. The Vedic hymns speak also of minor gods of nature, like Trita and Sarasvati, the goddess of the river of that name. The Sindhu, or Indus, is the most impetuous of them all. The Asparasas are female spirits of the air, much to be feared; but like the nymphs of the Greeks they often bring joy and happiness. The great Veda gods must have wives, and accordingly the names Indrani, Agnayi, Varunani, Acvini, and Rodasi occur in the hymns.

Lakshmi appears in later times as the wife of Vishnu, and acts as a goddess of fortune. The Ribhus are men who have been raised to the nature of gods on account of their great piety. The Athar-va-Veda mentions a few names which seem to represent similarly deified personifications. Every object used in sacrificing was considered in some degree divine, and hence the Brahmans came to be looked upon as the real gods of the earth. Brahmanaspati or Brihaspati, the god of prayer, was subsequently turned into the great god Brahma. His works are sometimes ascribed to Indra, and also to Agni and Soma; but he is quite as often said to be the father of the gods. Prayer and sacrifice have a creative power, and thus Brahmanaspati, the personified lord of prayer, is considered to be the father of the gods, or the pantheistic principle of the world. Vatch, the goddess of the word or of speech, plays a similar part. The word, whether spoken by man or by the gods, has also a creative power. Similarly Prana, life or breath, Kama, love and desire, Kala, time and the producer of heaven and earth, and Purusha, the ideal man or the spirit of the world, appear in the Vedas as creative principles.

Hiranya-garbha, the golden-wombed, and Prajapati, the lord of creatures, represent the creator as a personified god. The two names were originally, it seems, epithets of Savitri, the god of the sun, and they reappear subsequently as epithets of the god Brahma. - The Vedas adhere to no one settled account of the creation. Its existence is generally attributed to the power of sacrifice brought by the gods. It is Purusha, man as a representative of humanity, the ideal man or the spirit of the world, who takes the place of the sacrificial animal, and Indra and Agni arise from him. This is the account given in the Purusha-Sukta of the Rig-Veda. Another hymn of the Rig-Veda gives a more philosophical reason for the existence of the world. Here it is religious meditation which produces it. First was formed the desire, or kama, love, which was the first seed. Fire is the creative element as well in the soul of the world as in the soul of man, and it is love, kama, that calls it forth and causes it to create. Two names, Yama and Manu, appear as those of the first man. Yama is the first man who died, and he shows the dead the way into the other world, where he rules. Manu is the first ancestor of mankind; he is Father Manu, and the Aryans are his people; it is he who introduced the rite of sacrifice.

The gods nourish and protect him, and Vishnu has assigned to him the earth as his dwelling place. In later times his name is coupled with the legend of the flood, but there are no indications of such revolutions of the earth in the Veda-Sanhitas. Yama and Manu are sons of Vivasvat, one of the Adityas, and of Saranyu, the immortal daughter of Tvashtri. Yama takes the deceased into a world which is as sensual as the Mohammedan paradise, and where they feast with the gods and drink Soma. It is Agni, the god of fire, who in consuming the body recreates it into a celestial form, and it is Soma who gives it immortality. The people must worship their ancestors, for they are not dead, but live with the gods, who share their power with them. There is little in the Vedas to show that the dead were ever supposed to be punished, unless they were hostile races or personal enemies. - The worship of the gods was at first entirely in the hands of each family. There were no temples. Sacrifices were offered under the open sky or at the family hearth. Agni could call the gods wherever his fire was burning, this was fed with clarified butter, of which he was fond. Soma was carefully prepared according to numerous prescriptions.

Colebrooke denies that the ancient Aryans offered also human sacrifices; but German scholars, as Weber and others, think that it admits of no doubt. Sacrifice was neither a thank offering nor a sin offering; it was a contract between man and the gods, and the latter were obliged to fulfil the wishes of the former whenever a sacrifice was offered. If any fault had been committed in the ceremony of sacrificing, so that the gods would not accept it, it was simply repeated. The light thrown by the Vedas on the religious constitution of the ancient Aryans reveals that the poets of the hymns were not all of a priestly caste; but subsequently they were all Brahmans, and the king Vicvamitra, who had composed a number of hymns, including the celebrated Gayatri, was specially raised to the dignity of a Brahman by a later legend, in order to account for the fact of his having been able to write poems. The Rishi, the pious, Kavi, the wise, and Muni, hermits of old, were therefore not all priests. But the Brahmans very soon formed a special caste.

Each sacrifice needed a hotri, or caller, who recited portions of the Rig-Veda; an adhvaryu or sacrificer, who performed all the work connected with it; and a Brahman, who watched that all was done properly and in order, and who understood how to right every mistake committed. The Brahman was therefore the high priest, who had the power and wisdom to compel the gods to fulfil all requests. The Brah-manas were his successors, who came to be regarded as gods upon earth. The personal gods Indra, Rudra, Savitri, and others, were too poetical to be very real in the hearts of the ancient Hindoos. A need was felt for a more substantial authority, and the priests usurped it, and formed the Brahmanical system of castes, which made them like gods themselves. This opens the second period in the history of the Indian religions. - It is noteworthy that in spite of the complete penetration of Aryan culture over the whole of the Indian peninsula and even Ceylon, the Hindoos failed to establish a vast and powerful empire. It seems that the conquests told in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were rather religious than political. When the Aryans mingled with the native population of the peninsula, they held a superior position among them from mere distinction of color.

The Sanskrit for caste is var-na, which originally signified color. The Sudras (Cudras) therefore form only what Max Muller has called an ethnological caste. They are the dark prior occupants of the land of the Ganges, whom the light-complexioned race considered inferior to themselves. The Vedic books divide the entire Indian population into four castes, but this number is really in comparison as much below the mark as the 33 gods have been found to be. Manu's book of laws states that there were 16 mixed castes, besides the four principal ones. These were, besides the Sudras already mentioned, the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas (Vaicyas). The Brahmans were to read and teach the Veda, offer sacrifice, conduct the ceremonies of the sacrifices made by the people, and to receive and make gifts. The Kshatriyas were to protect the people, do charity, offer sacrifice, read the holy scriptures, but without teaching them, and control their desires. The Vaisyas were to raise cattle, cultivate the land, carry on trade, give alms, sacrifice, and learn to say prayers. The Sudras had but one duty, that of doing service to the other castes.

The majority of the minor or mixed castes are names of professions and trades, of which some were indicated by the names of the cities or districts in which they were most largely represented and famous. Thus the caste of singers, who descended, as Manu states, from a Vaisya and a Kshatriya woman, are called Magadhas, evidently because Magadha was at one time the home of the most famous singers. These trades and professions stood in various degrees of esteem, and their origin was accordingly stated to be from various unions between higher and lower castes. The aboriginal population was also gradually classified according to the Aryan system, which gave rise to the other division of unclean castes, whom Europeans call pariahs, from the name of a small Tamil caste of this grade with whom they came most in contact. It is not to be supposed that the castes were established without struggle on the part of those who were reduced to inferiority. For a time kings, nobility, and priests must have worked hand in hand to subjugate the people.

The legend of the Paracu-Rama shows that the Brahmans did not gain superiority over the Kshatriyas without bloodshed. - Turning to the changes produced in the religious ideas of the Hindoos during this period, it is seen that the Vedic pantheism was gradually absorbed by the one Brahma, and that the character of Hindoo worship is decidedly ascetic. Speculation is no longer intent on solving the mystery of the origin of the world, but on devising a process by which the world is to return to the Brahma from which it emanated. This is the point of contact between Brahmanism and Buddhism. Brahma, in the neuter gender, is an impersonality, the sum of all nature, the germ of all that is, the one that embraces everything. The Kena or Talava-kara Upanishad says of it: "Eye, tongue, mind, cannot reach it; we comprehend it not; we cannot teach it to any one; it is other than all that is known and all that is unknown." Unmeaning words are therefore applied to it. One of them is the mysterious syllable 6m, the wonderful trinity of sounds. A Sanskrit 6 is a diphthong, and by giving it a nasal utterance it sounds like om; hence it has three letters, but only one sound. The Mandukya-Upanishad is entirely filled with explanations of this little word. Among others it says: " 6m is immortal.

Its unfolding is this universe, is all that was, is, and shall be. Indeed, all is the word 6m; and if there is anything outside of these three manifestations, it is also 6m. . . . For this all is Brahma; this soul is Brahma. This soul has four existences." A is its waking condition, U its dreaming, M its sleep, and the whole is its entire existence. Brahma as the abstract principle of the world reappears in a concrete mythological form as the god Brahma, the Vedic Brahmanaspati. He is pictured with four heads, probably as lord of the four regions of the world. He is Prajapati, the lord of all creatures, and Hiranyagarbha, the golden-wombed, the lord of the sun. Below him are the Lokapalas, stationed at the eight corners of the world to ward off the evil spirits, the Asuras; they are Indra, Agni, Va-runa, Surya, Chandra or Soma as god of the moon, Vayu, Yama, and Kuvera. The Vedas do not mention the last, who was originally a man, but who is now a god of wealth, as a reward for his great humility to the Brahmans. Brahma's wife is Sarasvati, who has ceased to be the goddess of the river, and is now goddess of order, harmony, poetry, oratory, language, and all intelligence. She has absorbed the attributes of Vatch, and is invoked for the instruction of children.

She is depicted with a book or a musical instrument in her hand. It is still believed that prayer and sacrifice called the world into existence, but that existence has no special purpose; indeed, it is of evil, for evil came into the world with the world. As it is impossible that there ever can be a sinless world, so every pious person desires to be taken out of it, and to be relieved of his personal existence. The bright and happy Veda religion has thus been transformed into a gloomy meditation on the wretchedness of human life. Fatalism has come upon the Hindoo people, and they say, " Man's destiny is written on his skull." This laid the basis for astrology, and even Manu's exclusion of astrologists from the sacrifices failed to root out the belief in predestination. A natural consequence was a further development of the doctrine of the transmigrations of the soul. Man was oppressed by the numerous distinctions of caste, and he was taught to consider them as part of the system of the world. Every creature descended from Brahma had to pass again through all the previous stages of his present existence in order to reach Brahma again.

Manu says: "Man is born according to his deeds, ignorant, dumb, blind, deaf, deformed; whoever has not done penance for his deeds will receive his punishment at his birth." Thus one who stole fruit would be a monkey; one who stole a horse, a tiger; one who stole balm, a rat. When transformation into beasts or plants is not an adequate punishment, the evil doers are sent into one of the eight hells, each of which is more tormenting than the other. Hell is not an eternal punishment, but thousands of years of pain hardly suffice for a complete absolution. When this is attained, then begins the ascending scale of transmigrations, which reach to Brahma; but it is possible that in the renewed existence as a human being man's sins are again so great that he must be thrown back to hell. Manu ranks worms, insects, fishes, serpents, tortoises, dogs, and asses as the lowest order. Elephants, horses, lions, boars, Sudras, and people not speaking Sanskrit are a step higher. The third class comprises thieves, actors, Rakshasas, and Picachas; the fourth athletes, dancers, armorers, drunkards, and Vaisyas; the fifth, Kshatriyas, kings, eminent soldiers and orators, the Gandharvas and Asparases; the sixth Brahmans, pious penitents, gods, and the great Rishis; and finally above them all is Brahma. There is no redeemer in ancient Brahmanism; everybody must redeem himself.

But sacrifice, asceticism, and philosophy sometimes succeed in reducing the number of transmigrations by leading to higher stages of existence. Most transgressions are of the nature of pollutions. Each caste is within itself a holy, distinct, and pure people, but contact with a person of a lower caste than one's own is unclean. The dead, every excretion of the body, birth, and everything connected with sexual life, are pollutions. Fortunately the cow is so holy that what from all other beings would be the most unclean of all serves the Hindoos as a purifying agent. Water and cowdung purify everything. Penitence consists in fasting for three days, or even for a month, in conjunction with various mortifications of the body or numerous recitations of prayers and portions of the Veda. In Manu's code the penalty for intoxication is dreadful; the drunkard is condemned to drink boiling rice water or boiling juice of cowdung or urine till he dies. The killing of a cow is more criminal than the murder of a person belonging to a lower caste.

When a Kshatriya or Vaisya unintentionally slays a Brahman, he shall, without waiting for the sentence of the king, walk 100 yojana, reciting one of the three Vedas, or build a hut in the woods, live on alms for 12 years, and carry in his girdle the skull of the slain. But if the slaying of a Brahman was intentional, then the Kshatriya shall himself demand to be shot, or hold his head three times in a fire and die. Sacrifice was still greatly practised during this period, though modern Brahmanism has for the most part abandoned all but the household sacrifices. Ancient Brahmanism distinguished four kinds of sacrifice: havis, havir-yajna or ishti, oblation; pacu, or pacu-bandha, animal offering; soma or saumya-adhvara, drink offering; and paka-yajna, minor offerings, subsequently called grihya-karma, house offerings, consisting partly of food and partly of animals. The sacrifice of animals soon fell into disuse, and the Sutras name the two classes of meat and animal offerings as one. These sacrifices were faithfully performed by the people, but the higher castes began to philosophize on their religion, and added to the Brahmana scriptures the Aranyakas and Upanishads, as containing the essence or the orthodox interpretation of the entire Hindoo religion.

Manu's book of laws sanctioned them. They are mainly expositions of the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. They teach that greater than all gifts to the fire of Agni is internal self-combustion, the tapas, glow or fire of asceticism. This is the new basis. Man is, through asceticism, meditation or philosophy, and penitence, mightier than all gods; and if he fulfils the laws prescribed for these exercises, he is immediately released from any further transmigration of his soul, and he enters at once into Brahma. This asceticism is permitted only to the three highest castes, the twice born, dvijas, or Aryans. A Sudra can at best, and with the highest possible degree of self-denial, attain only to a rebirth into these fortunate castes. Legends like those of Vicvamitra and Vasish-tha, which portrayed the wonderful power which the ascetic possessed over the gods, filled the masses also with enthusiasm for the doctrine of asceticism. The great aim of the Aryan race was no longer to conquer the earth, but to subdue every natural impulse, and to be swallowed up by Brahma, as a drop is by the ocean.

Though this asceticism caused an enormous waste of human life, it also gave birth to some of the greatest intellectual achievements of which man is capable. - This leads us to a new period in the history of the religion and literature of India, which is eminently one of philosophy. Ancient Hindoo philosophy, the precursor of that of Greece and Rome, was an outgrowth of that meditation which was enjoined as a means of securing a quick passage into the great Brahma. This philosophy is in its aims much loftier and in its processes much more ingenious than that of the Greeks. Indeed, in spite of the wonderful abstruseness in which it is sometimes buried, it might bear favorable comparison with the philosophies of the 18th and 19th centuries. There are especially six philosophical systems which are still considered to be orthodox, as they recognize the authority of the Vedas. They may be reduced also to three, Vedtinta, Sankhya, and Nyaya, each of which is represented by two forms. Vedanta signifies the aim or end of the Veda. Its legendary author is Badarayana or Veda-Vyasa, who is said to be the author also of the divine Vedas themselves and of the Mahabharata. The development of Vedan-tism, however, reaches into the time of modern Brahmanism. The Vedanta-Sara, a small book which draws the ultimate conclusions of the system, is probably of a date later than the 8th century A. D. The Purva-Mimansa philosophy is less an independent system than a collection of addenda for the Vedas, showing how they ought to be used.

There is a theis-tic Sankhya or Yoga system by Patanjali, and an atheistic Sankhya system by Kapila. The Nyaya system, by Gautama, is principally occupied with the principles of logic. Gautama lays down a syllogism of five members: Proposition, pratijna, the forest is burning; reason, hetu, for it is smoking; example, uddlia-rana, whatever smokes is burning; application, upanaya, the forest is smoking; inference, nigamana, (hence) the forest is burning. The Vaiceshika system, by Kanada, is an independent branch of the Nyaya philosophy. It teaches the eternity of matter in the form of atoms, and also the atomistic eternity of the soul. There is a curious dilemma in the Vedanta, which however is more clearly expressed in the Vedanta-Sara, viz.: either Brahma exists, and the world does not exist; or the world exists, and Brahma does not exist. Inasmuch as Brahma exists, and is in fact the only vastu or real existence, while all objects, especially individual souls, are only avastu, or unreal, it follows that the world does in reality not exist. Other philosophers preferred rather to sacrifice the unity of Brahma than abandon the idea of the reality of the world and of individual souls.

Kapila's Sankhya system fell into atheism, but did not therefore lose its orthodoxy with the Hindoos, as with them meditation and penitence are mightier than and superior to the gods. It says that if there were a god, he would be either limited or free, and in neither case could he be a creator. For if he were free from commotions and emotions, nothing could move him to create; and if he were limited, he himself would be subject to illusions. The Sankhya explains the world as a mingling of matter and spirit, and bears in many places a strong resemblance to Aristotle's metaphysics. Its ultimate conclusion is that there is no necessity for a new birth or for transmigrations. It seems, however, that Kapila did not relinquish the presumption of a personal immortality. He argues that in order to satisfy the longings of the human heart, there must needs be a continuing soul; and if such a soul be denied, there cannot be a highest and final destiny in store for man. The end of all Hindoo philosophy of this period is always, however, that the ascetic, whose mind is above the things of this world and fathoms the reason of the existence of all things, need not wander through other bodies, but is immediately after death absorbed by the one great soul of the world.

The masses were not in a condition to find consolation in this doctrine, but had to invent some new method of salvation. The Vedic sacrifices were on the point of falling into disuse, as it had been taught that they were only effectual in proportion to their cost. - Buddha had in the mean time made his appearance, and rejected every kind of sacrifice. This had some effect also on the Hindoos who remained faithful to Brahman-ism. Buddhism has a human redeemer in the person of Buddha. Brahmanism, unwilling to reject the ancient gods, but believing in the efficacy of human merits derived from prayer and meditation, seized upon the idea of having human mediators, embodiments of the gods, and ushered in a series of avatars or incarnations. Thus Krishna was worshipped in the 3d century B. C. as an Avatara of Vishnu. The belief that the gods were bound to fulfil the will of man if expressed in sacrifice and prayer, was naturally succeeded by the belief of this age that the gods could not execute anything upon earth unless they came either in human or animal form. Vishnu, of whom the Vedas had little to say, was probably for this reason singled out of the ancient pantheon to be the divinity specially concerned in the welfare of man.

He is described as having four hands, of which one is free, while the others hold a shell, a discus, and a club. His wife is Lakshml or Cri, the goddess of love, grace, marriage, progeny, and wealth; the cow is her holy representative upon earth, and the lotus her symbol. About this time Siva, the Mahadeva or great god of the Dravidians, was introduced into the Brahmanical cycle of gods, by identifying him with Rudra, the god of storms. He holds a trident as the symbol of his power, a lasso or sling, an antelope, and sometimes a flame of fire in his hand. He has a third eye in the middle of his forehead, and around his neck is sometimes wound a necklace of human skulls. His wife Kali, the black or devouring, also called Uma, Durga, and Parvati, has like him three eyes, a wreath of skulls on her neck, and a club in her hand. Her face is sometimes terrific in appearance, especially on account of the long protruding teeth. Her worship is as important and general as that of Siva himself. His sons Ganeca and Karttikeya are also objects of veneration. Sivaism as phallus worship became in time widely diffused among the Aryan as well as aboriginal races of India, and will be further discussed below, in the account of the modern forms of the Dravidian religions.

Buddhism, though after 1,000 years' struggle overcome by Brahmanism, gave new directions to its doctrines. (See Buddhism.) Mohammedanism was less successful in leaving its mark upon it. The doctrine of the incarnation of the gods in human beings and animals now became a prominent feature of the Hindoo religion. It seems that the incarnation of Vishnu as Krishna was taught in opposition to Buddha. An attempt was even made to represent Buddha himself as an incarnation of the same god. Through the endeavor to unite and reconcile all the religious elements inimical to Buddhism, a Trimurti was invented, or a trinity composed of the great gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. A new religious literature sprang up in the Puranas, which were not like the Vedas removed from the people as too holy, but were written specially for them. Their contents are mythological, but they served as polemics against Buddhism, and even of one Brahmanical sect against another. There is thus no unity in modern Brahmanism. It has no hierarchy that embraces the entire Hindoo population. In the holy city Benares, for example, worship side by side a number of sects whose doctrines are more or less at variance with each other.

Denominations is perhaps a better name than sects for these divisions, as they are not mere deviations from the main Brahman religion, but distinct separations from it. The main divisions are Vishnuites and Sivaites, the former exalting Vishnu, the latter Siva, above Brahma. Each division has again several divisions within itself, probably caused by influential expounders of the doctrines. These various distinctions of denominations or sects produced a number of subdivisions in the caste of Brahmans. The other castes were also multiplied. Sects which reject the system of castes, as the Lingaites of Mahratta, constitute each a caste of their own. The gods also have enormously increased in numbers, and they are said to be as many as 330 millions, since it seemed but just that the heavens should be as largely peopled as the earth. The Vedanta philosophy attained the most influential position among the Hindoo systems, and effected a union with Sivaism, while the Vishnuites embraced the deistic Sankhya. The most renowned philosopher was Cankaracharya, who lived in the 8th century.

He was a Brahman of the Nam-buri tribe, then dominant in Travancore. He recognized, instead of the original four, 72 castes, and founded numerous convents, disputed considerably with the Jains and Vishnuites, and is said to have died in the Himalaya at the age of 32. He revived the Vedanta philosophy, applied it against Buddhism, and wrote among others the Bhashyas, which are commentaries on the Vedas, but more directly on the Sutras. The Vishnuites number among their celebrated philosophers Ramanuja of the 12th, and Madhvacharya of the 14th century; but their fame is not equal to that of Cankaracharya. The Vishnuite Vallabhacharya founded in the 16th century the voluptuous Krishna-shepherd worship, which places Krishna over Vishnu himself. Another enthusiastic Krishna worship was instituted about the same time by Chai-tanya in Bengal. In the 12th century arose in the Mahratta country a new form of Sivaism. Basava, its founder, formed monkish brotherhoods in imitation of Buddhism, but he was a bitter enemy to the Buddhists, as represented by the Jains. This sect is the Jangama Lingaism, which uses the Canarese language as its sacred tongue.

The Qakta denomination gives adoration not to any of the three great gods themselves, but only to their wives, and especially to the spouse of Siva, and is very sensual in worship. Remnants of the ancient Sudra religion are still to be found in Bengal, and they bear a strong resemblance to the magic worship of savage tribes. Islamism made considerable progress in the mean time, and in 1871 a third of the population of Bengal were Mohammedans. A mixture of Hindooism and Islamism is represented by the religion of the Sikhs, and another of Buddhism and Brah-manism by that of the Jains. - The most important modern religious works known to Europeans are the following. After the Puranas appeared 18 Upapuranas of similar contents. Each temple of importance has its own local Purana, narrating the story of the god and his manifestations in that place, and often containing items of valuable historic information. The Tantras are productions in which Siva is represented as conversing with Durga; they are the magic books of the Caktas. The most important work written in Tamil is Tiruvallu-ver's Kural, a collection of sayings of a purely ethical character.

The Basava Puranas of the sect of Lingaites are valuable works for the history of Hindoo sects. - Prominent among the recent developments of the Brahmanical religion stands the idea of the trinity. It was formerly supposed by European scholars that the Trimurti, or trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, was a primitive doctrine and the basis of the Indian religion; but it is evidently quite a modern conception. This trinity is represented by an image of a body with three heads cut out of a single block of stone. Theoretically, Brahma is the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva the destroyer; but no cult assigns either temple or feast to the Trimurti, and it would be greatly unlike the popular conception of Siva to consider him a god of destruction. It would be better, however, to examine first the place which Vishnu occupies in the popular mind. Vishnu pushed Indra back into oblivion. Ten avatars are commonly assigned to him, and they follow each other in an increasing scale of perfection. The first three are incarnations of animals: fish, tortoise, and boar. The fourth is the Manu lion.

The human avatars begin with the fifth: first a dwarf, then a hero, and then the still more exalted persons of a Ramachandra and a Krishna. It is usual to name also an incarnation of Buddha as a concession to Buddhism, but several writings name other forms in which Vishnu appeared, and expect the god finally to come himself. The revelation of the future advent of Vishnu predicts that at a time when the highest age of man will be only 23 years, a portion of the eternal godhead will be born in the village Sambhala to the Brahman family of Vishnuyaca. He shall be called Kalki, and possess eight superhuman powers. He shall destroy all Mlechas, Dasyus, and unjust persons, and shall restore righteousness upon earth. The spirits of those who are still alive at the end of the Kali-yuga life shall be changed into forms transparent as crystal, and shall produce a race willing to obey the laws of Krita-yuga, who shall be the fathers of a new humanity. Krita-yuga shall come again when sun and moon have disappeared in the moon house Tishya, near the planet Brihaspati or Jupiter. This will occur at the end of 360,000 human years or 1,200 years of the gods, counting from the death of Krishna. The person of Siva was too lofty and powerful to be satisfied like Vishnu to appear as a being of this world.

As Vishnu could not, however, be allowed to be considered the only one capable of avatars, it was taught that Siva also occasionally dwelt among men, but only as the incorporation of some attribute of himself. When Narade, the messenger of the gods, reported to Siva that his worship was falling off upon earth, Siva sent only Nandikecvara, the bull upon which he rides. The Lingaites also have in their Puranas legends of such descents of divine attributes and symbols among them. One of them gives a most wondrous origin to their teacher Basava. The Yogins or Gosain, commonly known as Fakirs, are worshippers of Siva. Modern Brahmanism has also a female trinity, composed of the wives of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Sarasvati, Brahma's wife, is the only goddess of arts, of which language is one, and she is said to punish liars, but not very heavily. Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, is the giver of temporal happiness; it is through her that mortals obtain wives, children, dwellings, friends, harvests, wealth, health, and strength. Parvati, the wife of Siva, who is the most generally worshipped of the three, has the same attributes as Lakshmi in the Sivaitic Puranas; but in Bengal and in southern India she is, under the name of Kali, a bloodthirsty goddess, and her images depict her as truly horrid.

She is the goddess of cholera and all other epidemics. She can be appeased only with bloody sacrifice, and even human beings are offered up to her wherever the English authorities do not interfere. In the south Brahman mythology represents the aboriginal grama-devatds to be a ninefold development of Parvati, or rather of the universal productive energy of the deity. The Cakti worship is, like Lingaism, based on sexual relations. The former has chosen the female principle, the lap of the mother of nature, instead of the male, which receives the veneration of the latter. The various sects belonging to it rival each other in obscenity and voluptuousness. - Among the other gods of modern Brahmanism, Ganeca and Karttikeya, the sons of Siva, are also prominent. The former is the god of wisdom and cunning, on whom it is well to call before undertaking anything. He has the head of an elephant, and his image is found everywhere, even in temples not dedicated to him, by the wayside, and in many private houses. The Ganapatyas are a sect who make him an object of special worship.

Karttikeya or Skanda, called Subrahmanya and Shanmukha in the Deccan, is the six-headed god of war, whose office is to subdue the demon Sura or Taraka, and who by doing penance for 2,000 years obtained the power of governing the whole world without being put to death either by Siva or by any other god. Six nymphs quarrelled for the privilege of nursing him when he was born on the river Ganges, and in order not to vex any of these Krittikas he took six heads and fed on them all. His feast in the month of Karttika or October is principally attended by music, and fires are lit upon the hills as a token of the return of the victorious warriors. Daksha also is important. He is one of the ancient Adityas, and the Vishnu Purana tells a wondrous story of how he came to be in the train of the Mahadeva Siva. Ganga, the celebrated goddess of the river, is a lovely person with a lotus flower in her hand. Bathing in the Ganges cleanses from all sins, and whoever dies in the river is at once dissolved in the great Brahma. Near the source, at the junction of the Jumna near Allahabad, near Benares, and at the mouth of the river, her powers are especially effective on account of certain legends connected with these places.

Among the eight Lokapalas or guardians of the world enumerated above, Yama now employs messengers, Yamadutas, whose duty it is to pull the souls out of corpses and lead them to him bound with ropes. But when people have been very pious Yama himself calls for their souls. The messengers are depicted as deformed, clad in skins of wild animals, and as having eyes of fire and long hair and teeth. When they have brought a soul before the judge of the dead, the first clerk Chandra-gupta is commanded to read the list of the good and evil deeds of the deceased which is contained in the book Ugrasandhani. Then sentence is passed whether the soul shall be placed in hell, or reinhabit an earthly form, or rise to a higher sphere. Kuvera is lord of the treasures hid in the earth, and he resides in the mines of Kailasa, where his dwarfish, ugly servants keep watch, and can be induced by magic charms to reveal where treasures are concealed. Kuvera himself is a frightful human form, with three heads, three legs, eight teeth, a single ring through the ears, green eyes, and white sores on his body. Kama or Man-matha rides on a parrot, and wounds with his arrow those who love.

He belongs to the family of Vishnu. The fire of Siva's eye reduced him to ashes, and he will not be born again before Siva marries Parvati, and then he will be a son of Krishna. His companion is the beautiful Rati, whom he captured from the house of the giant Sambara. In comparison with the dissolute worship of Cakti, the worship of the elevated and poetic side of human love as represented by Kama is quite insignificant. - The distinctions of caste are rapidly disappearing. The Kshatriyas and Vaisyas long since lost their separate existence, and many of the occupations originally exclusively theirs are now followed also by the Brahmans. Though the superior castes may engage in the pursuits properly belonging to the lower, the latter are not permitted to usurp the functions of the former. Brahmans now hold government offices, act as soldiers, and enter the services of Europeans and Mohammedans, and even of the Sudras. But whatever their position, they try not to transgress the rules and observances anciently prescribed for them. They avoid, for example, trafficking with certain commodities, such as leather, contact with which is considered polluting; they do not eat or touch certain kinds of food, nor eat with or in the immediate presence of one of an inferior caste.

There are classes so degraded that their mere shadow falling on a man of higher caste causes pollution. In Malabar when under native rule it was not uncommon for a man of high caste to strike dead on the spot a man of low caste for having touched him, even if accidentally: the act was regarded as justifiable homicide, and was not punished by the authorities. The condition of the lowest castes under native rule was one of the most abject subjection, and so debased were they considered, both socially and spiritually, that it was a crime for a Brahman to read the sacred writings in their presence, or to give them any religious counsel or instruction whatever. Beneath the Sudras there was a numerous class of outcasts and their descendants, who, by forfeiting their standing in their respective castes and becoming polluted, had sunk to the lowest pitch of social degradation, and were regarded as utterly vile. A loss of caste involved a forfeiture of all civil rights and of all property. The British government, however, has prohibited the enforcement of any forfeiture or disinheritance by reason of the renunciation or deprivation of caste; the law has been steadily enforced, and has had an important and salutary effect upon the social state of India. - The Brahmans are now undergoing a religious crisis.

The sect of Kalajnanis, whose sacred book is the Kalajnana, " Knowledge of the Age," written about 1780, believe that the god of gods himself will descend to earth and raise the dead. The Nudis in South Mahratta entertain a similar belief, but both sects seem to be dying out. There is one sect, however, the Brahmo-Samaj, which is steadily increasing in number, and which has attracted considerable attention. Its doctrines are not properly a mixture of Brahmanism and Christianity, but rather a rationalistic development of both. The sect is said to have been founded in 1830 by Ram Mohun Roy. The first converts were pupils of Christian educational institutions. They were joined by Mohammedans and by other Brahmans, and formed together a church whose principal doctrines are the adoration of one God, the loving father of all, and brotherly love toward all men. Their great purpose is to do away with distinctions of caste and religion. The head of the sect is now Babu Keshab Chander Sen, and under his energetic guidance it has been established in all the larger cities of India. It was hoped that they would eventually adopt the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, but at a meeting held in 1866 in Calcutta, Jesus was declared to be a divine incarnation in no higher degree than every distinguished person might be said to be such.

Excepting the wonderful mystical word 6m, only such portions of the Vedas and the Bible as are merely theistic and not miraculous are admitted into their canon. - The principal recent authorities on the religion and literature of India are: Max Muller, "History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature" (London, 1859); Muir, "Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India" (vols, i.-v., London, 1863-'70); Lassen, Indische Alterthums-kunde (2d ed., 2 vols., Leipsic, 1867-'73); Whitney, " Oriental and Linguistic Studies " (New York, 1872); Duncker, Geschichte des Alter-thums (vol. i., 4th ed., Leipsic, 1874); and Wurm, Geschichte der indischen Religion (Basel, 1874).