Hinduism Past And Present PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XII. RECAPITULA TJON. WE have thus endeavoured to trace the history of the Hindu religion from the commencement up to the present time--through a period amounting to more than three thousand years. It may be well to give a brief summary of the conclusions to which we have been led. The foundation of the Hindu faith is laid in the Veda, otherwise called the four Vedas. But from the facts which the Veda supplies we are able to draw some inferences regarding an earlier form of religion which we may designate pre-Vedic. It thus cannot be doubted that the Indo-European race, before it parted into five or six separate branches, recognized the existence of a Supreme Divinity--a Being powerful, wise, and good. He was held to be the arranger (we cannot say, the creator) and the ruler of all things. Offerings were a very important part in the worship of this Being; and, among these, animal sacrifice held a high place. We can hardly suppose that the Supreme Divinity was the only Being to whom worship was paid; yet we may well hesitate before we call the religion polytheistic.1 Idolatrous it almost certainly was not; if images were used at all, it could only have been very sparingly. The Supreme Divinity was in all probability a spiritual Being, but localized in heaven; and we may believe that, with many, Heaven and the God of heaven were conceptions separable, but in fact not always separated. Worship was, to a very large extent, domestic. We have little or no evidence of the existence of a priestly order. It is evident that the Hindus and Iranians (old Persians) remained together for a considerable time after the other divisions of the race had migrated towards the West. Reverence for the fermented juice of the Soma plant (in Zend Homo) is...