who were
manifested through the seven teachers, was delicately indicated.

What is here meant by "ancient Indians" is not the same as what is usually
understood by that term. No outer documents exist of the period in
question. The people usually known as "Indians" belong to a stage of
historical evolution which was developed long after the time spoken of
here. We have to distinguish a first post-Atlantean period of the earth,
in which the Indian civilization now described was the predominant one;
then came a second post-Atlantean period in which the prevailing
civilization was that which later in this work is called the "ancient
Persian," and still later was developed the Egypto-Chaldean civilization,
also to be described. During the evolution of these second and third
post-Atlantean epochs, "ancient" India also went through a second and
third epoch, and to this third epoch belongs what is usually related of
ancient India. What is described here must therefore not be applied to the
"ancient India" mentioned elsewhere.

Another feature of this ancient Indian civilization is that which
afterward led to the division of the race into castes. The inhabitants of
India were descendants of Atlanteans who belonged to the various types of
Saturn and Jupiter humanities, etc. By means of supersensible teachings it
was seen that it is not by chance that a soul is incarnated in a
particular caste, but that the soul itself has determined its lot. Such an
understanding of supersensible teachings was made much easier, because it
was possible to revive in many people the inner remembrance of their
ancestors which has been described above; this, of course, might also
easily lead to an erroneous idea of reincarnation. Just as, in the
Atlantean age, it was only through the Initiates that the true idea of
reincarnation could be realized, so in India, in most ancient times, it
was possible only through direct contact with the great teachers. It is
true that the erroneous idea of reincarnation mentioned above found the
widest acceptance imaginable among the bands of people who were dispersed
over Europe, Asia and Africa in consequence of the Atlantean catastrophe.
And because the Initiates who had gone astray during the Atlantean
evolution had imparted the mystery of reincarnation to immature souls,
mankind began to confuse more and more the true with the false ideas. Many
of these people indeed retained a kind of dim clairvoyance, as a herit