latter was systematized by a theistic
reformer who exalted one deity above the others, whereas in India, where
there was more religious vitality, polytheistic and pantheistic fancies
flourished uncurbed and the greatest reformer, the Buddha, was not a
theist.

One peculiarity of Indians in all ages is that they put more into
religion than other races. It received most of the energy and talent
which, elsewhere, went into art, politics and philosophy. Hence it
became both intense and manifold, for deities and creeds were wanted for
every stage of intelligence and variety of taste, and also very
tolerant, for sects in India, though multitudinous, are not so sharply
divided or mutually hostile as in Europe. Connected with the general
interest which religion inspired is its strongly marked speculative
character. The Rig Veda asks whether in the beginning there was being or
not being, and the later Vedas and Brahmanas are filled with discussions
as to the meaning of ceremonies, which show that the most dreary
formalism could not extinguish the innate propensity to seek for a
reason. In the Upanishads we have the same spirit dealing with more
promising material. And throughout the long history of Hinduism religion
and philosophy are seldom separated: we rarely find detached
metaphysicians: philosophers found new sects or support old ones:
religion absorbs philosophy and translates it into theology or myths.

4

To the age of the Vedas succeeds that of the Brahmanas or sacrificial
treatises. The two periods are distinct and have each a well-marked
tone, but they pass into one another, for the Yajur and Sama Vedas
pre-suppose the ritual of the Brahmanas. These treatises introduce us to
one feature of Indian religion mentioned above, namely the extraordinary
elaboration of its ritual. To read them one would suppose that the one
occupation of all India was the offering of sacrifices. The accounts are
no doubt exaggerated and must often be treated as specimens of
sacerdotal imagination, like the Biblical descriptions of the rites
performed in the Tabernacle during the wanderings of the Israelites. But
making all allowance for priestly enthusiasm, it still remains true that
the intellect of India, so far as it is preserved in literature, was
occupied during two centuries or so with the sacrificial art and that
philosophy had difficulty in disentangling itself from ceremonies. One
has only to compare Greek and Sanskrit literatu