that exists and can exist.

For some time before and after the beginning of our era, north-western
India witnessed a great fusion of ideas and Indian, Persian and Greek
religion must have been in contact at the university town of Taxila and
many other places. Kashmir too, if somewhat too secluded to be a
meeting-place of nations, was a considerable intellectual centre. We
have not yet sufficient documents to enable us to trace the history and
especially the chronology of thought in these regions but we can say
that certain forms of Vishnuism, Sivaism and Buddhism were all evolved
there and often show features in common. Thus in all we find the idea
that the divine nature is manifested in four forms or five, if we count
the Absolute Godhead as one of them[19].

I shall consider at length below this worship of Vishnu and Siva and
here will merely point out that it differs from the polytheism of the
Smartas. In their higher phases all Hindu religions agree in teaching
some form of pantheism, some laying more and some less stress on the
personal aspect which the deity can assume. But whereas the pantheism of
the Smartas grew out of the feeling that the many gods of tradition must
all be one, the pantheism of the Vishnuites was not evolved out of
pre-buddhist Brahmanism and is due to the conviction that the one God
must be everything. It is Indian but it grew up in some region outside
Brahmanic influence and was accepted by the Brahmans as a permissible
creed, but many legends in the Epics and Puranas indicate that there was
hostility between the old-fashioned Brahmans and the worshippers of
Rama, Krishna and Siva before the alliance was made.

Saktism[20] also was not evolved from ancient Brahmanism but is
different in tone from Vishnuism and Sivaism. Whereas they start from a
movement of thought and spiritual feeling, Saktism has for its basis
certain ancient popular worships. With these it has combined much
philosophy and has attempted to bring its teaching into conformity with
Brahmanism, but yet remains somewhat apart. It worships a goddess of
many names and forms, who is adored with sexual rites and the sacrifice
of animals, or, when the law permits, of men. It asserts even more
plainly than Vishnuism that the teaching of the Vedas is too difficult
for these latter days and even useless, and it offers to its followers
new scriptures called Tantras and new ceremonies as all-sufficient. It
is true that many Hindus obje