unced in various ways. From this (and other such
examples) it has been concluded that all--Hindoos, Persians, Greeks,
Latins, Celts, Germans, Slavs--once spoke the same language, and
consequently were one people.

=The Aryan People.=--These peoples then called themselves Aryans and
lived to the north-west of India, either in the mountains of Pamir, or
in the steppes of Turkestan or Russia; from this centre they dispersed
in all directions. The majority of the people--Greeks, Latins,
Germans, Slavs--forgot their origin; but the sacred books of the
Hindoos and the Persians preserve the tradition. Effort has been
made[22] to reconstruct the life of our Aryan ancestors in their
mountain home before the dispersion. It was a race of shepherds; they
did not till the soil, but subsisted from their herds of cattle and
sheep, though they already had houses and even villages.

It was a fighting race; they knew the lance, the javelin, and shield.
Government was patriarchal; a man had but one wife; as head of the
family he was for his wife, his children, and his servants at once
priest, judge, and king. In all the countries settled by the Aryans
they have followed this type of life--patriarchal, martial, and
pastoral.

PRIMITIVE RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS

=The Aryans on the Indus.=--About 2,000 years before our era some
Aryan tribes traversed the passes of the Hindu-Kush and swarmed into
India. They found the fertile plains of the Indus inhabited by a
people of dark skin, with flat heads, industrious and wealthy; they
called these aborigines Dasyous (the enemy). They made war on them for
centuries and ended by exterminating or subjecting them; they then
gradually took possession of all the Indus valley (the region of the
five rivers).[23] They then called themselves Hindoos.

=The Vedas.=--These people were accustomed in their ceremonies to
chant hymns (vedas) in honor of their gods. These chants constituted
a vast compilation which has been preserved to the present time. They
were collected, perhaps, about the fourteenth century B.C. when the
Aryans had not yet passed the Indus. The hymns present to us the
oldest religion of the Hindoos.

=The Gods.=--The Hindoo calls his gods devas (the resplendent).
Everything that shines is a divinity--the heavens, the dawn, the
clouds, the stars--but especially the sun (Indra) and fire (Agni).

=Indra.=--The sun, Indra, the mighty one, "king of the world and
master of creatures," brigh