DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0047
INTRODUCTION xliii
circulate the village, as some communities in our own
country still perpetuate the ceremony of "riding the
marches" of ancient burghs; then universal licence pre-
vails. Similarly law was suspended at the ancient Scot-
tish Hallowe'en celebrations; in some districts even in our
own day Hallowe'en and New Year practical jokes and
rowdyism is still prevalent. Herodotus refers to the
universal licence and debauchery which characterized the
Isis festival in Egypt.
A remarkable feature of post-Vedic religion in ancient
India is the prominence given to the doctrine of metem-
psychosis (transmigration of souls) and the conception
of the yugas or ages of the universe.
In the <Rigveda the soul of the dead proceeds at once,
or at any rate after burial, towards the next world. In
one passage only is it spoken of "as departing to the
waters or the plants", and this reference, Professor Mac-
donell suggests,1 " may contain the germs of the theory "
of transmigration. In the speculative prose treatises, the
UpanishadSy which were composed in the Middle Country,
the doctrine of metempsychosis is fully expounded. It
does not follow, however, that it originated in India al-
though it may have obtained there unrecognized by the
priestly poets who composed the hymns to the deities,
long before it became an essential tenet of orthodox or
official religion. Other representative communities of the
Brown race professed this doctrine which appears to have
evolved from the vague belief shared by more than one
primitive race, that the souls of the dead, and especially
of dead children, were ever on the outlook for suitable
mothers. Even in Central Australia a particular tribe has
perpetuated "the germs of the theory", which may also
be traced in the widespread custom of visiting standing
lA H'utory of Sanskrit IJttraturc, p. 115.
circulate the village, as some communities in our own
country still perpetuate the ceremony of "riding the
marches" of ancient burghs; then universal licence pre-
vails. Similarly law was suspended at the ancient Scot-
tish Hallowe'en celebrations; in some districts even in our
own day Hallowe'en and New Year practical jokes and
rowdyism is still prevalent. Herodotus refers to the
universal licence and debauchery which characterized the
Isis festival in Egypt.
A remarkable feature of post-Vedic religion in ancient
India is the prominence given to the doctrine of metem-
psychosis (transmigration of souls) and the conception
of the yugas or ages of the universe.
In the <Rigveda the soul of the dead proceeds at once,
or at any rate after burial, towards the next world. In
one passage only is it spoken of "as departing to the
waters or the plants", and this reference, Professor Mac-
donell suggests,1 " may contain the germs of the theory "
of transmigration. In the speculative prose treatises, the
UpanishadSy which were composed in the Middle Country,
the doctrine of metempsychosis is fully expounded. It
does not follow, however, that it originated in India al-
though it may have obtained there unrecognized by the
priestly poets who composed the hymns to the deities,
long before it became an essential tenet of orthodox or
official religion. Other representative communities of the
Brown race professed this doctrine which appears to have
evolved from the vague belief shared by more than one
primitive race, that the souls of the dead, and especially
of dead children, were ever on the outlook for suitable
mothers. Even in Central Australia a particular tribe has
perpetuated "the germs of the theory", which may also
be traced in the widespread custom of visiting standing
lA H'utory of Sanskrit IJttraturc, p. 115.