DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0014
2 Introductory Observations.
as far as possible to do justice to the amount of truth that
each may contain.
The Hindu religion may justly claim our first consideration,
not only for the reason that nearly two hundred millions of
the population of India are Hindus, but because of the in-
tricacy of its doctrines and the difficulty of making them
intelligible to European minds.
With a view, then, to greater perspicuity I propose making
use of the three words Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism
as convenient expressions for the three principal stages or
phases in the development of that complicated system.
I. Vedism was the earliest form of the religion of the
Indian branch of the great Aryan family—the form which
was represented in the songs, invocations, and prayers, col-
lectively called Veda, and attributed to the Rishis, or sup-
posed inspired leaders of religious thought and life in India.
It was the worship of the deified forces or phenomena of
Nature, such as Fire, Sun, Wind, and Rain, which were
sometimes individualized or thought of as separate divine
powers, sometimes gathered under one general conception
and personified as one God.
II. Brahmanism grew out of Vedism. It taught the
merging of all the forces of Nature in one universal spiri-
tual Being—the only real Entity—which, when unmanifested
and impersonal, was called Brahma (neuter); when manifested
as a personal creator, was called Brahma (masculine); and
when manifested in the highest order of men, was called
Brahmana (' the Brahmans'). Brahmanism was rather a
philosophy than a religion, and in its fundamental doctrine
was spiritual Pantheism.
III. Hinduism grew out of Brahmanism. It was Brah-
manism, so to speak, run to seed and spread out into a
confused tangle of divine personalities and incarnations. The
one system was the rank and luxuriant outcome of the other.
Yet Hinduism is distinct from Brahmanism, and chiefly in
as far as possible to do justice to the amount of truth that
each may contain.
The Hindu religion may justly claim our first consideration,
not only for the reason that nearly two hundred millions of
the population of India are Hindus, but because of the in-
tricacy of its doctrines and the difficulty of making them
intelligible to European minds.
With a view, then, to greater perspicuity I propose making
use of the three words Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism
as convenient expressions for the three principal stages or
phases in the development of that complicated system.
I. Vedism was the earliest form of the religion of the
Indian branch of the great Aryan family—the form which
was represented in the songs, invocations, and prayers, col-
lectively called Veda, and attributed to the Rishis, or sup-
posed inspired leaders of religious thought and life in India.
It was the worship of the deified forces or phenomena of
Nature, such as Fire, Sun, Wind, and Rain, which were
sometimes individualized or thought of as separate divine
powers, sometimes gathered under one general conception
and personified as one God.
II. Brahmanism grew out of Vedism. It taught the
merging of all the forces of Nature in one universal spiri-
tual Being—the only real Entity—which, when unmanifested
and impersonal, was called Brahma (neuter); when manifested
as a personal creator, was called Brahma (masculine); and
when manifested in the highest order of men, was called
Brahmana (' the Brahmans'). Brahmanism was rather a
philosophy than a religion, and in its fundamental doctrine
was spiritual Pantheism.
III. Hinduism grew out of Brahmanism. It was Brah-
manism, so to speak, run to seed and spread out into a
confused tangle of divine personalities and incarnations. The
one system was the rank and luxuriant outcome of the other.
Yet Hinduism is distinct from Brahmanism, and chiefly in