DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0016
4, Introductory Observations^
the limits of their mountain tracts. With the increase of
population they easily spread themselves westwards through
the districts sloping towards Balkh, and southwards, through
the passes of Afghanistan on the one side and Cashmere
on the other, into Northern India.
They were a people gifted with high mental capacities and
strong moral feelings. They possessed great powers of ap-
preciating and admiring the magnificent phenomena of nature
with which they found themselves surrounded. They were
endowed with a deep religious sense—a profound conscious-
ness of their dependence on the invisible forces which regu-
lated the order of the world in which they found themselves
placed. They were fitly called ' noble' (arya), and they
spoke a language fitly called ' polished' or ' carefully con-
structed ' [Sanskritd).
To trace the origin of religion among such a people requires
no curious metaphysical hypotheses. We have only to ask
ourselves what would be the natural working of their devo-
tional instincts, unguided by direct revelation. Their material
welfare depended on the influences of sky, air, light, and sun
{sometimes fancifully imaged in the mind as emerging out of
an antecedent chaotic night); and to these they naturally
turned with awe and veneration. Soon all such phenomena
were believed to be animated by intelligent wills. At first
the relationship between spirit, mind, and matter was im-
perfectly apprehended. Whatever moved was believed to
possess life, and with life was associated power. Hence
the phenomena of nature were thought of as mysterious
forces, whose favour required propitiation. Next they re-
ceived homage under the general name of Devas, 'luminous
ones.' Then, just as men found themselves obliged to submit
to some earthly leader, so they naturally assigned supre-
macy to one celestial being called the 'light-father' (Dyu-
pitar, Zeis irar^p, Jupiter). Or, again, a kind of pre-eminence
was sometimes accorded to the all-investing sky or atmo-
the limits of their mountain tracts. With the increase of
population they easily spread themselves westwards through
the districts sloping towards Balkh, and southwards, through
the passes of Afghanistan on the one side and Cashmere
on the other, into Northern India.
They were a people gifted with high mental capacities and
strong moral feelings. They possessed great powers of ap-
preciating and admiring the magnificent phenomena of nature
with which they found themselves surrounded. They were
endowed with a deep religious sense—a profound conscious-
ness of their dependence on the invisible forces which regu-
lated the order of the world in which they found themselves
placed. They were fitly called ' noble' (arya), and they
spoke a language fitly called ' polished' or ' carefully con-
structed ' [Sanskritd).
To trace the origin of religion among such a people requires
no curious metaphysical hypotheses. We have only to ask
ourselves what would be the natural working of their devo-
tional instincts, unguided by direct revelation. Their material
welfare depended on the influences of sky, air, light, and sun
{sometimes fancifully imaged in the mind as emerging out of
an antecedent chaotic night); and to these they naturally
turned with awe and veneration. Soon all such phenomena
were believed to be animated by intelligent wills. At first
the relationship between spirit, mind, and matter was im-
perfectly apprehended. Whatever moved was believed to
possess life, and with life was associated power. Hence
the phenomena of nature were thought of as mysterious
forces, whose favour required propitiation. Next they re-
ceived homage under the general name of Devas, 'luminous
ones.' Then, just as men found themselves obliged to submit
to some earthly leader, so they naturally assigned supre-
macy to one celestial being called the 'light-father' (Dyu-
pitar, Zeis irar^p, Jupiter). Or, again, a kind of pre-eminence
was sometimes accorded to the all-investing sky or atmo-