{"product_id":"2940015723557","title":"The Religions Of India","description":"CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTION.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSOURCES.--DATES.--METHODS OF INTERPRETATION.--DIVISIONS OF SUBJECT.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSOURCES.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIndia always has been a land of religions. In the earliest Vedic\u003cbr\u003eliterature are found not only hymns in praise of the accepted gods,\u003cbr\u003ebut also doubts in regard to the worth of these gods; the beginnings\u003cbr\u003eof a new religion incorporated into the earliest records of the old.\u003cbr\u003eAnd later, when, about 300 B.C, Megasthenes was in India, the\u003cbr\u003edescendants of those first theosophists are still discussing, albeit\u003cbr\u003ein more modern fashion, the questions that lie at the root of all\u003cbr\u003ereligion. \"Of the philosophers, those that are most estimable he terms\u003cbr\u003eBrahmans ([Greek: _brachmanas_]). These discuss with many words\u003cbr\u003econcerning death. For they regard death as being, for the wise, a\u003cbr\u003ebirth into real life--into the happy life. And in many things they\u003cbr\u003ehold the same opinions with the Greeks: saying that the universe was\u003cbr\u003ebegotten and will be destroyed, and that the world is a sphere, which\u003cbr\u003ethe god who made and owns it pervades throughout; that there are\u003cbr\u003edifferent beginnings of all things, but water is the beginning of\u003cbr\u003eworld-making, while, in addition to the four elements, there is, as\u003cbr\u003efifth, a kind of nature, whence came the sky and the stars.... And\u003cbr\u003econcerning the seed of things and the soul they have much to say also,\u003cbr\u003ewhereby they weave in myths, just as does Plato, in regard to the\u003cbr\u003esoul's immortality, judgment in hell, and such things.\"[1]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd as India conspicuously is a country of creeds, so is its\u003cbr\u003eliterature preëminently priestly and religious. From the first Veda to\u003cbr\u003ethe last Pur[=a]na, religion forms either the subject-matter of the\u003cbr\u003emost important works, or, as in the case of the epics,[2] the basis of\u003cbr\u003edidactic excursions and sectarian interpolations, which impart to\u003cbr\u003eworldly themes a tone peculiarly theological. History and oratory are\u003cbr\u003eunknown in Indian literature. The early poetry consists of hymns and\u003cbr\u003ereligious poems; the early prose, of liturgies, linguistics, \"law,\"\u003cbr\u003etheology, sacred legends and other works, all of which are intended to\u003cbr\u003esupplement the knowledge of the Veda, to explain ceremonies, or to\u003cbr\u003einculcate religious principles. At a later date, formal grammar and\u003cbr\u003esystems of philosophy, fables and commentaries are added to the prose;\u003cbr\u003eepics, secular lyric, drama, the Pur[=a]nas and such writings to the\u003cbr\u003epoetry. But in all this great mass, till that time which Müller has\u003cbr\u003ecalled the Renaissance--that is to say, till after the Hindus were\u003cbr\u003ecome into close contact with foreign nations, notably the Greek, from\u003cbr\u003ewhich has been borrowed, perhaps, the classical Hindu drama,[3]--there\u003cbr\u003eis no real literature that was not religious originally, or, at least,\u003cbr\u003eso apt for priestly use as to become chiefly moral and theosophic;\u003cbr\u003ewhile the most popular works of modern times are sectarian tracts,\u003cbr\u003ePur[=]nas, Tantras and remodelled worldly poetry. The sources, then,\u003cbr\u003efrom which is to be drawn the knowledge of Hindu religions are the\u003cbr\u003ebest possible--the original texts. The information furnished by\u003cbr\u003eforeigners, from the times of Ktesias and Megasthenes to that of\u003cbr\u003eMandelslo, is considerable; but one is warranted in assuming that what\u003cbr\u003elittle in it is novel is inaccurate, since otherwise the information\u003cbr\u003ewould have been furnished by the Hindus themselves; and that,\u003cbr\u003econversely, an outsider's statements, although presumably correct,\u003cbr\u003eoften may give an inexact impression through lack of completeness; as\u003cbr\u003ewhen--to take an example that one can control--Ktesias tells half the\u003cbr\u003etruth in regard to ordeals. His account is true, but he gives no\u003cbr\u003enotion of the number or elaborate character of these interesting\u003cbr\u003eceremonies.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47084437733616,"sku":"2940015723557","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015723557","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}