The Great Variety in India's Religious Systems--The Early
Monotheistic Nature Worship and its Gradual Lapse Into
Polytheism--The Influence of Environment on the Development of
Systems--The Distinction between Aryanism and Brahmanism, and the
Abuses of the Latter in its Doctrines of Sacrifice and Caste--The
Causes which Led to the Overthrow of this System of
Sacerdotalism--The Upanishads and the Beginnings of Philosophy--The
Rise of Buddhism and the Six Schools of Philosophy--Points in
Common between them--The Code of Manu and its Countercheck to
Rationalism--Its Development and its Scope, its Merits and
Demerits--The Meaning of the Word Hinduism as here Used and the
Means by which it Gained Ascendency--The Place and Influence of the
Two Great Hindu Epics, their Origin, the Compromise which they
Wrought, and the New and Important Doctrines which They
Developed--The Trimurti and the Incarnations of Vishnu--The
Deterioration of the Literature and the Faith of India--The Puranas
and the Tantras--The Parallels between Hinduism and Christianity.